The Golem of Prague ‘aso Yenoa Low, known to the pious as the “Mohoral* came to Prague from Niklsbutg, Posen, in the year S332 of the Cretion (1572 in} inorder to Become rabbi of the comminity there, ‘The whole world fesounded with bis fame because he was deeply learned inal branches of Knowledge and knew many languages. Is it any wonder then that he mas revered by the Wise men among the Gentiles?* Even King Rudoll of Bohemia esteemed him highly. Because ofthese reaons the Mabaral was able to wage war sucessfully against the enemies of Ise] who tied to besmirch Jewish honor with their false Bleed accusations, One day, King Rucolf sent bis carriage to fetch the Mabaral for an audience with him. They talked together for a whole bur but what Was ‘said during thee meeting nobody knows to this very day ‘The Mahara retured ome in a gay mood. He told his intimates: 1 have already bal destroyed the filthy myth of the blood acrustion! ‘With God's belp 1 hope son to wash away entirely this Bidens stain from ‘ur innocent people.” ‘And the Maharal’s hope was soon fulfilled. To his joy, and to the joy ofall the Jews of Bohemia, the King issued a decree ten days later Announcing that no one, besides the particular individual charged ina blood accusation, had to stand tral, Prior to that all the Jews were col lectively charged withthe alleged crime, Furthermore, thatthe individual sccused could not be condemned unless there was positive proof of his suit inthe crime. The King also ordered that, during any til on such ‘charge, the Rabbi of Prague had to be present, Nor could the verdit be “ald unless the King himself countersigned the judge's sentence. ‘One would have thought that the King’s decree would put an end to the thameless slander thatthe Jews bad a custom which required them t9 use Cristian blood inthe baking ofthe Passover matzo. But the enemies of Israel were endlessly resourceful that way. All that it requled for a Christian who wished to destroy a Jew was stealthiy to planta dead child in his house and the hue and cry'of the blood accustion was on again Oniy in rare cases was it posible for the Jew to extiatehimselt from the fine meshes ofthe net hs enemies entangled him in. There was one man in the kingdom of Babenia of whom the Mahara ‘tood in great dread. ‘This was the priest Thaddeus. He was not only a implacable enemy of the Jews but a clever sorcerer besides. He was deter- ‘mined to carey on a wat tothe death aginet the Mabaral, The Mabaral {oo gtded himself for battle aginst this enemy (One night, the Mahara called upon Heaven to answer him ia a dream tow best he could wage sucessful war against his enemy Thaddeus. And the answer came to him in the alphabetically aranged words of the iat: ate a Gol oat of lay who wl desoy all the enemies of Teac” A Bra Golem Deva Hachomer Vir Zedim Choe Tove Yr ‘he Maharl knew that inthe Hebrew words of thi formula there were stored enough mystical secrets by means of whose poeta be could create ‘Golem He then conided his secret to Lane ben Shimon b-Coben, {isco and to his principe sil, Jacob ben Chayyi haLev. He {aid Gem that he would rege their help becae dey were boro under the contlation of Fice and Water repetivly; the Mabara Mise ws tora under the constellation of Ait. To the making of the Golem all the four cements of Fie, Water, Ait and Earth were nacseary. He then au- tiooed the two agaist revealing his plan to anyone nd fnsticied them tha, ring the nent seven days, hey were to putty thelr bodies and souls ‘wth ablations, fasting, prayer and austere. Tt was on the second day inthe mooth of Adar in the year S$40 of Creation (no, 1580) that the momentous event took place. A our in he ‘morning he tree mace thse way ota te cyto the Mold. There, en {he dap bank ofthe iver, they moulded the fute of man thee els a lengths ‘hey fashioned for hot hands and feet and ead, and drew Hb fetores in lear buman ral. ‘Having done ths the three stationed themselves atte fet ofthe prot trate Golem. The Mabarl then ordered Inae ben Shimabon baCoben to cil the igure seven times frm right to lee, He also revealed t him {he cabalstie ncantaons be was to pronounce while dong 20. ‘io soner had the Mabaras sda law completed bs task when the ‘Golem began to glow lke ie, Then the Makara aed Jacob bes Cay Levi todo the same civing, bute structed i totter diferent {abel formulae and to ence the gue from Jefe t right. As son ‘S be was tough, the fre inthe Golem was quenched and a coud of Steam arose frm its body. When it cleared, they saw that hai bad from on is head and that nals had appeared on is Bogers and toes ‘Newt, the Mabatal himself began to cle around che. Golem seven tines, Then with ove ele, all three rected the Scriptural pasage fom Genes TH. "Ande breathed into his nose the breath of He; and an became a ving 23.” Timeditely, te Golem opened bis eyes and Tooked at the tree en wonder! wre an your fet! commanded the Maral ‘The Golem stood up and they dressed him in cates they bad brought with them, clothes tat were Sting for «shes ‘Moat wonderful to teate—wbe they had left Prague two hous before they were oly three ot wien sx ofock struck there moe four of them return ‘On the way home the Mabaral std tothe Golem: “Kaow that we have created you 20 tat you may protect the defenses Jews gaint her fnemies. Your name is Joueph and you will erve me a shaver inthe Fuse of Jodgmest. You must obey me 20 mater what I tll you to 0, en sbould Task you to jump into re and water!