Prague -- Yet More Golemania....

Dinah Spritzer writes the latest in the NYTimes orgy of Golemania.....

The golem of Prague is part clay man, part robot (a Czech word of origin) of giant-sized proportions with Biblical roots imagined by 19th-century eastern European Jewish writers as a protector of Jews. It has also been commercially repurposed as souvenir, restaurant theme and museum exhibition.

A great read, as all Dinah's stories are, but again, it's not much different from 15 or more years ago.....The photo of a Golem souvenir stand in my 1994 book Upon the Doorposts of Thy House is almost identical....

I found the story Dinah wrote for JTA about the run-up to the 400th anniverary of the semi-legendary Rabbi Loew's death much more interesting than the pieces that have appeared in the NYTimes, with much more depth -- and real news.

Prague -- NYTimes Discovers the Golem

Menu, Prague. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

One of the plusses, but also one of the pitfalls, of following certain phenomena for a long period of time is that you trace the development and look at what goes on today with that in mind. Dan Bilefsky of the New York Times has an article about the popularity of the Golem in Prague. It's a cute and lively article, pegged to the economic crisis that has hurt tourism in Prague (the Jewish Museum attendance fell by as much as 40 percent over the winter) as well as to the upcoming celebrations for the 400th anniversary of the death of Rabbi Jehudah Ben Bezalel Löw (or Loew), the great scholar whom legends recount as the creator of the Golem. But, like several other NYTimes pieces in the past couple years, it plows old ground.

The Golem, according to Czech legend, was fashioned from clay and brought to life by a rabbi to protect Prague’s 16th-century ghetto from persecution, and is said to be called forth in times of crisis. True to form, he is once again experiencing a revival and, in this commercial age, has spawned a one-monster industry.

There are Golem hotels; Golem door-making companies; Golem clay figurines (made in China); a recent musical starring a dancing Golem; and a Czech strongman called the Golem who bends iron bars with his teeth. The Golem has also infiltrated Czech cuisine: the menu at the non-kosher restaurant called the Golem features a “rabbi’s pocket of beef tenderloin” and a $7 “crisis special” of roast pork and potatoes that would surely have rattled the venerable Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the Golem’s supposed maker.

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The Golem frenzy in Prague may be taking some new forms, but it erupted in the early 1990s, after the fall of communism opened the country up for tourism, for "things Jewish" and for the commercial infrastructure and exploitation spawned by the tourist demand.

I have written about this in some depth in both Virtually Jewish: Reinventing Jewish Culture in Europe and Upon the Doorposts of Thy House: Jewish Life in East-Central Europe, Yesterday and Today. The first section of Doorposts, published in 1994, is a lengthy examination of Jewish Prague, the history, the legends, and the concentric circles of Jewish experience, focusing largely on tourism and on which Jewish aspects were promoted touristically and which were ignored and forgotten.

In both books I described the Golem kitsch, the Golem figures on sale, the contrast between Rabbi Loew as a real scholar and as a mythical Golem-maker, the power of the Golem legend as part of Prague folklore, the Golem restaurant with its non-kosher dishes. In Doorposts, I have a photograph of Golems on sale that is very similar to the one in the Times. For some reason, the Golems on sale in post-Communist Prague have always been modeled on one cinematic version -- the way the Golem appeared in a 1952 Czech movie called The Emperor and the Golem: a menacingly massive and clumsy, almost headless form held together by bolts and a big belt.

In a previous post, I wrote about my friend in Budapest, the late Levente Thury, a ceramic artist who used the Golem motif in all his work. He, like many other artists and writers, was inspired by the Golem because of the implications of the myth: technology spiraling out of control, the foiled attempt to compete with God, the failure to manipulate the universe. "I would like to make things that are a mixture of spiritual and material," he told me. "That is the most important meaning of the golem. The body of the golem is material: clay, stone and earth -- the oldest materials. The message, the amulet, the spell" that brings the golem to life is the spirit. Levent's golems, I wrote in an article about him were compositions of faces, heads and other body parts.

All the parts are distorted to some extent, as if their emergence from the clay was halted before it was finished.

A hand grasps an armless torso. A baby's features form a beautiful face on one side of a partially modeled head. In some pieces, tiny golem figures emerge from larger, partial forms.

The expressions on the faces are serene but soulless. The eyes are unseeing.

There is no explicit violence in the compositions, but the elements of Thury's work are arranged in ways that can be eerie and disturbing -- as well as highly sensual.

"I make the surfaces a little bit raw -- raw human bodies, details of bodies," he told me. "I don't want to make a complete human body. I prefer to make parts."

