In Jewish folklore, a golem (גולם, sometimes [as in Yiddish] pronounced goilem) is an animated being which is crafted from inanimate material. In modern Hebrew the word golem denotes "fool", "silly", or even "stupid", "clue-less", and "dumb", and literally means "cocoon". The name appears to derive from the word gelem (גלם), which means "raw material". Jewish mythology is the body of mythology of the Jewish people and Judaism as understood by some people. ... Hebrew (עִבְרִית ‘Ivrit) is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken by more than seven million people in Israel, the West Bank, the United States, and by Jewish communities around the world. ...

History

Origins of the word

The word golem is used in the Bible to refer to an embryonic or incomplete substance: Psalm 139:16 uses the word "gal'mi", meaning "my unshaped form" (in Hebrew, root words are defined by sequences of consonants, ie. glm). The Mishnah uses the term for an uncultivated person ("Ten characteristics are in a learned person, and ten in an uncultivated one", Pirkei Avoth 5:7). Similarly, Golems are used today primarily in metaphor either as brainless lunks or as entities serving man under controlled conditions but enemies in others. Similarly, it is a Yiddish slang insult for someone who is clumsy or slow. The Bible (Hebrew תנ״ך tanakh, Greek η Βίβλος [hē biblos] ) (sometimes The Holy Bible, The Book, Good Book, Word of God, The Word Scripture), from Greek (τα) βίβλια, (ta) biblia, (the) books, is the classical name for the Hebrew Bible of Judaism or the combination of the Old Testament and New Testament of Christianity. ... Psalms (Tehilim תהילים, in Hebrew) is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, and of the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. ... The Mishnah (Hebrew משנה, repetition) is a major source of rabbinic Judaisms religious texts. ... Pirkei Avoth (Hebrew: Chapters of the Fathers, פרקי אבות ) or simply Avoth is a tractate of the Mishna composed of ethical maxims of the Rabbis of the Mishnaic period. ... In language, a metaphor (from the Greek: metapherin) is a rhetorical trope defined as a direct comparison between two seemingly unrelated subjects. ... Yiddish (Yid. ...

Earliest stories

The earliest stories of golems date to early Judaism. Adam is described in the Talmud (Tractate Sanhedrin 38b) as initially created as a golem when his dust was "kneaded into a shapeless hunk". Like Adam (whose name literally means "red [clay],") all golems are created from mud. They were a creation of those who were very holy and close to God. A very holy person was one who strove to approach God, and in that pursuit would gain some of God's wisdom and power. One of these powers was the creation of life. No matter how holy a person became, however, the being they created would be but a shadow of one created by God. It has been suggested that Eve (first woman) be merged into this article or section. ... For the tractate in the Mishnah, see Sanhedrin (tractate). ... In computer gaming, a MUD (Multi-User Dungeon or sometimes Domain or Dimension) is a multi-player computer game that combines elements of role-playing games, hack and slash style computer games and social instant messaging chat rooms. ... Michelangelos depiction of God in the painting Creation of the Sun and Moon in the Sistine Chapel This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and derived henotheistic forms. ...

Early on, the notion developed that the main disability of the golem was its inability to speak. In Sanhedrin 65b, it describes how Rabba created a golem using the Sefer Yetzirah. He sent the golem to Rabbi Zeira. Rabbi Zeira spoke to the golem, but he did not answer. Said Rabbi Zeira, "I see that you were created by one of our colleagues; return to your dust." For the tractate in the Mishnah, see Sanhedrin (tractate). ... Rabba is a village in Jordan in the governate of Al Karak. ... Sefer Yetzirah (Hebrew, Book of Creation, ספר יצירה) is the title of two books on esoteric Jewish mysticism. ...

Owning and activating golems

Having a golem servant was seen as the ultimate symbol of wisdom and holiness, and there are many tales of golems connected to prominent rabbis throughout the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ...

