![]() ![]() The Jewish Quarterly Review argues that the story of Prague's golem is heavily influenced by the earlier tale of the Golem of Chełm, Poland. In some versions, the rabbi survives, while in others, he's crushed by the weight of the falling, insensible golem - and also metaphorically by his own hubris. Rabbi Shem quickly wiped away the letter aleph from the golem's forehead, turning emet (truth) to met (death). " The Golem Redux" reports that, in the legend, the rabbi asked the ever-taller golem to lean down and help the rabbi remove his shoes. To fix the problem, Rabbi Shem was at least still able to use his smarts to end the golem's existence. The golem was also seen to be growing larger and stronger than it had been originally created. When asked to collect wood, for instance, the golem attempted to chop down an entire forest. But, setting off a narrative streak that would last for centuries, the golem proved to follow instructions too literally. He was so well educated, it seems, that he created a clay-based golem to serve and protect the Jewish people of Chełm. ![]() To subdue an unruly golem made in this way, you simply need to get close to the raging, powerful creature and remove the tiny scrap of parchment from its mouth.Īccording to a video released by Cztery Strony Bajek, Rabbi Shem was an incredibly wise and well-educated religious leader who was also exceedingly well versed in the mystical Kabbalah tradition. And, when the golem inevitably gets frighteningly strong and starts to run out of your control, erasing a single letter in that sequence changes the word to met - "death." Otherwise, you might write God's name on a bit of paper and place it in the golem's mouth. You, either alone or with a group of similarly holy and learned people, need to then walk around the lifeless form, chanting incantations typically made up of letters from the Hebrew alphabet and also the secret name of God.Īs " The Golem Redux" notes, some variations of these instructions also say that you need to inscribe certain letters onto the golem, usually spelling out emet or "truth" on the creature's forehead. Per the Jewish Virtual Library, these usually start off with a directive to shape a human form out of soil or clay. But, if you're really interested, there are some instructions out there in texts like the mystical Sefer Yetzirah and rabbi's commentaries therein. ![]()
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