"They aren't human people, but remembrances of the body," he added. "They have no soul, no wish. The owner, the maker, has to give a soul to them, give direction, like a computer program."

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Prague -- More on Rabbi Löw Exhibit

Golem figurines on sale in Prague. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

JTA runs an article by Dinah Spritzer with more information about the events that are being planned in Prague to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of Rabbi Judah Ben Bezalel Löw, a renowned scholar known as the Maharal and also the legendary creator of the Golem.

To celebrate Loew’s yahrzeit, which falls on Sept. 7, the Prague Jewish community is hosting a conference of scholars on the Maharal, and the Jewish Museum will be putting on an exhibit at the Prague Castle on Loew’s life. The exhibition runs from Aug. 5 to Nov. 8.

The show, at Prague’s most popular tourist site, will examine Loew and his legacy. One part of the exhibit will trace the development of the Prague ghetto and the Jewish cemetery during the rabbi's lifetime. An interactive installation, “Golem,” by the artist Petr Nikl, will be on view at the Jewish Museum’s Robert Guttmann Gallery from June 3 to Oct. 4.

Earlier this year, an institution dedicated to training rabbinical students in Loew’s teachings, the Maharal Institute, was opened by the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in Prague's Jewish Quarter.

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Dinah's article notes how closely Rabbi Löw was bound up in the legends and folklore of Prague, and particularly how the Golem myth somehow became associated with him -- more than two centuries after his death. There is no evidence at all that, however, that Rabbi Löw was involved in any magical activity. On the contrary, he condemned sorcery in the strongest of terms and even wrote that anyone who use magic for worldly reasons deserved to die.

Many other legends grew up around him, too. Indeed, so intimately linked did the Rabbi become with Prague that a statue of him was erected as part of the decoration of the art nouveau New Town Hall, built in 1910. The sculpture shows the ancient, long-bearded rabbi (he lived to about 90 -- no mean feat back in his day!) recoiling in horror as a muscular, nude young woman -- representing death -- clings to his robes and tries to gain hold of his arm.

His tomb is the most famous grave site in the Old Jewish Cemetery -- Michelle Obama made a stop there on her tour of Jewish Prague in March, and she even joined thousands who came before her and left a kvittl, or slip of paper with a prayer.

The Golem, too, became a familiar local folk figure. But the Golem story also inspired artists, writers, painters, and poets. My dear friend, the late Hungarian ceramic sculptor Levente Thury only created art works whose theme was the Golem. Among other writers inspired by the Golem story (which possible was the inspiration for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein) The poet Jerome Rothenberg, who frequently uses Jewish imagery and themes, wrote a powerful poem called "Golem & Goddess."

I wrote in depth about Rabbi Löw, his reality and his legend, in my 1994 book Upon the Doorposts of Thy House: Jewish Life in East-Central Europe, Yesterday and Today, whose first section was devoted to an exploration of Jewish Prague.

PS -- Twenty years ago, the Jewish Museum in New York had a wonderful exhibition called Golem! Danger, Deliverance and Art -- which produced a marvellous catalogue book. It's out of print, but well worth getting used.

Prague -- Heads Up for Summer Exhibition on Rabbi Löw

Sign for Golem Restaurant in Prague. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

This Sept. 7 marks the 400th anniversary of the death of the famous Rabbi Judah Löw ben Bezalel --a renowned scholar known as the Maharal and also the legendary creator of the Golem, the artificial man brought to life to defend Prague's Jews who then ran amok, was deactivated and then hidden in the attic of the Old-New Synagogue.

Prague is gearing up to mark the date with events including a major exhibition jointly sponsored by the Jewish Museum in Prague and Prague Castle.

This exhibition aims to trace the Maharal’s life and work and to examine the image of this scholar in the eyes of his contemporaries and succeeding generations. Few people have attracted such a broad range of admirers, including those with starkly contrasting religious, philosophical and cultural views. There is a cavernous divide between the historical Maharal and the predominant image of him today. This fact is of such importance that it serves as the basis for the exhibition concept.

The exhibition, called "Path of Life," runs August 5-November 8 at the Royal Stables . The exhibit is divided into two main parts, one focusing on the historical Maharal and the authentic traditions connected with him, while the second will look at Rabbi Löw's legacy and the origin of the legends that are linked to his name.

The idea of the Maharal as the personification of the mystery of the ghetto, a miracle worker, mathematician and creator of an artificial being may not be historically grounded but it has provided immense inspiration for literature, drama and art. The historical and the imaginary Maharal both have a right to exist.