Other attributes of the golem were gradually added over time. In many tales the Golem is inscribed with magic or religious words that keep it animated. Writing one of the names of God on its forehead, a slip of paper attached to its forehead, or on a clay tablet under its tongue, or writing the word Emet (אמת, 'truth' in the Hebrew language) on its forehead are examples of such words. By erasing the first letter in Emet to form Meit (מת, 'death' in Hebrew) the golem could be deactivated. At the bottom of the hands, the two letters on each hand combine to form יהוה (YHVH), the name of God. ... Hebrew (עִבְרִית ‘Ivrit) is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken by more than seven million people in Israel, the West Bank, the United States, and by Jewish communities around the world. ...

The classic narrative

The most famous golem narrative involves the Maharal of Prague, a 16th century rabbi. He is reported to have created a golem to defend the Prague ghetto from Anti-Semitic attacks. The story of the Golem first appeared in print in 1847 in a collection of Jewish tales entitled Galerie der Sippurim, published by Wolf Pascheles of Prague. About sixty years later, a fictional account was published by Yudl Rosenberg (1909). According to the legend, Golem could be made of clay from the banks of the Vltava river in Prague. Following the prescribed rituals, the Rabbi built the Golem and made him come to life by reciting special incantations in Hebrew. As Rabbi Loew's Golem grew bigger, he also became more violent and started killing people and spreading fear. Rabbi Loew was promised that the violence against the Jews would stop if the Golem was destroyed. The Rabbi agreed. To destroy the Golem, he rubbed out the first letter of the word "emet" from the golem's forehead to make the Hebrew word "met", meaning death. The existence of a golem is sometimes a mixed blessing. Golems are not intelligent - if commanded to perform a task, they will take the instructions perfectly literally. Judah Low ben Bezalel (1525 — 1609) was a Jewish scholar and rabbi, most of his life in Prague. ... Prague (Czech: Praha, see also other names) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... Rabbi (Classical Hebrew רִבִּי ribbÄ«;; modern Ashkenazi and Israeli רַבִּי rabbÄ«) in Judaism, means teacher, or more literally great one. The word Rabbi is derived from the Hebrew root-word RaV, which in biblical Hebrew means great or distinguished, (in knowledge). In the ancient Judean schools the sages were addressed as רִבִּי (Ribbi... A ghetto is an area where people from a specific ethnic background or united in a given culture or religion live as a group, voluntarily or involuntarily, in milder or stricter seclusion. ... The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster. ... The Vltava in Prague. ...

The hubris theme

In all Jewish kabbalistic descriptions of Golems, they are incapable of disobeying the one who created them, but in one version of the story, Rabbi Eliyahu of Chelm created a Golem that grew bigger and bigger until it tore the name of God from its forehead, whereupon it fell over its creator. The hubris theme in this version is similar to that in the stories of the monster of Frankenstein and of the broomstick in The Sorcerer's Apprentice. It remains a standard feature of golems in popular culture. Hubris or hybris (Greek ‛′Υβρις) referred in Ancient Greece to a reckless and violent disregard for the personal space of another person resulting in some kind of social degradation for the victim. ... Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. ... The Sorcerers Apprentice is the English name of both an 1897 symphonic poem by Paul Dukas (Lapprenti sorcier in French), and of a 1797 ballad by Goethe (Der Zauberlehrling in German), which inspired the musical work. ...

The golem in European culture

In the late nineteenth century the golem was adopted by mainstream European society. Most notably Gustav Meyrink's 1915 novel Der Golem based on the tales of the golem created by Judah Low ben Bezalel. This book inspired a classic set of expressionistic silent movies, Paul Wegener's Golem series, of which especially Golem: How He Came Into the World (also released as The Golem, 1920, USA 1921) is famous. Another famous treatment from the same era is H. Leivick's 1921 Yiddish-language "dramatic poem in eight sections" The Golem. Also notable is Julien Duvivier's "Le Golem" (1936), a sequel to the Wegener film. Gustav Meyrink (January 19, 1868 - December 4, 1932) was an Austrian author, storyteller, dramatist, translator, banker and Buddhist. ... 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... The Golem is a novel written by Gustav Meyrink in 1914. ... Judah Low ben Bezalel (1525 — 1609) was a Jewish scholar and rabbi, most of his life in Prague. ... Expressionism in filmmaking developed in Germany (especially Berlin) during the 1920s. ... A silent film is a film which has no accompanying soundtrack. ... Paul Wegener (born December 11, 1874 in Arnoldsdorf (Westpreußen; now Jarantowice, Poland); died September 13, 1948 in Berlin) was a German actor and film director. ... H. Leivick (pen name of Leivick Halper, December 1888–December 23, 1962) was a Yiddish language writer, known for his 1921 dramatic poem in eight scenes The Golem. ... The Golem (original Yiddish title Der Golem) is a 1921 dramatic poem in eight scenes by H. Leivick. ... Julien Duvivier (October 8, 1896 in Lille - October 30, 1967 in Paris) was a French film director. ...

