Golem

Hello and welcome to this episode of Fab Figmentals. 

I’m Lindsey Morse, your guide through the realm of curious creatures, magical monsters, and beautiful beasts. Each episode, we dive into the folklore and history of a different legendary creature and share a story about it.

Before we kick off this week’s episode, I have some fun news to share with you. Halloween is just over a month away, and given the nature of this podcast I thought it might be fun to do something special for my very favorite holiday. I’ve decided to take inspiration from some classic monsters, and every episode released in October will focus in on a different creature that’s often associated with Halloween— think Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, and the Wolfman— you get the idea. Episodes will follow the same format as always, but this should give us the opportunity to really look at some well-known creatures through our figmentals lens. I honestly can’t wait. *laughing* I may or may not be recording these next few episodes in costume. Stay tuned at the end of the episode to find out which Halloween monster we’ll be tackling next week. 

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. 

This week, we’re talking about the golem, a creature found in Jewish folklore that’s built out of inanimate material— often mud or dirt— and brought to life by magic. 

The golem can be traced all the way back to ancient times, and it even makes an appearance in the Old Testament. We are told that Adam’s first 12 hours of existence are spent as a golem— meaning “body without a soul.” It’s not until god breathes life into him that he becomes a man. 

This idea of the hollow vessel, not yet animated by the spark of life, births the idea of the golem made famous in folklore. Over time, stories emerged of men creating golems out of raw materials— like dirt, ash, mud, rock, or wood— and bringing these creatures to life to carry out their bidding. These automatons are sometimes dutiful servants, but there are plenty of stories where a golem will turn on his creator or rebel against the people he was made to protect. 

Details about how golems are brought to life also vary. In some stories, a magical talisman or incantation is used. In others, life is granted through the power of the sacred name of god. And now and again, all it takes to wake a golem is to write the word “emet,” which means truth, on its forehead. In many cases, this magic stems from Jewish mysticism or Kabbalah.

But most of the golem stories I’ve read end the same way. Regardless of whether the creature is loyal, for one reason or another the golem must ultimately be destroyed. Poetically, those golems brought to life by the “emet” inscription are usually removed from commission by rubbing out the “e,” from “emet,” to reveal the word “met,” which means death. At this, life drains from the creature and he is once again a heap of whatever material was used to make him. 

The story I’ve picked to share with you today is from a 1919 collection of stories by Gertrude Lana, who also sometimes published under her nickname, “Aunt Naomi.” The collection is titled Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends, and this story is called “The Rabbi’s Bogey-Man.” 

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Rabbi Lion, of the ancient city of Prague, sat in his study in the Ghetto looking very troubled. Through the window he could see the River Moldau with the narrow streets of the Jewish quarter clustered around the cemetery, which still stands to-day, and where is to be seen this famous man's tomb. Beyond the Ghetto rose the towers and spires of the city, but just at that moment it was not the cruelty of the people to the Jews that occupied the rabbi's thoughts. He was unable to find a servant, even one to attend the fire on the Sabbath for him.

The truth was that the people were a little afraid of the rabbi. He was a very learned man, wise and studious, and a scientist; and because he did wonderful things people called him a magician. His experiments in chemistry frightened them. Late at nights they saw little spurts of blue and red flame shine from his window, and they said that demons and witches came at his beck and call. So nobody would enter his service.

"If, as they declare, I am truly a magician," he said to himself, "why should I not make for myself a servant, one that will tend the fire for me on the Sabbath?”

He set to work on his novel idea and in a few weeks had completed his mechanical creature, a woman. She looked like a big, strong, laboring woman, and the rabbi was greatly pleased with his handiwork.

"Now to endow it with life," he said.

Carefully, in the silence of his mysterious study at midnight, he wrote out the Unpronounceable Sacred Name of God on a piece of parchment. Then he rolled it up and placed it in the mouth of the creature.

