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Golem
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In Jewish folklore, a golem (????, sometimes, as in Yiddish, pronounced goilem) is an animate being created entirely from inanimate matter. In modern Hebrew the word golem literally means "cocoon", but can also mean "fool", "silly", or even "stupid". The name appears to derive from the word gelem, which means "raw material". Alternatively some sources indicate it is a corruption of the Hebrew go`al 'enu (?????????) our redeemer or our avenger, this version is supported by the 16th century Praha ghetto stories (see below).
word golem is used in the Bible to refer to an embryonic or incomplete substance: Psalm 139:16 uses the word , meaning my unshaped form.
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In Jewish folklore, a golem (????, sometimes, as in Yiddish, pronounced goilem) is an animate being created entirely from inanimate matter. In modern Hebrew the word golem literally means "cocoon", but can also mean "fool", "silly", or even "stupid". The name appears to derive from the word gelem, which means "raw material". Alternatively some sources indicate it is a corruption of the Hebrew go`al 'enu (?????????) our redeemer or our avenger, this version is supported by the 16th century Praha ghetto stories (see below).
History
Origins of the word
The word golem is used in the Bible to refer to an embryonic or incomplete substance: Psalm 139:16 uses the word , meaning my unshaped form. The Mishnah uses the term for an uncultivated person ("Seven characteristics are in an uncultivated person, and seven in a learned one", Pirkei Avot 5:9). Similarly, golems are often used today in metaphor either as brainless lunks or as entities serving man under controlled conditions but hostile to him in others. Similarly, it is a Yiddish slang insult for someone who is clumsy or slow.
Earliest stories
The earliest stories of golems date to early Judaism. Adam is described in the Talmud (Tractate Sanhedrin 38b) as initially created as a golem when his dust was "kneaded into a shapeless hunk". Like Adam, all golems are created from clay. They were a creation of those who were very holy and close to God. A very holy person was one who strove to approach God, and in that pursuit would gain some of God's wisdom and power. One of these powers was the creation of life. No matter how holy a person became, however, a being created by that person would be but a shadow of one created by God.
Early on, the notion developed that the main disability of the golem was its inability to speak. In Sanhedrin 65b, is the description of Rava creating a man (gavra). He sent him to Rav Zeira; Rav Zeira spoke to him, but he did not answer. Said Rav Zeira, "You were created by the magicians; return to your dust."
Owning and activating golems
Having a golem servant was seen as the ultimate symbol of wisdom and holiness, and there are many tales of golems connected to prominent rabbis throughout the Middle Ages.
Other attributes of the golem were gradually added over time. In many tales the Golem is inscribed with magic or religious words that keep it animated. Writing one of the names of God on its forehead, a slip of paper in its mouth, or enscribed on its body, or writing the word Emet (???, "truth" in the Hebrew language) on its forehead are examples of such words. By erasing the first letter aleph in Emet to form Met (??, "dead" in Hebrew, when the aleph letter ? is cancelled) the golem could be deactivated. Another way is by writing a specific incantation in the owner's blood on calfskin parchment, and placing it in the mouth. Removing the parchment will deactivate the golem. It is likely that this is the same incantation that the Rabbi recites in the classic narrative.
Golems also need to rest on the Sabbath lest they go berserk.
The classic narrative
The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel the late 16th century chief rabbi of Prague known as the Maharal, who reportedly created a golem to defend the Prague ghetto from anti-Semitic attacks. This story of the Golem first appeared in print in 1847 in Galerie der Sippurim, a collection of Jewish tales published by Wolf Pascheles of Prague. In 1911 an account in Hebrew and Yiddish was published by Yudl Rosenberg in Lwow, supposedly based on the found diary of Rabbi Loew's son-in-law, who had helped create the golem; but the authenticity of this manuscript is in dispute.
Depending on the version of the legend, under Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor, the Jews in Prague were to be either expelled or killed. To protect the Jewish community the rabbi constructed the Golem out of clay from the banks of the Vltava river and brought it to life through rituals and Hebrew incantations. As this golem grew it became increasingly violent, killing gentiles and spreading fear. A different story tells of the Golem falling in love, and when rejected, he became the violent monster as seen in most accounts. Some versions have the Golem eventually turning on its creator and perhaps even attacking other Jews.