™ ‘Achough the Galem eld nt speak, for the power of spsch is God's alone to give, he, noneteles, understood what te Mabaral sat him, “He bad a remarkable sence of bearing and coud detect sounds from avery reat ditance.his oo dps the Mahar sid that he Bad named the Golem Jongt bse be ta npn nh the spit of Joseph Shia, he wb Fee el denon and who Bad saved he sages ofthe Tabu fg ay sale home be ald is wile Perle the Hebe, sont (te lem, tat be had ont the por unfertuate (ny 8 iting ela and tat be elt very sry fr hi, nd 30 Be ought im ne wis i. raph ecu shmmes nthe Hose of June” be i itn tine the Maura forbade anyone fo ge te Gol any sna ato pero fr he hd crested for that. “hy So the ‘Clen at uvaye ins corer of te Hose of Judgment wi errs cece in i ban, ast Tea cay Cole ho Tas hcp oho esd Beato be beoed Hee a mate ot pope Stancil hin deely "Yond Golem’ Otis eed in "Dumb Youle” ‘The Maharal employed the Golem to protect the Jens of Prague against the dangers that threatened them. With his asstance he was able {0 pesfocm many miracles, Most ofall he sed him in his war agunst the Bleed accusations mhich were agtin rife in the and and which caused so inch sortow tthe Jews. In such cases, when the Mharal bad to send YYoele Golem on 2 dangerous mission, be found it advisable to make him invisible by means of an amulet upon which was writen a cabalitc ord Tne period before Passover, which coincides with the Chistian Este, tie when the Blood accusation was usually brought, the Makaral made YYsele Golem put on a disguise He had him dress up like = Christian and made him wear a rope around his middle in order that he might look lke any ordinary Gentile porte, ‘The Maharal ordered im to guard the Ghetto * of Prague like the apple ‘of his eye, ta roam all ite strets at night and tobe on the lockout aginst thse who might wish toda evil to the Jews. He was to examine the con- tents of every pasing wagon and of every bundle carted by a paserby. 1 he but suspected someone of making preparations for bringing a blood ‘accusation against the Jens he was to bind Uh malefactre with hs rope and bring hin straightway tothe city watch inthe Rothous. Tso happened thatthe leading Jew of Prague in communal matters was, ‘the wealthy Reb Mordchi Meise, One of his debtors, a Chistian who slaughterhouse, owed him five thousand crowns. ‘Time and again Reb ‘Mordchi demanded of the slaughtrer that he return the money, but each time the latter declined to pay on some pretext or other. "Now the slaughterhouse was situated cutside the city, andthe slaugh= terer was in the habit of conveying meat into the city through the Jewish ahetto, This put the idea into his bead of accusing Reb Mordchi of having ‘used Christian blood forthe baking of matzo. Several days before Pasover, the child of a Christian neighbor of the slaughterer's died, It wae buried in the Christian cemetery. Late that igh, the slaughterer sole into the cemetery and dug up the child. He then killed a pig in the slaughterhouse and cleaned out its lasdes, He cat the throat of the dead child and wrapping it in the folds ofa tall, heplaced it inside the pig. Afterward, he rode to town, intending to secrete the body in Reb Mordchi’s bouse while he slept ‘Whee the slaughterer was near Reb Mordci's house, Yoele Cole, who ‘was then roaming the streets, suddenly appeared and insisted op examining {he contents of his wagon. Wren he saw the dead cil in the pias earass, he quickly bound the slaughterer with his rope and carried im to the town watch right inthe Ratkous. He dumped him in the courtyard and red aay. ‘A great commotion was bead in the Rathaus, The watch wes called ou, ‘They brought Highs, and saw before them the saughlerer, lying ed band And foot and looking bruised and ewolle. ‘They examined the pig and found the dead child in it carcass, Seeing that it was wrapped in & Jewish tai the ei of he wach cle sam tht mas Bod aeiton plot. Alter close questioning the sliughterer confessed what he mas up to ‘When ie was asked who had brought im tothe city watch be answered: “Teas a Christan porter who was mute. He was an enormous flow who looked more lke a devil than a man!” "No one had any idea who this strange creature could be. A great terror {ell upon all enemies of Israel. Only Thaddeus the priest undetsteed from ‘what quarter this secret power could have come, So he had the rumor spread in town thatthe Maharal was a sorcerer, in order to discredit him in the eyes of all upright Christians who respected him. And be intensified his struggle against him and all the Jews with @ consuming bated When King Rudolf sw that there was no foundation whatsoever for any of the blood accusations he became angry at the priest Thaddeus. ‘The pleas and persuasion of the Maharal at last ad their effect. The King {ssued a solemn decree under his own seal, forbidding anyone in bis realy from ever raking the blood acewsation against any Jew or group of Jens, [Nether were the cours of the kingdom to hoor such charges becauie the Sin of accusing the innocent with crimes they had not committed always falls like a Blight upon the entire nation. ‘Once again Passover came around but not one blood accusation was ‘aise inthe Kingdom of Bohemia that year. Tt seemed as if King Rudel's decre had efectvely silenced the enemy. Thereupon, the Maaral called his sonilaw and his disciple, both of whom had assed in the creation of the Golem, and said to them: “I have called you to tell you that the Golem is no longer needed. ‘The lie of the Blood accusation will never ‘erased i this county agai.”‘That night, the Mabaral sald to Yosele Golem: “Don't sleep tonight in the House of Judgment but jnstead go up into the atte of the Synagogue * and make your Bed there” ‘ver-challent, Youle Golem did as the Mabaral told him. ‘After midnight, accompanied by his son-in-law and hie diciple, the Mahaeal ascended to the attic of the Synagogue and stationed himself before the seping gant. They now tock their places in reverse postion {phat when they created hm They ston at hs had and gazed into his “Then they began to circle around him, beginning from left to right. ‘They did this seven times, intoning cabalistic incantations and formulae in the meantine All this time, the old shammcs, Reb Abraham Chayyin, whom the Mahara had brought to assist him, stood at a discreet distance fom the Golem, lighting him up with two maxen candles. Upon the completion of the seventh enczclement the Golem lay rigid in death, He looked again lke a bank of hardened el "The Mabaral took the two candles from the shames and bad him