Immediately it sprang up and began to move like a living thing. It rolled its eyes, waved its arms, and nearly walked through the window. In alarm, Rabbi Lion snatched the parchment from its mouth and the creature fell helpless to the floor.

"I must be careful," said the rabbi. "It is a wonderful machine with its many springs and screws and levers, and will be most useful to me as soon as I learn to control it properly."

All the people marveled when they saw the rabbi's machine-woman running errands and doing many duties, controlled only by his thoughts. She could do everything but speak, and Rabbi Lion discovered that he must take the Name from her mouth before he went to sleep. Otherwise, she might have done mischief.

One cold Sabbath afternoon, the rabbi was preaching in the synagogue and the little children stood outside his house looking at the machine-woman seated by the window. When they rolled their eyes she did, and at last they shouted: "Come and play with us.”

She promptly jumped through the window and stood among the boys and girls.

"We are cold," said one. "Canst thou make a fire for us?”

The creature was made to obey orders, so she at once collected sticks and lit a fire in the street. Then, with the children, she danced round the blaze in great glee. She piled on all the sticks and old barrels she could find, and soon the fire spread and caught a house. The children ran away in fear while the fire blazed so furiously that the whole town became alarmed. Before the flames could be extinguished, a number of houses had been burned down and much damage done. The creature could not be found, and only when the parchment with the Name, which could not burn, was discovered amid the ashes, was it known that she had been destroyed in the conflagration.

The Council of the city was indignant when it learned of the strange occurrence, and Rabbi Lion was summoned to appear before King Rudolf.

"What is this I hear," asked his majesty. "Is it not a sin to make a living creature?”

"It had no life but that which the Sacred Name gave it," replied the rabbi.

"I understand it not," said the king. "Thou wilt be imprisoned and must make another creature, so that I may see it for myself. If it is as thou sayest, thy life shall be spared. If not—if, in truth, thou profanest God's sacred law and makest a living thing, thou shalt die and all thy people shall be expelled from this city."

Rabbi Lion at once set to work, and this time made a man, much bigger than the woman that had been burned.

"As your majesty sees," said the rabbi, when his task was completed, "it is but a creature of wood and glue with springs at the joints. Now observe," and he put the Sacred Name in its mouth.

Slowly the creature rose to its feet and saluted the monarch who was so delighted that he cried: "Give him to me, rabbi.”

"That cannot be," said Rabbi Lion, solemnly. "The Sacred Name must not pass from my possession. Otherwise the creature may do great damage again. This time I shall take care and will not use the man on the Sabbath.”

The king saw the wisdom of this and set the rabbi at liberty and allowed him to take the creature to his house. The Jews looked on in wonderment when they saw the creature walking along the street by the side of Rabbi Lion, but the children ran away in fear, crying: "The bogey-man.”

The rabbi exercised caution with his bogey-man this time, and every Friday, just before Sabbath commenced, he took the name from its mouth so as to render it powerless.

It became more wonderful every day, and one evening it startled the rabbi from a doze by beginning to speak.

"I want to be a soldier," it said, "and fight for the king. I belong to the king. You made me for him.”

"Silence," cried Rabbi Lion, and it had to obey. "I like not this," said the rabbi to himself. "This monster must not become my master, or it may destroy me and perhaps all the Jews."

He could not help but wonder whether the king was right and that it must be a sin to create a man. The creature not only spoke, but grew surly and disobedient, and yet the rabbi hesitated to break it up, for it was most useful to him. It did all his cooking, washing and cleaning, and three servants could not have performed the work so neatly and quickly.

One Friday afternoon when the rabbi was preparing to go to the synagogue, he heard a loud noise in the street.

"Come quickly," the people shouted at his door. "Your bogey-man is trying to get into the synagogue.”

Rabbi Lion rushed out in a state of alarm. The monster had slipped from the house and was battering down the door of the synagogue.

"What art thou doing?" demanded the rabbi, sternly.

"Trying to get into the synagogue to destroy the scrolls of the Holy Law," answered the monster. "Then wilt thou have no power over me, and I shall make a great army of bogey-men who shall fight for the king and kill all the Jews."

