the legend of the golem 

The Jewish settlement had been an integral part of Prague ever since the Jewish merchant Ibrahim ibn Yaqub described it as a city of stone and lime in the 10th century. Over time, it became the largest Jewish ghetto in Europe, and the Old Jewish Cemetery is now one of the oldest monuments of its kind in the world. During the Renaissance, under the reign of the famous Emperor Rudolf II, the legendary Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, also known as Rabbi Loew or the Maharal, worked in the Prague ghetto. For his time, he was unusually well versed in philosophy,  religion and  the natural sciences, especially mathematics, astronomy and astrology. He was the rector of the Talmudic school in Prague, appointed chief judge of the Jewish community and chief rabbi. The legend of the Golem is closely linked to him. 

One night, the Rabbi heard a mysterious voice commanding him to create an effigy of a man out of clay to thwart the evil intentions of the enemies of the Jewish people. Harnessing the powers of water, fire and air, he created the figure of the Golem out of clay from the Vltava River. He brought it to life by means of a shem placed in its mouth. “Rise and walk!” Rabbi Loew commanded the creature. Yossele, as the Rabbi named it, boasted enormous strength and did heavy chores – serving, fetching water from the well and chopping wood – but could neither speak nor think about the assigned tasks. At night, the Golem walked the streets, ensuring the safety of sleeping residents. It never ate, it never drank, it never needed rest. Rabbi Loew only removed the shem from the Golem’s mouth only on Friday nights, during the Sabbath, when no one is allowed to work according to Jewish tradition. One day, however, he forgot about the Golem, and it quite literally lost its mind and started destroying everything in its way. News of the Golem’s rampage was allegedly brought to the Rebbi by several Jews just as Loew was in the synagogue and the worshippers were singing Psalm 92. The Rabbi interrupted the service and hurried to remove the shem from the Golem’s mouth, for the creature only obeyed the one who had created him and held the shem. The Golem became immobile and transformed back into a dead pile of clay. When the Rabbi returned to the synagogue, Psalm 92 was sung again. Since then, this psalm has always been sung twice in Prague’s Old New Synagogue. 

Legend also has it that the Golem was never brought to life again and Rabbi Loew deposited its remains in the attic of the Old New Synagogue. Access to the attic was forbidden, the staircase was torn down and for countless centuries few people dared to go there. If you look closely at the synagogue from Pařížská Street, you will see a small door leading to the attic and only a few step brackets leading to it at some height. Another legend says that the Golem was stolen from the attic and buried in the Old Jewish Cemetery in Žižkov. 

The Old New Synagogue is one of the oldest preserved Jewish monuments. It dates back to the 13th century and is the oldest surviving synagogue north of the Alps. According to one legend, stones from the original Temple of Jerusalem were used for its construction. It is no wonder that the building, which has survived the centuries and countless disasters that occurred around it, was considered something extraordinary and miraculous. It also survived the late 19th century Prague sanitation, when the ghetto was demolished and replaced by the wide and spacious boulevards of today’s Pařížská, Maiselova and Široká streets. Rabbi Loew’s house also stood in today’s Široká Street until 1897. It bore the mark of a lion, which also adorns his tombstone in the Old Jewish Cemetery in the Old Town. It can also be identified by the scraps of paper and small stones placed upon it with the belief that the Rabbi will grant the inscribed wishes.

The legend of the Golem fascinated and continues to fascinate writers in particular. Franz Kafka, Egon Erwin Kisch, Gustav Meyrink and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel have all written about it. In his book The Prague Cemetery, Umberto Ecco chose the Old Jewish Cemetery as the place where thirteen of the most prominent rabbis from around the world meet over Rabbi Loew’s grave every hundred years. Let’s see who else portrays this legend in the future.