These tales saw a dramatic change, and some would argue a Christianization, of the golem. Christianity, far more than Judaism, has long had a deep concern with humanity presuming Godhood upon themselves. The golem thus became a creation of overambitious and overreaching mystics, who would inevitably be punished for their blasphemy, very similar to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and the alchemical homunculus. In Norse mythology, Mökkurkálfi (or Mistcalfa) was a clay giant, built to help the troll Hrungnir in a battle with Thor. The Golem has also been considered by some to be an early android, further divorcing it from its roots. Mary Shelley Mary Shelley (30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who is perhaps equally famous as the wife of Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and as the author of Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. ... Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. ... For other uses, see Alchemy (disambiguation). ... Hartsoekers homunculus The concept of a homunculus (Latin for little man, sometimes spelled homonculus, plural homunculi) is often used to illustrate the functioning of a system. ... Norse or Scandinavian mythology comprises the pre-Christian religion, beliefs and legends of the Scandinavian people, including those who settled on Iceland, where the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled. ... Trolls with an abducted princess (John Bauer, 1915). ... Hrungnir was a giant in Norse mythology, slain by the god Thor with his hammer Mjollnir. ... Thor carries his hammer and wears his belt of strength (MS SÁM 66, 18th century). ... The android Data, portrayed by Brent Spiner, from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation An android is an artificially created robot, an automaton, that resembles a human being usually both in appearance and behavior. ...

In America, the opera "'The Golem' by Abraham Ellstein retells in 20th-century harmonic language the centuries-old tale of a creature fashioned from clay and brought to life by kabbalistic spells who ultimately threatens the very people he was intended to serve." (quote from Milken website) Selections are available on disc from the Milken Archive of American Jewish music.

In popular culture

Books, films and TV

Probably as a result of the popularity of Meyrink's work, the golem concept has found its way into various elements of popular culture. Examples include:

• The Golem of Prague has appeared in stories across many media, including the novels The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, A Calculus of Angels, He, She and It, Pete Hamill's Snow in August, the 1990s cartoons The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest and Gargoyles, and the computer games Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption and Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb.

• Edward Einhorn's Golem Stories appearing in his book of plays entitled The Golem, Methuselah, and Shylock includes a golem that has the soul of a young man who was the fiance of the Rabbi's daughter.

• Also inspired in part by the story of the Golem of Prague, Ted Chiang wrote a short story "Seventy-Two Letters" which explores the role of language in the creation of golems. The story won the Sidewise Award for Alternate History in 2000. It can be found in the collection Stories of Your Life and Others.

• Karel Čapek's 1921 play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) included robots which are not machines, but synthetic humans made from a claylike goo.

• The science-fiction novel Kiln People by David Brin features short-lived duplicates of people created from mud, and a character named Maharal.

• Golem XIV is name of a hyper-intelligent computer from a sci-fi novel written by Stanisław Lem in 1981

• Stel Pavlou uses multiple golems created from carbon based nanotechnology as the guardians of Atlantis in the novel Decipher 2001.

• Roger Zelazny uses the golem metaphorically as an android sparring partner, literally called a golem, in the novel This Immortal.

• The Discworld novel Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett satirizes many of the cliches of the golem genre. Another Discworld novel, Going Postal sees golems trained as postmen, and compares them to the robots of Isaac Asimov. The oldest of these golems carries clay tablets on his arm and in his head, alluding to Jewish mythology.

• The television program The X-Files aired an episode "Kaddish", in which a young Hasidic woman creates a Golem who avenges her husband's murder by neo-nazis.

