Vila Wolf's Dyslexic Folklorist Ranting

Detail of “Decorated initial-word panel Divrei (the words of) with partial foliate border inhabited by a dragon, at the beginning of Amos.”, Italy ca. 14th century via The British Library, Public Domain

Cooking in the Hebrew Bible Source: http://bit.ly/1b5qTtv By: Cynthia Shafer-Elliott, Ph.D., William Jessup University It is an understatement to say that within US culture there is a keen interest in food. Turn on any TV and one will see entire channels dedicated to the cooking and eating of food, with chefs becoming minor celebrities. Our interest in food has spilled over into the academic realm where research into diet and the cooking of food in ancient societies has become a “hot” topic. Archaeological excavations of Iron Age Syro-Palestine houses typically find activity areas dedicated for baking and cooking located in the central indoor………. Read More

Read and find more great archaeology blogs at: Archaeology Blog Project

A 19th century Haggadah (“a Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder”) published for an Indian Jewish community. Writing is in both Marathi (Devanagari script) and Hebrew.

In Jewish folklore, a golem is an animated anthropomorphic being, created entirely from inanimate matter.

The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late 16th century chief rabbi of Prague, who reportedly created a golem to defend the Prague ghetto from antisemitic attacks. Depending on the version of the legend, the Jews in Prague were to be either expelled or killed under the rule of Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor. To protect the Jewish community, the rabbi constructed the Golem out of clay from the banks of the Vltava river, and brought it to life through rituals and Hebrew incantations. As this golem grew, it became increasingly violent, killing gentiles and spreading fear. A different story tells of a golem that fell in love, and when rejected, became the violent monster seen in most accounts. Some versions have the golem eventually turning on its creator or attacking other Jews.

The Emperor begged Rabbi Loew to destroy the Golem, promising to stop the persecution of the Jews. To deactivate the Golem, the rabbi rubbed out the first letter of the word “emet” (truth or reality) from the creature’s forehead leaving the Hebrew word “met”, meaning dead. The Golem’s body was stored in the attic genizah of the Old New Synagogue, where it would be restored to life again if needed. According to legend, the body of Rabbi Loew’s Golem still lies in the synagogue’s attic. Some versions of the tale state that the Golem was stolen from the genizah and entombed in a graveyard in Prague’s Žižkov district, where the Žižkov Television Tower now stands. A recent legend tells of a Nazi agent ascending to the synagogue attic during World War II and trying to stab the Golem, but he died instead.

[with thanks to the-black-emporium for bringing this particular oddment to my attention and providing the photograph of Rabbi Loew and his Golem at a museum in Prague]