The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late 16th century rabbi of Prague, also known as the Maharal, who reportedly "created a golem out of clay from the banks of the Vltava River and brought it to life through rituals and Hebrew incantations to defend the Prague ghetto from anti Semitic attacks" and pogroms.
Depending on the version of the legend, the Jews in Prague were to be either expelled or killed under the rule of Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor. To protect the Jewish community, the rabbi constructed the Golem out of clay from the banks of the Vltava river, and brought it to life through rituals and Hebrew incantations. The Golem was called Josef and was known as Yossele. It was said that he could make himself invisible and summon spirits from the dead.
Rabbi Loew deactivated the Golem on Friday evenings by removing the shem before the Sabbath (Saturday) began,[5] so as to let it rest on Sabbath.[5]
One Friday evening Rabbi Loew forgot to remove the shem, and feared that the Golem would desecrate the Sabbath.
A different story tells of a golem that fell in love, and when rejected, became the violent monster seen in most accounts. Some versions have the golem eventually going on a murderous rampage.
The rabbi then managed to pull the shem from his mouth and immobilize him in front of the synagogue, whereupon the golem fell in pieces.
The Golem's body was stored in the attic genizah of the Old New Synagogue,where it would be restored to life again if needed. According to legend, the body of Rabbi Loew's Golem still lies in the synagogue's attic.
Rabbinic Sources
א"ר יוחנן בר חנינא שתים עשרה שעות הוי היום שעה ראשונה הוצבר עפרו שניה נעשה גולם
Rabbi Yoḥanan bar Ḥanina says: Daytime is twelve hours long, and the day Adam the first man was created was divided as follows: In the first hour of the day, his dust was gathered. In the second, an undefined figure was fashioned.
There is also evidence that creating a Golem was primarily not a a physical procedure,but rather a highly advanced meditative technique.By chanting the appropriate letter arrays together with the tetragrammaton,the initiate could form a very real mental image of a human being,limb by limb.This possibly could be used as an astral body from,through which one could ascend to the the spiritual realms.
The formation of such a spiritual body,however would also result in tremendous spiritual potential........"
1. Is it significant that the Golem gains autonomy in some stories?
2. What does it mean to be created? To create ourselves?
3. What does it mean to take autonomy over our own creation?
"The rabbis tried to reconcile these two stories into one coherent narrative. What happened to the woman created in Genesis 1, such that Adam was alone and in need of a mate in Genesis 2? To answer this question, the Rabbis created the legend of Lilith as the first woman. In this legend, Lilith was Adam's equal, but when he insisted on dominating her, she left him. So God created Eve to be Adam's second mate; created from his body, she was more willing to be submissive to him. Thus, Lilith was the woman mentioned in Genesis 1, and Eve the new woman created in Genesis 2 after Lilith fled." - Jewish Women's Archive
(27) And G-d created adam in G-d's image, in the image of G-d did G-d create him; male and female G-d created them. (28)
G-d blessed them and G-d said to them, “Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it; and rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on earth.” (29) G-d said, “See, I give you every seed-bearing plant that is upon all the earth, and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit; they shall be yours for food.
(18) Then the Lord G-d said, “It is not good for the adam to be alone; I will make a fitting helper for him.” (19) And the LORD G-d formed out of the earth all the wild beasts and all the birds of the sky, and brought them to the adam to see what he would call them; and whatever the adam called each living creature, that would be its name. (20) And the adam gave names to all the cattle and to the birds of the sky and to all the wild beasts; but for the adam no fitting helper was found. (21) So the LORD G-d cast a deep sleep upon the adam; and, while he slept, G-d took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that spot. (22) And the LORD G-d fashioned the rib that G-d had taken from the adam into a woman; and G-d brought her to the adam. (23) Then the adam said, “This one at last is bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh. This one shall be called Woman, For from Man was she taken.” (24) Hence a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, so that they become one flesh. (25) The two of them were naked, the adam and his wife, yet they felt no shame.
After God created Adam, who was alone, He said, 'It is not good for man to be alone.' He then created a woman for Adam, from the earth, as He had created Adam himself, and called her Lilith. Adam and Lilith immediately began to fight. She said, 'I will not lie below,' and he said, 'I will not lie beneath you, but only on top. For you are fit only to be in the bottom position, while I am to be the superior one.' Lilith responded, 'We are equal to each other inasmuch as we were both created from the earth.' But they would not listen to one another. When Lilith saw this, she pronounced the Ineffable Name and flew away into the air.
Adam stood in prayer before his Creator: 'Sovereign of the universe!' he said, 'the woman you gave me has run away.' At once, the Holy One, blessed be He, sent these three angels Senoy, Sansenoy, and Semangelof, to bring her back.
Said the Holy One to Adam, 'If she agrees to come back, what is made is good. If not, she must permit one hundred of her children to die every day.' The angels left God and pursued Lilith, whom they overtook in the midst of the sea, in the mighty waters wherein the Egyptians were destined to drown. They told her God's word, but she did not wish to return. The angels said, 'We shall drown you in the sea.’
