A golem is an animate being wholly constructed from inanimate material. One of the most famous stories in Jewish folklore is the Golem of Prague: In the late 1500s, Rabbi Loew fashioned a golem out of clay to protect Prague’s Jewish ghetto from the pogroms of the Holy Roman Emperor. Rabbi Loew etched the word “emet” (truth) on the clay forehead of the Golem, bringing it to life. In most accounts the Golem became increasingly violent, killing Gentiles and eventually turning on the people it was supposed to protect. Rabbi Loew deactivated the Golem by erasing the first letter from the golem’s forehead. “Emet” was transformed to “met,” truth transformed to dead. According to folklore, the body of the Golem is kept in the attic of Prague’s Old New Synagogue and it could again be restored to life if the single word on its forehead was to be transformed again; dead changed back to truth.
Description:
The Golem is not without antecedents.
A golem is an animate being wholly constructed from inanimate material. One of the most famous stories in Jewish folklore is the Golem of Prague: In the late 1500s, Rabbi Loew fashioned a golem out of clay to protect Prague’s Jewish ghetto from the pogroms of the Holy Roman Emperor. Rabbi Loew etched the word “emet” (truth) on the clay forehead of the Golem, bringing it to life. In most accounts the Golem became increasingly violent, killing Gentiles and eventually turning on the people it was supposed to protect. Rabbi Loew deactivated the Golem by erasing the first letter from the golem’s forehead. “Emet” was transformed to “met,” truth transformed to dead. According to folklore, the body of the Golem is kept in the attic of Prague’s Old New Synagogue and it could again be restored to life if the single word on its forehead was to be transformed again; dead changed back to truth.