• In the anime series RahXephon, the main weapons are called "Dolems". Like golems, they are made from clay and may be difficult to control. The D in "Dolem" is a pun on "Do-Re-Mi".

• The DC Comics superhero Ragman was created using the same formula required to make a golem, though it substituted rags instead of clay and required a human host to function. Another DC hero, the Monolith, is a golem.

• A golem which is eventually destroyed by changing the word 'emet' on its forehead to 'met' is used in both an early issue of the Swamp Thing and The Invaders comic books.

• In the Bartimaeus Trilogy book The Golem's Eye by Jonathan Stroud a golem is loose in London.

• In 2005, the story of the Golem was returned to its Jewish roots, as a new comic strip in Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth depicted the Golem as a government-funded superhero protecting Israel from its domestic and existential difficulties.

• In the Dreamhunter Duet by Elizabeth Knox a young dreamhunter replaces her missing father with a golem.

• In the novel Iron Council by China Mieville a Thaumaturge named Judah Low learns how to create powerful golems from almost any material. These are used to assist a group of rebels

• In an episode of the animated television series Batman Beyond, the young Batman fights a human controlled robot with the acronym G.L.M.

• In Watch Your Mouth, a novel by Daniel Handler, one of the main characters creates a golem to get revenge on her family.

• The fourteenth track on As Smart As We Are, a musical collaboration between One Ring Zero and some of their favorite authors, is about a golem, and called simply "Golem."

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is a 2000 novel by Michael Chabon. ... A Calculus of Angels is the second book in Gregory Keyes Age of Unreason series. ... He, She and It is a feminist science fiction novel by Marge Piercy, published in 1991. ... Pete Hamill Pete Hamill (born 1935) is a prominent American journalist, novelist, and short story writer. ... The cover for a VHS collection of episodes from The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest. ... Gargoyles logo Gargoyles is an acclaimed animated series created and produced by Greg Weisman that aired from October 24, 1994 to 1997. ... Indiana Jones and the Emperors Tomb is an action video game developed by The Collective and published by LucasArts in 2003 with cover art by Drew Struzan. ... Ted Chiang (born 1967) is an American science fiction writer. ... The Sidewise Award for Alternate history was established in 1995 to recognize the best alternate history stories and novels of the year. ... Karel Čapek. ... 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... R.U.R. (Rossums Universal Robots) is a science fiction play by Karel ÄŒapek. ... Kiln People is a 2002 science-fiction novel by David Brin. ... A recent picture of David Brin. ... Golem XIV is a science fiction novel written by StanisÅ‚aw Lem and published in Polish in 1981. ... StanisÅ‚aw Lem in 1966 StanisÅ‚aw Lem (born September 12, 1921, Lviv) is a Polish science fiction, philosophical, and satirical writer. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Stel Pavlou is the author of of the novel Decipher, which was released in 2002. ... Decipher is a popular bestselling science fiction novel by Stel Pavlou (1970–present), published in 2001 in England by Simon and Schuster and 2002 in the United States by St. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... Roger Joseph Zelazny (May 13, 1937 - June 14, 1995) was a United States writer of fantasy and science fiction short stories and novels. ... ...And Call Me Conrad (also known as This Immortal) is one of Roger Zelaznys earlier novels. ... Cover art of The Colour of Magic by Josh Kirby The Discworld is a series of thirty-four satirical fantasy novels and a number of shorter works by Terry Pratchett set on the Discworld. ... Feet of Clay is a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett which parodies detective novels. ... Terence David John Pratchett OBE is an English fantasy author (born April 28, 1948, in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England), best known for his Discworld series. ... Memorial of the 1986 post office incident in Edmond, OK. This article is about the violent social phenomenon. ... Isaac Asimov, photographed by Jay Kay Klein Dr. Isaac Asimov (c. ... The X-Files was a popular American television series created by Chris Carter. ... Kaddish (Hebrew: קדיש, sanctification) refers to an important and central blessing in the Jewish prayer service. ... Hasidic Judaism (Hebrew: Chasidut חסידות) is a Haredi Jewish religious movement. ... The terms Neo-Nazism and Neo-Fascism refer to any social or political movement to revive Nazism or Fascism, respectively, and postdates the Second World War. ... // A scene from Cowboy Bebop (1998) Anime (アニメ) is a style of cartoon animation originating in Japan, with distinctive character and background stylings that visually set it apart from other forms of animation. ... RahXephon (ラーゼフォン) is a science fiction anime television series about young Ayato Kamina, his ability to control a godlike mecha known as the RahXephon, and his inner journey to find a place with the world around him. ... Solfege table in an Irish classroom In music and sight singing solfege or solmization is a way of assigning syllables to degrees or steps of the diatonic scale. ... DC Comics is one of the largest American companies in comic book and related media publishing. ... Superman and Batman, two of the most recognizable and iconic superheroes. ... Ragman is also the name of a medieval game. ... The Monolith was a comic book series by DC Comics. ... The Swamp Thing is a fictional character created by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson for DC Comics, and featured in a long-running horror-fantasy comic book series of the same name. ... The Invaders was a science-fiction television program that ran in the United States for a season and a half between 1967 and 1968. ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... The Bartimaeus Trilogy is a fantasy series by Jonathan Stroud and was published as a series of three novels between 2003 and 2005. ... ... Jonathan Stroud Jonathan Stroud (*1970, Bedford, England) is an author of fantasy books, mainly for children and youths. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the comic strip, the sequential art form as published in newspapers and on the Internet. ... Yedioth Ahronoth (Hebrew: ידיעות אחרונות, meaning latest news) is a major daily Israeli newspaper, written in Hebrew. ... Superman and Batman, two of the most recognizable and iconic superheroes. ... Iron Council Iron Council (2004) is the fourth novel by China Miéville, set in the same universe as his previous books Perdido Street Station (2000) and The Scar (2002), although they can all be read independently of each other. ... China Tom Mi ville (born September 6, 1972) is a British writer of fantastic fiction. ... Thaumaturgy (from the Greek words thaumos meaning miracle and ergos meaning work) is the branch of magic (or magick, for Crowley fans) that is concerned with the production of real-world, objective effects, e. ... Batman Beyond (Batman of the Future in Europe, Latin America and Australia/New Zealand) was an American animated television series created by WB Network in collaboration with DC Comics as a continuation of the Batman legacy. ... Watch Your Mouth is a novel by Daniel Handler, which he has described as an “opera in book form”, about Joseph, a young student staying at the home of his girlfriend, Cynthia Glass, one summer. ... Daniel Handler Daniel Handler (born February 28, 1970 in San Francisco), also professionally known as Lemony Snicket, is an American author, screenwriter, and accordionist. ... One Ring Zero is a modern music group that melds many genres and sounds to create a unique type of music. ...