'Leave me!' she said. 'I was created only to cause sickness to infants. If the infant is male, I have dominion over him for eight days after his birth, and if female, for twenty days.’
When the angels heard Lilith's words, they insisted she go back. But she swore to them by the name of the living and eternal God: 'Whenever I see you or your names or your forms in an amulet, I will have no power over that infant.' She also agreed to have one hundred of her children die every day. Accordingly, every day one hundred demons perish, and for the same reason, we write the angels' names on the amulets of young children. When Lilith sees their names, she remembers her oath, and the child recovers.
We are androgynous double-faced beings,
one looking forward and one looking back.
Formed in the light of the throne in the sky,
we are never alone and we never die.
Two forms of dust, of the one and the many;
a vapor to moisten them both into clay.
Two hands to form us, to guide us and shape us,
until we are ready to walk away.
We are, we are, we are,
we are, we are, we are.
We are androgynous double-faced beings,
torn from each other and rendered in two.
Two flaming swords guard the garden of Eden,
but I won’t go back there without you.
1. Again, we see the theme of being created from dust. What does it mean that Lilith was created from dust, while Eve was pulled from Adam's rib?
2. What are the consequences of Lilith throwing off this patriarchal structure? What is her fate? Is it a curse or is it empowering?
3. How can we see Lilith's self-liberation in our identities? What freedom does that bring? How does society try to "curse" us?
(ה) וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים תּוֹצֵ֨א הָאָ֜רֶץ נֶ֤פֶשׁ חַיָּה֙ לְמִינָ֔הּ בְּהֵמָ֥ה וָרֶ֛מֶשׂ וְחַֽיְתוֹ־אֶ֖רֶץ לְמִינָ֑הּ וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן (בראשית א, כד) וַיַּ֣עַשׂ אֱלֹהִים֩ אֶת־חַיַּ֨ת הָאָ֜רֶץ לְמִינָ֗הּ וְאֶת־הַבְּהֵמָה֙ לְמִינָ֔הּ וְאֵ֛ת כָּל־רֶ֥מֶשׂ הָֽאֲדָמָ֖ה לְמִינֵ֑הוּ... (בראשית א, כה)׃... אָמַר רַבִּי חָמָא בַּר הוֹשַׁעְיָא, בִּנְפָשׁוֹת אוֹמֵר אַרְבַּע, כְּשֶׁנִּבְרְאוּ הוּא אוֹמֵר: חַיַּת הָאָרֶץ לְמִינָהּ וְאֶת הַבְּהֵמָה וְאֵת כָּל רֶמֶשׂ הָאֲדָמָה, אֶתְמְהָא. רַבִּי אוֹמֵר, אֵלּוּ הַשֵּׁדִים, שֶׁבָּרָא הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אֶת נִשְׁמָתָם וּבָא לִבְרֹאת אֶת גּוּפָן וְקָדַשׁ הַשַּׁבָּת וְלֹא בְרָאָן, לְלַמֶּדְךָ דֶּרֶךְ אֶרֶץ מִן הַשֵּׁדִים, שֶׁאִם יִהְיֶה בְּיַד אָדָם חֵפֶץ טוֹב אוֹ מַרְגָּלִית עֶרֶב שַׁבָּת עִם חֲשֵׁכָה, אוֹמְרִים לוֹ הַשְּׁלֵךְ מִמְךָ, שֶׁמִּי שֶׁאָמַר וְהָיָה הָעוֹלָם הָיָה עָסוּק בִּבְרִיָּתוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם וּבָרָא אֶת נִשְׁמָתָן בָּא לִבְרֹאת אֶת גּוּפָן וְקָדַשׁ שַׁבָּת וְלֹא בְרָאָן.
"And God said: Let the earth bring forth the life (nefesh) of living creatures of all types, cattle, creeping things, and wild beasts of all types. And it was so. And God made wild beasts of all types, cattle of all types, and creeping things of all types…” (Genesis 1:24-25) …R. Hama bar Hoshaya said: Souls are spoken of 4 times, but when they are created, it says, “made wild beasts of all types, cattle of all types, and creeping things of all types.” Why 3 here and 4 there? Rabbi says: These are the demons. God created their souls, but when He came to create their bodies, He sanctified Shabbat and did not create them.
Ideally it returns to its source, but sometimes the process goes wrong. In such cases, a variety of ills may befall the soul. The most well-known of these is the phenomenon of the dybbuk, or possession when one soul “sticks” onto another. Possession by a dybbuk can happen for a number of reasons. Perhaps the departed soul is sinister and the living person innocent. Or, conversely, the departed soul may have been saintly, but wronged by the living; in this case, possession by a dybbuk is essentially punishment (or revenge) for an improper act. Or, apparently, possession may happen almost at random.
There are other “possession” possibilities as well. A soul may visit a person during sleep, bringing messages from the beyond or prophecies about the future, or it may haunt a place, as in popular ghost stories.
1. What does it mean to be "possessed?"
2. How could possession be a source of power or liberation for previous generations?
3. How do we see possession in the modern day? How do we see possession within ourselves?