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GOLEM
story
by RABBI H RABINOWICZ
(A Seven Arts Feature)
The Creator of the Golem,
Rabbi Judah ben Bezalel Loew
of Prague, known as the Ma-
haral, was neither a scholar
like Solomon ben Jechiel Lurie
(1510-1573), nor a mystic like
Moses ben Jacob Cordovery
(1522-1570). But he fired the
imagination of the Jewish
masses and no other European
rabbi of the Middle Ages has
left so deep an imprint on his
contemporaries or cast so magi
cal a spell over so many gen
erations. Fact and fiction are
closely interwoven, for the Ma-
haral became a legend in his
lifetime, and three and a half
centuries have not dimmed the
brilliance of his personality.
We know little about the per
sonal life of this remarkable
man. Few biographical details
have come down to us about
his childhood or his family. Ju
dah ben Bezalel Loew was born
in the second decade of the six
teenth century, probably in Po
sen. For a time (1553-1573) he
was Landrabbiner in Nikols-
burg. In 1583 he moved to
Prague where he took charge
of a rabbinical college. All the
while he wrote prolifically. He
produced more than fifteen
works, ranging from Gur Arye,
a commentary on Rahi's com
ments on the Pentateuch, to
Sepher Netzach, dealing with
the day of mourning for the
destruction of the Temple and
the Messianic belief; from Se
pher Hagdulah, about the Sab
bath, to Sepher Shamayim
Vaaretz, about the Jewish New
Year and the Day of Atone
ment.
People began to take notice
of Rabbi Judah when the Em
peror Rudolf II of Habsburg re
ceived him in the Hradcany
Palace on 16th February, 1592.
In the words of the chronicler
Gans: “Our Sovereign, the just,
gracious and high Emperor Ru-
dolphus, called the Gaon Liwa,
the son of Bezalel, to come be
fore him. received him most
kindly and conversed with him
as a friend. The subject of the
conversation, however, is quite
unknown.” The Emperor was
a keen student of astrology and
alchemy, and the astronomer
Tycho Brahe is believed to
have arranged the meeting. Af
ter this, mysterious rumors
began to circulate. It was said
that in return for the Emper
or’s promise to suppress the
Blood Libel, the Maharal had
given him an impressive de
monstration of powers of the
Cabbalah. Three centuries be
fore the 21-inch screen the
Maharal is said to have used
a kind of television technique,
the rabbi enabling the Emperor
to “glimpse far-off places.”
But the glamour of, the Em
peror episode was eclipsed by
an even greater achievement,
the creation of Golem. In bibli
cal and mishnaic Hebrew the
word Golem has several con
notations, an embryo, a mass
of matter, the antithesis of
“wise.” It was widely believed
among Jews that it was possi
ble to create a homunculus, a
superman by means of the In
effable Name, the Tetragram-
maton, the Shem Hameforash.
According to rabbinic litera
ture. Ben Sir (the author of
Ecclesiasticus) strove to cre
ate a Golem by the use of the
mystical Sefer Yezirah (the
book of Creation attributed to
the Patriarch Abrahm). But
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