Golems in modern games

Golems also appear as a popular feature of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing games (including a playable race in the Eberron supplement called Warforged) and are almost ubiquitous in the many fantasy computer and card games inspired by it, such as NetHack, the Final Fantasy series, the Ogre Battle series, and Magic: The Gathering. In these games the word is generally used as an umbrella term to refer to automata and simulacra from many mythologies. The convention is that they are named after the material of construction. Examples include Clay golems (most like the original Jewish golem), Flesh golems (stiched-together abominations reminiscent of Frankenstein's creature), Iron golems (animated metal statues), and a host of others including gold golems, stone golems and paper golems. For other uses, see Dungeons & Dragons (disambiguation). ... A role-playing game (RPG) is a type of game in which players assume the roles of characters and collaboratively create narratives. ... The Eberron logo Eberron is a campaign setting created by author and game designer Keith Baker for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. ... NetHack is a roguelike computer game originally released in 1987. ... Final Fantasy (Japanese: Fainaru Fantajī) is a popular series of role playing games produced by Square Enix (originally Square Co. ... Tactics Ogre is a tactical role-playing game game developed by Quest. ... Magic: The Gathering (colloq. ... The expression umbrella term means a word that provides a superset or grouping of related concepts. ... An automaton (plural: automata) is a self-operating machine. ... A simulacrum is a Latin word originally meaning a material object representing something (such as an idol representing a deity, or a painted still-life of a bowl of fruit). ... Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. ...