"I will kill thee first," exclaimed Rabbi Lion, and springing forward he snatched the parchment with the Name so quickly from the creature's mouth that it collapsed at his feet a mass of broken springs and pieces of wood and glue.

For many years afterward these pieces were shown to visitors in the attic of the synagogue when the story was told of the rabbi's bogey-man.

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The most famous and well-known golem legend is called “The Golem of Prague,” and it has a lot in common with the story we just heard. I’d like to look at these similarities, but let’s first talk briefly about what life in Prague was like for Jewish residents in the late 16th century.  

The city was ruled by Rudolph II, an ineffectual ruler who loved art & the occult. Rudolph II was a member of the House of Hapsberg, and he held a staggering array of titles: Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and Croatia, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, Breaker of Chains, and Mother of Dragons. Okay, just kidding about those last two. Anyway, life in Prague wasn’t easy for the Jews who lived there. They were only allowed to live in an approved area of the city, known as the Jewish ghetto, and anti-Semitic attacks and riots during this time were a real concern. And things were even worse if legends are to be believed: there were rumors the king was planning to either expel or kill all the Jews who resided in the city. 

“The Golem of Prague” tells the story of Rabbi Loew, who created a great golem along the banks of the city’s river and brought it to life to defend the Jewish people from the threat of Rudolph II. This golem reportedly had the ability to summon spirts from the dead and make himself invisible, and every Friday night the rabbi would deactivate the golem so that he could rest on the sabbath. But, one day he forgot to remove the golem’s spell, and he was forced to kill the creature when it looked like it might harm the synagogue. 

As you can see, there are a lot of similar elements between this classic tale and the story we shared today. Both golems are created by a rabbi in Prague during the same period, and both are decommissioned when it seems they might harm the synagogue. 

Notably, however, the motivations for creating the golems are markedly different. In “The Golem of Prague,” the creature is brought to life to protect the Jewish people; whereas in our story, Rabbi Lion is more interested in creating a personal servant. 

Perhaps this aspect of the story has been altered to lighten things up a little bit— to remove some of the real-world heaviness so it’s more digestible for youngsters. OR perhaps “The Rabbi’s Bogey-Man” includes some sneaky commentary on the topic of religious mysticism. In the 19th century, a movement emerged in the study of Judaism that pushed for a purely rational understanding of the religion. This movement utilized the scientific method to analyze Jewish traditions, and it worked to minimize the significance of kabbalah. It’s possible that “The Rabbi’s Bogey-Man” which was written in 1919 right after this movement took hold, makes a point of incorporating Rabbi Lion’s mystical abilities in an effort to highlight their danger. It is, after all, his curious experiments that lead him to create his golems. He makes it clear that it is god— not him— who brings them to life… but it’s important to remember that his hands are the ones that shaped them.  And what do his golems do? They burn down homes. They endanger the synagogue. They prompt the king to threaten to expel all of the Jews from the city.

And all for what? 

These golems are not created to protect the Jewish people. They are instead created and kept because one man needs some help around the house.

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Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of Fab Figmentals!

Research, writing, and sound editing are done by me, Lindsey Morse. Niall Cooper assists with writing and editing. Our theme music was created by the wonderfully talented Graeme Ronald. 

New episodes drop every Wednesday. Make sure to subscribe to the show to get new episodes as soon as they’re available.

If you’re enjoying the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon. You’ll find a link to our Patreon page on our website, FabFigmentals.com. We have bonus content and stories available for supporters, and we’re grateful for any amount you’re able to give. 

If you like learning about creatures that lurk in the shadows, perhaps you’d be interested in learning more about humanity’s darker side. If so, please also check out our sister show, Assassinations Podcast. 

Thanks again for listening, and I hope you’ll join me next week, when we’ll kick off our block of Halloween-themed episodes with a look at Frankenstein’s monster.

We’ll see you next time.