Chajim BlochBesprekingen

Some quotes I found interesting:

From the Chapter called "Rabbi Loew's Utterances on the Golem" [pp. 200-203]:
* There is no trace of good or bad instinct in the Golem, and all his actions are only like those of an automatic machine, that fulfills the will of its creator.

* The Golem had to be dumb, because, as an incomplete creation, he was unworthy that the Neshamah, the light of God, dwell within him. He was inhabited only by Nefesh (sensory being) and Ruach (spirit).

* There could be lent to the Golem only a small portion of intelligence, Daat (knowledge). The other two intelligences, Chochmah (wisdom) and Bina (judgment), he could not be supplied with at all, because, as said above, there was no Neshamah dwelling in his being.

* The Golem was never ill, for he was immune from every impulse to do evil.

* . . . . the Golem, who, as said above, had no impulse [good or bad], could, like the animals and birds, demons and spirits, see all hidden things.

* The Golem could not be counted in a Minyan.

Not a bad book, but not fabulous either. I got it in a souvenir store when visiting Prague, because I'm Jewish and I enjoy myths/legends/historical tales, so it seemed like an interesting find. It was a quick simple read about the legend of the Golem. Probably not worth the money, as similar stories are all over the place, including Wikipedia and whatnot, and there's tons of slight variations to the myth of Golem, so it's not like any one text is better.

In other words, this was a decent read, but don't bother seeking it out.½

Legenden um den "ashkenasischen" Rabbi Jizchak Lurja (1534-72) übertragen aus dem jiddischen Urtext.

Bought in a museum in Prague, because I wanted to learn more about the legend of the Golem. I did not really get what I wanted from this book, as there are only two short and vague stories about the Golem.

However, those stories and all the others gave me a real sense of the Jewish Quarter's history, and vastly increased my appreciation and reverence for the things I saw on my trip. So really, it ended up being the book I needed.

A collection of legends and folklore surrounding the Prague Golem, it's creation and the Jews living in Prague. It is made up of a series of short tales in roughly chronological order including tales of the New-Old Sysnagogue, the Quiet Jew and Rabbi Loew who famously created the Golem to save the Jews of Prague.

There are some lovely pen drawings to accompany the tales and it was interesting to read stories from an area I have visited. I was lucky enough to visit the Jewish cemetary on my second trip to Prague and get a photo of Loew's grave as well as visit the New-Old Synagogue. Reading these tales made me want to go back again.

I think the story that most stuck in my mind was that entitled Rabbi Loew and the Rose which tells of the death of Loew. He was quite the inventor making a devide that told him every time the angel of death was near as well as the famous Golem.

The Golem
Like a lot of people I was familiar with the basic concept and story of the Golem. After reading though Chayim Bloch's "The Golem: Mystical tales from the Ghetto of Prague" I have a much deeper appreciation of where it came from and what it means. Reading the five introductory writings helped in the process too. First we have a two page long introduction by Paul M. Allen from 1971. It mentions later literary expression of the Golem and provides to alternative analysis: Golem as a symbol for the collective soul of (the Jewish) people and/or Golem as the 'double' of its creator. He also posits the Golem as someone who is" demanding to be released from his servitude by us who have shaped him to the thing he is." Next we have an untitled, unsigned four page piece about the birth of the first edition of the book. How a 1917 German edition was welcomed in 1923-24 in New York. It also contains a few words attempting to discover the authenticity of the story with the help of literary detective work. The third piece in the book was written by Harry Schneiderman about "Chayim Bloch, an interpreter of the East to the West; the story of Chayim Bloch who has created a sensation in Literary Europa [sic!]." It is worth knowing more about the life of the person who revitalized (and to some extent reinterpreted) the story for modern use. Fourth, we have four pages of literary analysis, titled, "Prefatory" by Hans Ludwig Held. Finally we have the author's seven page introduction itself. Bloch talks about the sources he used (Hebrew manuscripts) and yet another interpretation of the possible hidden meaning s of the legendary figure.

Then we finally arrive to the bulk of the book: 33 individual chapters, almost all of them containing a single story related to the Golem, from the birth of Judah Loew to his death. A better title for the book,--if we believe that titles should reflect the contents of books--would be Rabbi Judah Loew, because he stories convey his virtues, powers, wisdom and passion. The Golem doesn't even appear in about fourth of the chapters. This provides a much wider context (in terms of period of time, geography and social relations) than most Golem books that are strictly focusing on the trouble he was called to solve for and his dissolution. Here we see the Golem working in an extended period of time, used by his master over decades for the protection of Prague Jews both communally and individually. I won't detail these narratives, but they really are where the action is happening and the learning for our age derives from. They display a fascinating mixture of personal wit, historical anecdotes, societal observations, and mystical words and deeds. I will surely need to reread them to get a comprehensive understanding, as for a first reading I just followed them as the captivating tales they were.

I cannot stop wondering what the story and its layers of meanings signify for the publisher. The volume was published by Steinerboooks, which was established to serve the work of Rudolph Steiner and anthroposophy. The Golem was published in their "spiritual Sciences" paperback series, along with such titles as From Sphinx to Christ, Ancient mysteries of Greece, Rognarok, Atlantis, Vril, Tarot … In other words the esoteric nature of these topics must have some an important connection to anthroposophy. But I believe this connection is rather different than the Golem story plays within Jewish context. I cannot indulge in a thorough comparison because I am not familiar enough with anthroposophy.

The writing is sloppy and the stories uninspired.½