Gershon Winkler

"The Golem of Prague" is primarily a rewriting of the stories of the Golem written by the son-in-law of the Maharal, the Rabbi who, according to the legend, created the Golem, using Kabbalah. As for the rewriting of these legends, Winkler does an acceptable job. His writing style is simple and plain - but the stories are all pretty simple. They are stories a 10 year old would have no trouble reading and comprehending. The stories are fun, but the writing needed to be stronger.

The remainder of the book is a series of essays on subjects such as miracles, Kabbalah vs. witchcraft, Torah's view of the occult, etc. I have to admit I gave up on reading these after a couple of essays. I don't know which denomination of Judaism Gerson Winkler belongs to, but I would guess some ultra-orthodox branch. While I am reading entertaining Jewish campfire stories of the man made from clay to protect the Jews of Prague from persecution, Winkler seems to be of the impression that he is writing a historical book. His beliefs in the magical powers of Kabbalah are so distant from my own beliefs that I stopped reading when his arguments became nonsensical.… (meer)