On Sunday night “The Amazing Race” whittled down from 4 teams to the final 3 in a race around the world. This leg of the race took place entirely in Prague, Czech Republic. As is customary on The Amazing Race, the roadblocks and detours along the way were part of the local culture.
One cannot speak of Prague without mentioning the great Maharal, Rabbi Judah Loew. And one cannot mention the Maharal without mentioning the famous Golem of Prague.
The racers were to cover a straw and wood golem with clay and bring the golem to the Old New Synagogue in Prague to receive their next clue. Check out this video for their instructions. (13 seconds is enough)
Did you notice the way they describe a golem?
“Teams will delve into Prague lore and Jewish Mythology by building a golem, a figure made of straw and clay that was constructed to protect the Jewish Quarter in the 15th Century.”
I would probably take offense to a miraculous biblical narrative being called mythology. Why? Because mythology implies that the story is fabricated. Colloquially, Mythology implies a false tale. Academics do not imply truth or falsity with regard to mythology, but lay people do. And The Amazing Race is not Academia. So, I would be offended if the Torah was called mythology in the colloquial sense.
But when the golem was branded mythology I did not even flinch. In fact, I only did flinch when the second part of the description of the golem came. When they said that a golem was constructed to protect the Jewish Quarter in the 15th Century, I was slightly offended.
Why?
Because of an article that was brought to my attention by Rabbi Adlerstein.
Many people believe the Golem of Prague was a Kabbalistic Robot who was fashioned from mud by the Maharal to protect the Jews of Prague. Using Kabbalistic incantations and powers the Maharal is said to have created and then controlled the indestructible Golem, using the Golem as a weapon and a shield from hateful neighbors and government. There are stories told of the epic abilities and ultimately its demise.
But those who believe those stories have not read the article I was shown by Rabbi Adlerstein. The article ran around the 400th yartzeit (death anniversary) of the Maharal, when Rabbi Adlerstein (an expert in Maharal) was in Prague for the special proceedings in September 2009. The Jewish Action printed an excerpt of a scholarly look at the truth about the Maharal and the Golem of Prague.
The book rejects the notion that the Golem patrolled the streets of Prague in the 15ht Century showing that the story was likely fabricated in the late 18th Century and were adapted in the mid-19th Century into a book that has debunked and is now widely considered a hoax.
The article is here. (recommended reading – it is very short)
Therefore, the only offense I took to the description of the Golem on The Amazing Race was the assertion that there was an actual Golem. The myth has been debunked.
Is there still value in the story of the Golem of Prague? Sure. It is mythology. It has literary value. It is entertaining. It gives us a peek into mid-19th Century Europe, the place and time the stories were written. Perhaps most of all, it reminds us that we are naive, gullible and desperate for heroes in our lives.
That final message strikes me as important.
We don’t need mythological heroes. There are heroes all around us. There are so many people from whom we can learn and try to emulate. There are so many real stories of heroism and valiance, we don’t need mythology to be our hero.
Just keepin’ it real…
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