A major catalogue of the exhibition will be published in Czech and English, and other events and exhibits are also planned.

Already on June 3, an interactive installation called Golem, by the artist Petr Nikl will open at the Jewish Museum’s Robert Guttmann Gallery (it will run until Oct. 4).

Prague -- Big New Exhibit on the Golem and Rabbi Loew

Golem figurines for sale in Prague. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

If you'll be in Prague in the coming months, don't miss the big new exhibition that just opened at Prague castle on the legendary sage and scholar Rabbi Judah ben Bezalel Loew. Called The Path of Life, the exhibition is part of events celebrating the 400th anniversary of Rabbi Loew's death. It presents both the historical figure of the Rabbi, who was known as the Maharal, as well as the legends and legacy surrounding him -- he is renowned in books and folklore as the creator of the Golem.

The idea of Rabbi Loew as the personification of the mystery of the ghetto, a miracle worker, mathematician and creator of an artificial being may not be historically grounded but it has provided immense inspiration for literature, drama and art. “The historical and the imaginary Rabbi Loew both have a right to exist, but there is a cavernous divide between the historical image of this figure and the way he is mainly seen today,” says the exhibition curator Alexandr Putík, a researcher at the Jewish Museum. “This fact is of such importance that it serves as the basic concept for the whole exhibition, which comprises two parts. The first part focuses on the historical Rabbi Loew and the authentic traditions connected with him, while the second part looks at the Rabbi Loew’s legacy and the origin of the legends that are linked to his name.”

According to the press release about the exhibition:

Among the most important items on display are the writings of Rabbi Loew together with official registers and records associated with him. One of the unique items is a document from the State Archives in Vienna dating from 1597 that was signed by this Jewish scholar, whose fame spread following his meeting with Emperor Rudolf II at Prague Castle. Another rare exhibit is a table bell that was made from an alloy of seven metals on the basis of kabbalistic instructions and belonged to Rudolf II; this is on loan from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

The exhibition also showcases a number of items that were directly or indirectly connected with Rabbi Loew. These include a replica of the tombstone of his relative Lev the Elder from 1540, the original of which is in Prague’s Old Jewish Cemetery, the chair that the rabbi is said to have sat on during religious services at the Old-New Synagogue, and a Kiddush cup that – according to oral tradition – belonged to Rabbi Loew. The original tombstone and chair obviously could not be put on view at the exhibition, but they can be seen on a tour of the Jewish Museum in Prague.

Rabbi Loew’s work stands out for its complexity and depth – he dealt with not only Torah and Talmud exegesis and religious law, but also with mystical theology and education, and he had a major influence on Hasidism and modern religious Zionism. “Ironically, the general public now knows Judah ben Bezalel mainly due to the golem legend, with which he was not associated until the nineteenth century. This legend is also featured in the exhibition,” says the other curator of the exhibition Arno Pařík. On view at the Imperial Stables are Sippurim [Hebrew “Tales”] – texts by German romantics that were published in Prague in 1847 and raised broader awareness of Rabbi Loew and his golem – and literary works by Alois Jirásek, Josef Svátek and Adolf Wenig that dealt with the golem legends.

Legends about Rabbi Loew and his golem spread most extensively, however, at the beginning of the twentieth century, which is why the exhibition showcases a number of literary works on this theme by such authors as Yudel Rosenberg, Gustav Meyrink and Chaim Bloch. Rabbi Loew and the golem were depicted in art first by Mikoláš Aleš and then by Hugo Steiner-Prag, among other artists. A monument to Rabbi Loew was made by the sculptor Ladislav Šaloun for the front of Prague’s Town Hall; the model for this – which is in the collections of the Jewish Museum in Prague – is also on view at the exhibition. A play about Rabbi Loew and his golem was also performed at the Liberated Theatre. The greatest success, however, was with the film versions of these legends by Paul Wegener, Julian Duviviér and Martin Frič (in the film The Emperor’s Baker and the Golem). Selected excerpts from these films will be screened at the exhibition.

Path of Life also traces the development of the Prague ghetto and the Jewish cemetery during the lifetime of Rabbi Loew. Thanks to the City of Prague Museum and KIT digital Czech a. s., it is possible to see a 3D depiction of the most important buildings of Prague’s Jewish Town, as rendered in an 18^th century model by Antonín Langweil. In addition to Rabbi Loew’s house, this shows the major public buildings and the tombstones of Rabbi Loew and other prominent figures from the late 16^th and early 17^th centuries.