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Lenoir Pad & Paper Co., Inc.
Furniture Packing Materials
Cotton Batting
Phone PLaza 4-3466
LENOIR, NORTH CAROLINA
Qbriten
FURNITURE COMPANY INC.
Lenoir, North Carolina 28645
Manufacturers of
Bedroom Furniture
MORRISTOWN
CHEST COMPANY
Morristown, Tennessee ,
p o Box 370 209 South Hill St
Telephone 586-6441
Manufacturers of Bedroom - Dining R*oni Furniture
Cedar Wardrobes arid Cedar Chests
the task was too great for him.
“You cannot do it single-hand
ed,” he was told. It was only
when he enlisted the aid of the
prophet Jeremiah that Ben Si
ra succeeded in forming a crea
ture.
As time went on the Cabba-
lists became more proficient in
this strange art. According to
a legend in the Talmud, Rabah
had created a Golem; Rabbi
Haninah and Rabbi Oshayah
formed a three-year-old calf
every Friday: Rashi, the ra
tionalist, finds nothing surpris
ing in this story. “They, Hani
nah and Oshayah,” says Rashi,
“used to combine the letters of
the code by which the universe
was created. This is not con
sidered forbidden magic, for
the creations of God were
brought into being through His
Holy Name.” Among Golem-
creators of the Middle Ages
were Solomon Ibn Gabirel
(1021-1058), the philosopher-
poet, author of Kether Malkut,
and Rabbi Samuel, father of
the pietist Judah Hechassid of
Regensburg, who wrote Sefer
Chassidim. Ashkenazim and
Sephardim were for once unit
ed by a common effort and in
the sixteenth century Elijah of
Chelm joined the limited ranks
of the robot-makers. Nor was
this merely a matter of aca
demic interest: Haham Zebi,
Elijah’s grandson, argued the
question as to whether a Golem
could be counted to a minyan.
So the Golem was not exact
ly a unique phenomenon a-
mong Jews. Yet no Golem
could stand comparison with
the Golem of the Maharal. Al
though we know little about
the rabbi we know a great deal
about the robot he created. A
wealth of detail has come down
to us about this prefabricated
being. Unlike his predecessors,
the Maharal was motivated
neither by the urge to conquer
the unknown nor by love of
fame or fortune. Direst neces
sity drove the Maharal to this
desperate measure. It was a
time of terrible persecution
for the Jews. Again and again
the infamous blood libel ac
cusation was revived, and
every Passover was over-shad
owed by this thunderblack
cloud, threatening to bring dis
aster upon a helpless people.
The Festival of Freedom
brought imprisonment, torture
and death to many innocent
victims. To the inveterate Jew-
baiter, Priest Thoddeus of Pra
gue, the blood libel was a devil-
sent opportunity, a chance
to wreak vengeance on the
“unbelievers.” With his savage
sermons he inflamed the pri
mitive peasants. The Maharal
pleaded in vain for moderation,
mercy and justice. In despair
he cried to his Father in Hea
ven and the divine counsel was
stark and startling: "Create out
of clay a Golem who will de
stroy all the enemies of Is
rael.”
With the aid of his son-in-
law, Isaac ben Shimshon Haco-
hen and his disciple Jacob en
Chaim Halevy, the Maharal ac
complished this task on Adar
24, 1580. “At the river Maldav-
ka, on its banks,” writes the
author of the Miracles of the
Maharal, “we found a spot con
taining sticky clay. We made
out of it a human form, three
ells long, with face, hands and
feet, and it lay there like a
man on his back . . . Now the
Maharal himself performed the
seven circuits and the three of
us pronounced simultaneously
the verse: ‘And the Lord God
. . . breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life; and man be
came a living creature’!” (Gen.
II, 7). Solemnly the Maharal
addressed the creature of clay:
“Know that we have created
you out of the dust of the earth
in order that you may liberate
the Jews from their enemies
and oppressors. You will stay
with me and live in my court
room, where your duties will
be those of an usher. You must
fulfill all my commands, even
walk through fire, descend in
to deep waters, or jump from
a tower, until you have carried
out my orders, no matter where
I send you.” The Golem was
named “Yossele ' and he serv
ed as a Shammas (usher) at
the Beth Din. With one or two
lapses, Yossele carried out his
duties faithfully for some ten
years. Alert, watchful, ubiquit
ous, often invisible, Yossele
was a powerful tool, the untir
ing guardian of the Jews of
Prague.
Yossele had superhuman
strength. He was a one-man
army and an invincible force.
About him there are a host of
legends. From Purim to Pass-
over. Yossele knew no rest.
With uncanny speed he patrol
led the streets. On one occasion
he overpowered a carter who
was trying to smuggle the
corpse of a Christian child into
the Jewish quarter. On anoth
er occasion he saved a young
Jewish girl from apostasy. It is
also related that he foiled a
plot to poison many Jews. So
Yossele served his purpose
nobly and the time came when
his task was complete. On Lag
Bonier, 1590, the Golem was
reduced to a heap of dust, and
his resting place, the attic of
the Altnou-Shul, became for
bidden ground.
Thus it came about that the
Maharal, whom his contempo
raries called the “Mentor of the
Diaspora” and the “Light of
Israel,” is best known to pos-
.terity as the “Creator of the
Golem.”
The Southern Israelite