The second Fullmetal Alchemist game, Curse of the Crimson Elixir, features golems as enemies. They have magic symbols on their bodies that keep them alive. They were created by an ancient alchemy-using civilization for use as slaves. These golems have several extra abilities such as the ability to diguise themselves as humans. Fullmetal Alchemist ), or commonly abbreviated FMA or Hagaren by fans, is a manga series created by Hiromu Arakawa and serialized in Monthly Shonen Gangan. ... For other uses, see Alchemy (disambiguation). ...

The "mon" genre of video games often include a monster named "golem" or having golem-like qualities, usually animated rock or earth in a vaguely anthropomorphic shape, such as Golem, Regirock, Regice and Registeel from Pokémon, Golemon from Digimon and the breed called Golem in Monster Rancher. The suffix -mon in a name indicates various sorts of fictional creatures in anime, manga and videogames. ... Computer and video games A screenshot of Tetris for the Nintendo Game Boy A console game (better known as a video game) is a form of interactive multimedia used for entertainment, which consists of a moveable image displayed on a screen that is usually controlled and manipulated using a handheld... Anthropomorphism, also referred to as personification or prosopopeia, is the attribution of human characteristics to inanimate objects, animals, forces of nature, and others. ... Golem (ゴローニャ Golonyain Japanese, Geowaz in German and Grolem in French) is a fictional, Rock-type Pokémon that evolves from Graveler. ... Regirock (レジロック/Rejrokku in Japanese, also called Regirock in German and French) is a fictional character of the Pokémon franchise. ... Regice (レジアイス Regice in Japanese, also called Regice in German and French) is a fictional character of the Pokémon franchise. ... Registeel (レジスチル/Registeel in Japanese, also called Registeel in German and French) is a fictional character of the Pokémon franchise. ... Pokémon (ポケモン Pokemon, pronounced //, although frequently, and even intentionally mispronounced //), is a multi-billion dollar media franchise, created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996 (it celebrated its tenth anniversary on February 27, 2006). ... Golemon is a mindless Digimon made of rock, born unexpectedly from the investigating of ancient, prohibited magic lore. ... Some of the characters and their Digimon from Adventure 02. ... Monster Rancher (Japanese: モンスターファーム Monster Farm) is a video game series by Tecmo. ...

The Golem in the Czech Republic

The Golem is a popular figure in the Czech Republic. There are several restaurants and other businesses named after him. Strongman René Richter goes by the nickname "Golem," and a Czech monster truck outfit calls itself the "Golem Team." In the 19th century, the term strongman refers to an exhibitor of strength (before strength sports were codified into weightlifting, powerlifting etc. ... 2005 Bigfoot monster truck racing in Arizona A monster truck is an automobile, typically a pickup truck, which has been modified or purpose built with extremely large wheels and suspension. ...

Further reading

• Moshe Idel. Golem: Jewish Magical and Mystical Traditions on the Artificial Anthropoid. State University of New York Press, 1990.

• Gershon Winkler. The Golem of Prague: A New Adaptation of the Documented Stories of the Golem of Prague. Judaica Press, 1980.

• Emily D. Bilski (Ed.) Golem! Danger, Deliverance and Art. The Jewish Museum, 1988.

• Arnold L. Goldsmith. The Golem Remembered 1909-1980: Variations of a Jewish Legend. Wayne State University Press, 1981.

• Maureen T. Krause. "Introduction: Bereshit bara Elohim, A Survey of the Genesis and Evolution of the Golem." Journal of the Fantastic, 7.2/3, pages 113-36.

• Norma Comrada. "Golem and Robot: The Search for Connections". Journal of the Fantastic, 7.2/3, pages 244-54.

• Jonathan Stroud. "The Golem's Eye", Corgi, 2004

A robot is a mechanical device that can perform preprogrammed physical tasks. ...

External links

• Historical Figures from the Golem Legend
• Background on the Golem Legends
• Rava's Golem (essay in the Summer '96 issue of the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts)
• The Golem
• The Golem in Literature, Film, and Stage
• The Golem Group (robot builders)
• The Golem Project - Automatic design and manufacture of robotic lifeforms