The Emperor begged Rabbi Loew to destroy the Golem, promising to stop the persecution of the Jews. To deactivate the Golem, the rabbi rubbed out the first letter of the word "emet" (truth or reality) from the creature's forehead leaving the Hebrew word "met", meaning death. The Emperor understood that the Golem's body, stored in the attic genizah of the Old New Synagogue, would be restored to life again if needed. Accordingly, the body of Rabbi Loew's golem still lies in the synagogue's attic, although some versions of the tale have the golem stolen from the genizah and entombed in a graveyard in Prague's Žižkov district where now the great Žižkovská tower stands.
The existence of a golem is sometimes a mixed blessing. Golems are not intelligent — if commanded to perform a task, they will take the instructions perfectly literally.
In some incarnations of the legend, the Maharal's Golem had superhuman powers to aid it in its tasks. These include invisibility, a heated touch, and the ability to use the Maharal's walking stick to summon spirits from the dead. This last power was often crucial, as the Golem could summon dead witnesses to testify in Prague courts.
The hubris theme
In many depictions golems are inherently perfectly obedient. However, in its earliest known modern form the story has Rabbi Eliyahu of Chelm creating a golem that became enormous and uncooperative. In one version of this the rabbi had to resort to trickery to deactivate it, whereupon it crumbled upon its creator and crushed him. There is a similar hubris theme in Frankenstein, The Sorcerer's Apprentice and some golem-derived stories in popular culture. The theme also manifests itself in R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), Karel Capek's 1921 play which coined the term robot; the novel was written in Prague and while Capek denied that he modeled the robot after the golem, there are many similarities in the plot.
The golem in European culture
In the late 19th century the golem was adopted by mainstream European society. Most notably Gustav Meyrink's 1915 novel Der Golem based on the tales of the golem created by Judah Loew ben Bezalel. This book inspired a classic set of expressionistic silent movies, Paul Wegener's Golem series, of which The Golem: How He Came Into the World (also released as The Golem, 1920, USA 1921--the only surviving film of the trilogy) is especially famous. Another famous treatment from the same era is H. Leivick's 1921 Yiddish-language "dramatic poem in eight sections" The Golem. Also notable is Julien Duvivier's "Le Golem" (1936), a sequel to the Wegener film. Nobel prize winner Isaac Bashevis Singer also wrote a version of the legend.
These tales saw a dramatic change of the golem. The golem became a creation of overambitious and overreaching mystics, who would inevitably be punished for their blasphemy, as in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and the alchemical homunculus. The homunculus appears occasionally in the folklore of Eastern Europe as a construct made from natural materials such as dirt, roots, insects, feces, and other substances. In these stories the creature is revived through incantation and acts as a vehicle for the astrally projected mind of a sorcerer.
Dutch novelist, Harry Mulisch's 1999 novel, The Procedure is in part a modern re-interpretation of the Golem myth, starting with a 'historical' description of the kabbalistic experiment which results in a murderous female Golem.
The golem in the Czech Republic
The golem is a popular figure in the Czech Republic. There are several restaurants and other businesses named after him. Strongman René Richter goes by the nickname "Golem", and a Czech monster truck outfit calls itself the "Golem Team".
The golem had a main role in the 1951 Czech movie Císaruv pekar a pekaruv císar (released in the US as The Emperor and the Golem).
Composer Karel Svoboda finished his last musical based on the legend of Golem only two months before his suicide. This musical seems to be a flop due to an overcomplicated plot and a lack of musical ideas in songs.
In modern culture
Golems appear in a wide variety of books, comic books, films, television shows, fantasy anime and games, ranging from an umbrella term for automata and simulacra. Golems are common characters in computer RPG videogames and tabletop games such as Dungeons & Dragons, Diablo or Heroes of Might and Magic, being usually made of earth; but also metal, flesh or other substances. Typically, a golem is a creation of a wizard or sorcerer to act as a servant or guardian.
