Okay, I am willing to concede the melodramatic tinge in my urge to reference the Golem in this dialogue on the "medium" (and at some point, "media literacy") but maybe there are one or two common themes(?):
both are human creations
both can get out of control
both are fueled by human will
Well, so I can envision three...
I suppose I have a habit of relating in figurative terms and cannot always produce literal meanings or translations of things. If I acknowledge (and I do) that I exist within the parameters of the "medium" I am speaking more figuratively, but if I can acknowledge that I utilize tools of the "medium" to communicate and for self-expression, then I am speaking in more concrete terms. You can easily parse the difference between being and using in context of passive and active, but I digress...
I recently recalled the popularity of John Edward, psychic, some years back and his claim that he could communicate with your loved ones who had "passed on". He was proclaiming that he could cross over (and that was the name of his show, CROSSING OVER) from this world into the spirit world and put you in touch with the dead, essentially navigating one medium into the next. He refers to himself as the "psychic medium" and on his website there is info on how to receive "mediumship" readings. I knew someone whose family went on this show in hopes of connecting with a young family member killed in a car crash. I watched the clip where John Edward is "crossing over" to seek out this dead young man, and the one thing that emerged as true from this dog and pony show was that people have a heartrending desire to believe.
And I digress again...
To be in or not to be in the medium...
The golem is an interesting figure to pull up, because he does not *always* get out of control. Yes, the earliest myths of the golem often had them spiraling out of control--but usually because the "master" screwed up by not removing the script in the golem's head on the Sabbath. The fault was not with the creation, but rather with the master's way of dealing with and interacting with his creation. Hmmm...
ReplyDeleteThe best-known golem, of course, is Rabbi Judah Loew's golem in Prague in the 1600's, a golem that never ever devolved into violence: he was, in fact, a savior who kept the Jews safe from the Blood Libel, who kept brother from marrying sister, rescued young Jewish girls from the temptations of conversion, patrolled the Jewish ghetto at night, etc, etc.
However, that story--myth--has no grounding in any "reality" and by that, I mean religious mythology: that golem was created, wholesale, in 1909 by a Rabbi Rosenberg. Before this time, the golem was a servant, and Rosenberg made him a creator: the reason to "terminate" the golem had always before then been because of his eventual destructive tendancies, as you mentioned, however, Rosenberg's (and therefore Loew's) golem was terminated because he had fulfilled his purpose.
Rosenberg made up this enormously successful myth for lots of reasons: commercial profit, for one, as well as to attract a younger audience to Judiasm because he was seeing the younger generation falling for the temptations of secular life. However, it was also a totally ideological fabrication: while there was no Blood Libel (the belief that Jews were kidnapping and killing babies and using their blood to make their bread) during Prague in the 1600s, there WERE pograms and strong anti-Semetic attitudes in eastern europe, as well as the rest of europe, during the early 1900s, Rabbi Rosenberg's time. So Rosenberg was using this old, somewhat-familiar myth, and completely reworking it to grab a younger, secular-leaning audience, make a profit, AND attempting to give the oppressed Jews hope as well as a voice. Hmmm....that fits in very well with what we've been talking about.
PS I'm not a crazy person who just happens to be obsessed with golems--I wrote my thesis on them, and other superhero stories
I believe a golem also plays a big part in the early chapters of Chabon's Cavalier and Clay book, too...?
ReplyDeleteYes, indeed it does. The first 100 pages is the smuggling of the golem out of Prague, along with Joe Kavalier. It's not an accident that Sammy's last name, before he changes it for "industry" reasons, is "Clayman."
ReplyDeleteI am definitely a fan of the golem in all its gory forms. The myth because it is borne from historical events makes it that much more alluring. The idea that a creature could be born from the earth via the written word and destroyed by erasing the written word from his forehead highlights the power of print. It also feels to me like poetic justice in an age where the term "technology" no longer refers to books or the printed page (unless it's via kindle).
ReplyDeleteAnd I think it's cool that you did your thesis on the golem. And I would totally understand if you were obsessed with the golem.