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Jewish Golem Essay

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In Jewish tradition, the golem is most widely known as an artificial creature that is brought to life by powerful magic. In Hebrew, the word, golem, stands for, shapeless mass. Golems are strong but simple-minded, having no will of their own they obey their creators every order. According to Jewish law, a golem’s life is valued at less than a human’s, for only God, not Man, can give a creature a soul. Golems are most commonly made from clay, but in some stories they are made of made of wood or sometimes ash. The magic that brings golems to life comes from Kabbalah, an arcane branch of Jewish teaching. Several different rabbis have their own understandings of how to create a golem. Most versions involve the shaping of a man like figure using …show more content…

The story features Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late-16th-century rabbi of Prague. There are many different tales depicting why the golem was brought to life and how its life was ended. In the tale, Rabbi Judah Loew creates a golem to protect the Jews of Prague against various possible threats, such as, violent anti-Semitic attacks. It was also said that he created a golem to protect the Jewish community from Blood Libel and to help out doing physical labor, since golems are very strong. Another version says it was close to Easter, and a Jew-hating priest was attempting to turn the Christians against the Jews and cause a violent attack, and the golem was created to protect the jews during the Easter season. The different versions recall the golem becoming violent and threatening innocent lives, so Rabbi Loew was forced to take the life from the golem. A different version has the golem going mad and running away. In some versions of the myth, the golem becomes violent because he is “unlucky in love”. In other versions, the golem stays obedient to his creator, and lies down peacefully when Rabbi Loew takes the life from him. It’s said that the Golem of Prague’s body is still in the attic of the Old New Synagogue in

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