These are some notable contemporary uses of the golem mythos:
- The Golem: It! is the 1966 British-made film about a golem run amok in England. Well-known actor Roddy McDowall stars as mad assistant curator Arthur Pimm who evokes, i.e., brings to life the museum's golem statue. Pimm finds an ancient scroll in a hollow compartment of the golem's right foot and, following the tradition, places it under the golem's tongue. Suffice to say, all hell thereupon breaks loose.
- Several creatures in the Pokémon universe and video game series are named after, or based on, golems. "Golem" is the name of a very heavy rock-like Pokémon that serves as the second stage evolution of Geodude. There is also a trio of legendary Pokémon directly based on golems: Regirock, Regice and Registeel. Their master is Regigigas, a colossal white golem. In the games, it must be awakened before coming to life, much like the mythological golem; however, in this case, this is done by having the aforementioned golem trio as party members when encountering Regigigas.
- The character Astaroth in the Soul series of video games is a large, axe-wielding golem. Created by a cult in order to carry out the will of the god of destruction, Astaroth initially appears human, but in Soulcalibur IV, once his self-consciousness develops, he refuses to take orders and assumes a more demonic, inhuman appearance.
- In issue #167 of the Hellblazer comic series (part 4 of the 4-part Highwater story arc by Brian Azzarello and Marcelo Frusin), John Constantine kills four Neo-Nazi murderers by reanimating their victim as a golem. Constantine later deactivates the golem by erasing the letter aleph on its forehead, consistent with the technique mentioned above.
- In the Fablehaven series, there is a golem named Hugo on the Fablehaven preserve.
- Also inspired in part by the story of the Golem of Prague, Ted Chiang wrote a short story, Seventy-Two Letters, which explores the role of language in the creation of golems. The story won the Sidewise Award for Alternate History in 2000. It can be found in the collection Stories of Your Life and Others.
- The first trilogy of movies about Rabbi Judah Loew and his golem were Der Golem (1915), the Golem and the Dancing Girl (1917), and Der Golem, wie er in die welt kam (1920) Directed by Paul Wegener. Only the last film, which is a prequel, has survived, though stills exist of the earlier films. This Golem is the main subject of the British film It!, Gold Star Productions Limited (1966), staring Roddy McDowell as Arthur Pimm, who evokes (brings to life) the Golem.
- Edward Einhorn's Golem Stories appearing in his book of plays entitled The Golem, Methuselah, and Shylock includes a golem that has the soul of a young man who was the fiance of the Rabbi's daughter.
- In Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus Trilogy, golems were used by Prague in their war against the British Empire in the story's late 19th century alternate history. The name of the golem's master was written on a parchment on its mouth, and the golem would be destroyed if its master was killed.
- In Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel, Feet of Clay, the Golem Dorfl becomes conscious and is given free will after Captain Carrot alters his "Chem", the slip of parchment in the Golem's flip-top head so that he 'owns' himself. The novel also features a number of other encounters with golems, and even a flawed Golem-made Golem, which commits murderous atrocities across Ankh-Morpork. Golems appear as supporting characters in Going Postal and Making Money. Free (self-owned) golems buy the freedom of owned golems. The economic and social impact of slave-like labor is a theme, as well as the morality of sentient labor without liberty or free choice.
- In The Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror XVII", Bart steals a Golem from Krusty and uses it to do his own bidding. This cartoon Golem is drawn to resemble the golem in Wegener's film. Krusty gives a brief history of the "Jewish Golem of Prague", given orders by placing a written command in its mouth.
- Gargoyles, Season II, Episode 28, "Golem"; Charmed, Season IV, Episode 5, "Size Matters"; and the The X-Files Season IV, Episode 15, titled "Kaddish" all feature golems as a plot element.
- In the Castlevania series, the Golem is a recurring boss and lesser enemy, in various forms like the Flesh Golem, Iron Golem, Wooden Golem and more.
- In Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption there is a golem that comes to life in Prague from a rabbi that the main character must battle.
- Also in World of Darkness, Promethean: The Created has one of the playable lineages as a Golem. Golems are depicted as being connected to alchemical element of Earth and are based on the legends above.
- In the game, Legendary, a golem composed of cars and city debris is featured as a boss. It is described as holding itself together by means of a magnetic force.
Further reading
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