The Dirt On Golems
For a new generation of Jewish artists, the clay creatures are the metaphor of the moment.
a
SANDEE B RAWARS KY
sic film The Golem at Dragon
Con 2002, the world's largest sci-
ence fiction festival, in Atlanta in
August.
And more golems: Nobel laure-
ates Elie Wiesel and Issac Bashevis
Singer both published books on
the golem legend in the '80s.
Michael Chabon won last year's
Pulitzer Prize for his novel The
might be mud from flower pots in a city
apartment, dug up in cemeteries or the
banks of the Hudson River, or from
olems are too many centuries old to be
Prague. And, some golems are gentle
considered trendy. Although these magi-
and lovable, others are scary; some are
cal creatures fashioned by man may have
monster-like and others are more like
been lurking around the corner for years,
ghosts.
this season they seem to be coming out in force. The
The artists who are the creators of
latest golems add new spin to the traditional legend.
these golems are drawn to the legend for
Along with Thane Rosenbaum's The Golems of
a wide variety of reasons, and see its rel-
Gotham (see related story), another just released
Amazing Adventure of Kavalier
evance in numerous ways. All have
novel with a golem theme is Ben Schrank's Consent.
and Clay, with its golem theme.
probably read the work of the scholar
The Manhattan Ensemble Theater is presenting a
The distinguished writer Cynthia
Gershom Scholem.
new adaptation of H. Leivick's 1921 play The
Ozick's last novel, 1997's The
For some, the theme relates to the act
Golem, adapted by David Fishelson, with its world
Puttermesser Papers, featured what
of creation; for others it's about rescue,
premiere on April 1. Guitarist Gary Lucas will per-
she called "the first female golem
redemption, unleashing power, destruc-
form his original solo guitar score for the 1920 clas-
in the history of golemim," careful
tion, or technology that's gone out of
The golem is one of those
in using the Hebrew
control. Some artists relate it to the
universal themes that's
plural.
Holocaust or Israel, others to nuclear war
always exciting, like Hamlet, or the stock market and other man-made
The golem has
that can't be visited enough,
been the subject of
creations.
says "Consent" author Ben
plays, puppet theater,
The larger-than-life golem, a ready
Schrank.
paintings, sculpture,
metaphor, is surely big enough to accom-
instrumental music,
modate all these and more.
children's books, a
For Jewish writers, "the golem is as
ballet and an opera and, in 1997, Fox
important as the Virgin Mary is to Catholics," says
Television's The X Files presented a
novelist Mark Mirsky, author of the story "The
show titled "Kaddish," featuring a
Golem of Brooklyn."
golem suspected of killing the brutal
murderers of a Chasidic man.
In 1988, the Jewish Museum present- Modern Tales
ed an exhibition, "Golem! Danger,
In Thane Rosenbaum's The Golems of Gotham, a
Deliverance and Art."
young girl's mystical experiment with golem-making
goes awry and she ends up conjuring up ghosts
rather than the usual clay golems. In trying to help
Made Of Clay
repair her father's brokenness, she brings to
The word golem is mentioned once
Manhattan
the ghosts of his Holocaust survivor par-
in the Bible, referring to something
ents
as
well
as six-Holocaust writers. (See the accom-
unformed and imperfect (Psalms,
panying
review.)
139:16).
Rosenbaum's golems are different, as he explains in
Scholars have discussed the golem
an
interview, "Whenever you're involved in
since the time of the Talmud and the
Holocaust
narrative, it has to be different, of differ-
theme was later taken up by kabbalists.
ent magnitude. Once you invoke the numbered arms
The best-known golem story is set in
of survivors"
as the yqung girl does —"you're
the 16th century, involving Rabbi
going
to wind up with a very different recipe." These
Yehudah Loew, the Maharal of Prague,
aren't monsters without souls, but pure souls.
who shapes a figure out of clay and
"The golem myth is by definition large," he adds.
brings it to life in order to protect the
"Given
the tall order of what I wanted this novel to
Jewish community. Ultimately the
link
together"
— themes of Jewish renewal, Jewish
golem runs amok and has to be put to
history, mysticism and "rescuing the post-Holocaust
rest. According to some interpretations,
world from a kind of inertia and forgetfulness — it
Rabbi Loew's golem is still alive, poised
would take plural golems to pull it off"
to return when called.
In Ben Schrank's new novel, Consent (Random
Clearly, not all golems are created
House;
$24.95), a golem appears in a back story to
equally. Some contemporary golems are
his
tale
of
turbulent love. The narrator, a Jewish
brought to life through careful adher-
Movie still from "The Golem: How He Came into the World,"
studies
graduate
student in New York City, is intro-
ence to mystical directions, others by
1920.
duced
to
the
theme
of golems by his adviser.
mistake, others through dreaming.
The clay that becomes their form
THE DIRT ON GOLEMS on page 76 .
Special to the Jewish News
-
.
3/29
2002
74