According to ancient Jewish legends, in the Middle Ages, the wisest rabbis, who thoroughly knew the magical secrets of the Kabbalah, could revive statues molded from clay, thus receiving strong and obedient servants. Such clay assistants were called golems.
SERVANT
The legend of the golem came to us from medieval Prague. If you believe her, it was in this city that an artificial man of clay was created, who was not only used to perform the most dreary work, but also protected the Jewish community from pogroms. In fact, it was a kind of clay robot and the cheapest servant in the world. The golem did not need to be fed, he did not demand payment for his labor and unquestioningly carried out any instructions.
You can find various "instructions" for creating golems. In the simplest form, it was necessary to find a special red clay, knead it in the purest spring water and sculpt a human figure the size of a 10-year-old child.
On the forehead of the earthen man had to inscribe the word amet (in Hebrew - "truth") and put a parchment with magic words in his mouth. After that, the clay doll came to life and began to grow. Almost immediately, the golem could be used to perform various household tasks.
Of course, it was difficult to call him a man, because he had no soul, he could not speak and think. To destroy the golem, it was necessary to erase the first letter in the word amet inscribed on its forehead, the word met (translated as "death") was obtained, and then it turned into a heap of clay. It was noted that the clay man could well get out of control and even kill his creator.
Promotional video:
PROTECTOR OF THE JEWISH GHETTO
There was also a more complex way of creating golems, in which four rabbis were present, born under the signs of the four elements - Water, Fire, Air and Earth. At midnight, while reading psalms in a secluded place, they sculpted a golem three cubits long from clay. The power of the clay figure was given by a rabbi with the sign of the Earth.
The golem lying on its back was first walked around seven times from right to left by a rabbi born under the sign of Fire, after which the clay was red-hot. Then, from left to right, the rabbi, who was born under the sign of Water, walked around the figure seven times, while the golem hissed as if it was being poured with water. His figure began to take on a human form, hair appeared on his head, and nails grew on his fingers and toes.
At the end of this "operation", the rabbi with the sign of Air bypassed the golem seven times, he put parchment with secret magic words into his mouth and breathed air into his nostrils. The golem came to life, human clothes were put on it, after which this clay creature was already difficult to distinguish from an ordinary person.
According to legend, only a few rabbis with sufficient secret knowledge could create golems, and among them was the chief rabbi of Prague, Maharal Yehuda ben Bezalel. In those days, the Jewish ghetto was often subjected to violent pogroms. According to local legend, the rabbi specially created the golem to protect the ghetto. Bezalel named the golem Joseph, and told his family that he met a dumb beggar on the street, took pity on him and took him into his house as a servant.
During the next pogrom, the invulnerable and powerful clay man gave such a rebuff to the attackers that they immediately forgot the road to the ghetto and began to bypass it.
MADNESS
According to the legend, the golem stayed in the rabbi's house for about 13 years. Perhaps he would have lived longer if he had not had a fit of madness. As it turned out, even a clay person without a brain is not immune to madness. However, modern science fiction writers more than once played out the plot when people confronted a robot that had fallen into madness. As they say, "nothing is new under the moon."
Golem figurines sell well in Prague
So, the golem suddenly went mad and began to destroy everything around. He destroyed the rabbi's house and broke the necks of all his pets - chickens, dogs and cats. You can also find mentions that the golem rushed through the streets of Prague and killed all the people that came to hand. Rabbi Bezalel was at that time in the synagogue. Learning about the atrocities of the golem, he rushed to find him.
Finding the servant, Bezalel managed to approach and pull the parchment with the magic words out of his mouth. The golem immediately turned into a lifeless body, which the rabbi and his assistants brought into the house and laid on the bed. Bezalel decided to destroy the golem, this should have been done secretly, because everyone took his servant for a human. The transformation of Joseph into a heap of clay could be perceived as murder with the help of witchcraft, and this threatened the ghetto with another pogrom.
That is why Bezalel, under various pretexts, removed the servants and household, and then with his assistants performed a ritual opposite to that used to create the golem. As a result, Joseph turned into a clay figure again.
She was secretly taken out of the house and hidden in the attic of the synagogue. By the way, the building of this synagogue has survived to this day, and it is very popular with tourists, many of whom know the legend of the Prague golem. Rumor has it that the golem is still in that attic …
FOLLOWING THE LEGEND
In the 1980s, Czech writer and explorer Ivan Makerl undertook a real investigation trying to find the roots of the famous Prague golem legend. He studied all the city archives, but nowhere did he even find a mention of a clay robot, although such a popular legend clearly could not appear from scratch.
It dawned on the researcher when he learned that the word "golem" in translation from Hebrew means not only "an artificial man created with the help of magic", but also "a fool." Makerl suggested that the rabbi did not create the golem, but simply took the unfortunate sick madman into the house.
Most likely, the rabbi's new servant was dumb and distinguished by remarkable strength. Bezalel found a medicine for the patient, which stopped in the bud the attacks of madness. Apparently, due to the fact that he poured medicinal powder directly into his mouth with the help of a piece of paper to the new servant, a mention appeared in the legend that the golem could be revived and pacified with a piece of paper with magic words.
Perhaps one day the rabbi forgot to give the servant medicine and he fell into a rampage. Trying to calm him down as quickly as possible, the rabbi might in a hurry overdose or mix up the medicine, which caused his servant to die. To prevent this incident from negatively affecting the Jewish ghetto, the body of the deceased was hidden in the synagogue attic and no one was allowed to go there.
According to Mackerl, over time, rumors about this incident could well be transformed into a legend about an artificial clay man. By the way, Mackerl managed to visit the attic of the synagogue, but he did not find anything interesting there.
The same synagogue
Vitaly GOLUBEV