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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you cannot really take offense at that. I think most of us Jews who know about the Golem (and especially those of us that still believe it to be true and not a fabrication) think that he was there to protect the Jewish Community, and that the Maharal sent him to save people form blood libels and the like.
Perhaps we can thank the Jewish Press and the famous Golem book for that, but if that is what we know about the Golem you cannot really expect the goyim to think any differently.
Rafi, I merely aim to debunk another myth, that’s all. And in true weblog fashion I present my personal feelings on the subject as they were raised when I heard about a golem challenge in a popular culture phenomena.
I am fine with that. Debunk it all you want. I just though that “taking offense” at the belief that if it existed it was to protect the Jews is a bit harsh.
Something that is a common belief needn’t be so shocking when expressed that one needs to take offense. One can refute it, I was just commenting on the take offense. I read a lot this year about the Golem and am fairly convinced it was a myth, even though I believed it until recently never having heard it was a myth. But most people I think still believe it to be reality. And I think of the most people who believe it was real also believe its purpose was to protect the jews from blood libels and the likes. Those are the stories we grew up with.
So debunk it, but no need to take offense at what is an extremely popular belief and has only been discussed and refuted in recent years.
I guess it can compare, though I cringe a bit as I do so, to Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy, and Hannukah Harry (not really).
I enjoyed your post (read this morning) about the “golem” of Prague. I caught the tail end of that section of the Amazing Race last night .
Anyway, I happen to be one of those people who likes golem stories. I will read almost any modern retelling of it, such as Pete Hamill’s “Snow in August”, Michael Chabon’s “Cavalier & Clay”, and Thane Rosenbaum’s “The Golems of Gotham”.
Even though I know that the “golem” has to defend the helpless Jewish population – somewhere in my brain I always think of the golem perhaps as the Jewish subconscious, wanting to be feared by our attackers.
Denise, Is there anything you don’t like reading?
As to your point about the golem being our subconscious need to defend ourselves – that reminds me of the whole Inglorious Basterds thing…
The Maharal’s Golem brings up a more serious issue: If things like this can easily slip into the popular knowledge to the point where many rebbeim take it for granted, how can one trust that there has been any reliable mesorah?
My Rebbeim never taught me about the golem. I learned it about it from 2 of the least reliable sources I know of. The Jewish Press Comics and the Mendy and the Golem comic books published by Chabad.
those are not reliable sources???