Golem. An Analysis of the Roots of the Modern Jewish Legend

The aim of the article is to present the semantic wealth concealed in the Jewish legend about “golem”, which became popularized in the 19th and 20th centuries. The author presents a semantic analysis of the Hebrew stem g-l-m as well as of its derivatives. He discusses the most important sources which treat about golem – beginning with the Bible, the Talmud, Midrashic literature and ending with the selected writings belonging to the Ashkenazi Chassidism and the ecstatic cabala. In the article the author lays emphasis on revealing the mystical background of the described rituals relating to the creation and destruction of the figure of golem and the multi-layered structure of meanings associated with this process, in the context of halachic and cabalistic assessments of this type of religiousmagical activity.

The aim of the article is to present the semantic wealth concealed in the Jewish legend about “golem”, which became popularized in the 19th and 20th centuries. The author presents a semantic analysis of the Hebrew stem g-l-m as well as of its derivatives. He discusses the most important sources which treat about golem – beginning with the Bible, the Talmud, Midrashic literature and ending with the selected writings belonging to the Ashkenazi Chassidism and the ecstatic cabala. In the article the author lays emphasis on revealing the mystical background of the described rituals relating to the creation and destruction of the figure of golem and the multi-layered structure of meanings associated with this process, in the context of halachic and cabalistic assessments of this type of religiousmagical activity.