The oldest description of the creation of a golem by a historical figure is included in a tradition connected to Rabbi Eliyahu of Chełm (1550–1583). In 1625, Joseph Delmedigo wrote that "many legends of this sort are current, particularly in Germany." The Golem of Chełm One source credits 11th-century Solomon ibn Gabirol with creating a golem, possibly female, for household chores. Samuel of Speyer (12th century) was said to have created a golem. The earliest known written account of how to create a golem can be found in Sodei Razayya by Eleazar ben Judah of Worms of the late 12th and early 13th centuries. The golem could then be deactivated by removing the aleph (א) in emét, thus changing the inscription from "truth" to "death" ( mét מת, meaning "dead"). Ī golem is inscribed with Hebrew words in some tales (for example, some versions of Chełm and Prague, as well as in Polish tales and versions of the Brothers Grimm), such as the word emét ( אמת, "truth" in Hebrew) written on its forehead. It was believed that golems could be activated by an ecstatic experience induced by the ritualistic use of various letters of the Hebrew alphabet forming a " shem" (any one of the Names of God), wherein the shem was written on a piece of paper and inserted in the mouth or in the forehead of the golem. Rav Zeira said, "You were created by the sages return to your dust" ( Imperial Aramaic: הוה קא משתעי בהדיה ולא הוה קא מהדר ליה אמר ליה מן חבריא את הדר לעפריך).ĭuring the Middle Ages, passages from the Sefer Yetzirah ( Book of Formation) were studied as a means to create and animate a golem, although little in the writings of Jewish mysticism supports this belief. Rav Zeira spoke to him, but he did not answer. Sanhedrin 65b describes Rava creating a man ( gavra). Early on, the main disability of the golem was its inability to speak. Like Adam, all golems are created from mud by those close to divinity, but no anthropogenic golem is fully human. In the Talmud (Tractate Sanhedrin 38b), Adam was initially created as a golem ( גולם) when his dust was "kneaded into a shapeless husk". The oldest stories of golems date to early Judaism. "Golem" passed into Yiddish as goylem to mean someone who is lethargic or beneath a stupor. Similarly, it is often used today as a metaphor for a mindless lunk or entity that serves a man under controlled conditions, but is hostile to him under other conditions. In Modern Hebrew, golem is used to mean "dumb" or "helpless", or a pupa. The Mishnah uses the term for an uncultivated person: "Seven characteristics are in an uncultivated person, and seven in a learned one", ( שבעה דברים בגולם) ( Avot 5:7 in the Hebrew text English translations vary). The word golem occurs once in the Bible in Psalm 139:16, which uses the word גלמי ( golmi my golem), that means "my light form", "raw" material, connoting the unfinished human being before God's eyes. Over the centuries, it has been used to connote war, community, isolation, hope, and despair." Etymology It can be a victim or villain, man or woman-or sometimes both. According to Moment magazine, "the golem is a highly mutable metaphor with seemingly limitless symbolism. The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late 16th-century rabbi of Prague. A Prague reproduction of the GolemĪ golem ( / ˈ ɡ oʊ l ə m/ GOH-ləm Hebrew: גּוֹלֶם, romanized: gōlem) is an animated, anthropomorphic being in Jewish folklore, which is entirely created from inanimate matter, usually clay or mud. For other uses, see Golem (disambiguation). For the character in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, see Gollum.
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