THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Friday, December 9, 1983 11

Prof. Cohen Delineates The Golem Legend

(Continued from Page 16)

What was the golem's
work originally? It was to
protect the Jews of Prague
against their enemies. At
the time Jehudah Lowe was
chief rabbi there were

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41.

enemies enough but the fear
of pogroms requiring the
protection of the golem was
not occasioned, as Wiesel
insists, on the revival of the
infamous blood libel, the
charge that before
Passover, Jews murdered
Christian children to obtain
their blood for matza.
Wiesel's substantial use
of the blood libel and the
presence of a powerfully ag-
gressive churchman named
Bishop Thaddeus was not
based on the facts of life in,
16th Century Prague. Both
the blood libel threat - and
Bishop Thaddeus were late
19th, early 20th Century
accretions to the legend
utilized in the work of two
story-tellers, Yudl Rosen-
berg and Chayim Bloch.
Yudl Rosenberg's "Nifla'
of Maharal im ha-Golem,"
published in Yiddish in
Warsaw in 1909, and sub,
sequently translated by
Joachim Neugroschel as
"The Golem Or The
Miraculous Deeds of Rabbi
Liva," seems almost cer-
tainly to have been Wiesel's
primary source. Rosenberg
argued convincingly that
his account was based upon
the discovery of a hitherto
unknown early manuscript
detailing the "great won-
ders" performed by Rabbi
Lowe and the golem in
Prague.
Though Rosenberg later
achieved a wide reputation
as a respected rabbi in
Montreal, his "discovery"
has not been authenticated
and Arnold Goldsmith
writes that Rosenberg's
"Golem manuscripts" may
well have been "a literary
hoax . . . perpetrated on the
Jewish reading public."
Wiesel's second source
was Chayim Bloch, who
published "The Golem,
Legends of the Ghetto of
Prague" in German in 1919.
Like Rosenberg, he, too,
subsequently achieved
recognition for this work. In

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his introduction he men-
tioned reading "Nifloet
Mhrl" but he does not men-
tion Rosenberg by name,
and while the two versions
differ in some respects,
there is enough similarity
that some scholars view
Bloch's • work as a
plagiarism. He was a more
talented and lively writer
than Rosenberg, but all his
literary inventiveness does
not belie his heavy and di-
rect use of Rosenberg's un-
authenticated account.
"In using Rosenberg's and
Bloch's versions Wiesel ap-
parently chose to ignore
Scholem's aforementioned
historical essay on the
golem, Gustav Meyrink's
"Der Golem," published in
1915, an enormously popu-
lar novel of psychological
inquiry, depicting the
golem as the mirror image
of its creator, and Abraham
Rothberg's "The Sword of
The Golem," a novel pub-
lished in America in 1970.
The latter confronts not
only the psychological
makeup of the golem but the
moral implications of his
creation.
Ultimately, it is the

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Haifa U. Expands
`Elderhostel'. Unit

HAIFA-The University
of Haifa plans to expand its
course offerings after com-
pleting its first session of
"Elderhostel" in November.
The University of New
Hampshire program involv-
ing 700 schools throughout
the world is a short-term
learning and touring ex-
perience for persons aged 60
and above.

Aramaic for many cen-
turies was the everyday
language of the Jewish
masses. A number of the
more common prayers, in-
cluding Kadish, are recited
in Aramaic.

moral issue to which
Scholem, Meyrink and
Rothberg address them-
selves that is most impor-
tant. For the basic lesson,
scholars emphasize in the
creation and subsequently
required destruction of the
golem that mortal human
beings may not seek to be-
come God by imitating
God's creative power.
Human pride must be held
in check, else confusion
about omnipotence follows.
Unfortunately, Wiesel's
version ignores the moral
issue entirely and the basic
lesson is lost.
If Wiesel's "The Golem"
leaves something to be de-
sired, Mark Podwal's
numerous superbly appro-
priate illustrations make up
for what is lacking in
Wiesel's account. They are
the real treasures in
Wiesel's book.

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