Kabbalah

 

Both the Jerusalem One City Three Faiths book and the class discussion on Thursday mentioned the idea of Kabbalah. Having heard the term before I couldn’t quite place it until I recalled that I watched a movie some years ago called Snow in August. In this movie, a boy befriends a rabbi and in order to save both the rabbi and his mom has to summon the golem, an entity that originated from Kabbalah. I was intrigued by this idea and wanted to learn a little more about Kabbalah, as well as see what the historical background of the golem is/why it exists. 

It turns out that Kabbalah is actually described as originating as traditional lore of the Torah, or the Jewish written law (Ginzberg & Kaufmann). There are numerous groups that practice Kabbalah in many different ways, including Jews, Christians, and even Hermetics, the latter of which was the precursor to the Wiccan, New Age, and Neopagan movements (Hanegraaff, 1998). Many Jewish scriptures are used to explain the mystical teachings of Kabbalah for those practicing the Jewish form of it (Ginzberg & Kaufmann). One idea of Jewish Kabbalah that doesn’t come from Jewish scripture however is reincarnation, which is typically associated with East Asian religions such as Hinduism or Buddhism. One of the first times that reincarnation can be found as a topic in Kabbalah dates back to the 13th century (Resnick, 2021). 

Kabbalah also features the golem, a creature that is described as being “formed out of a lifeless substance such as dust or earth that is brought to life by ritual incantations and sequences of Hebrew letters” (Golem). This golem’s most famous story comes from Prague in the 16th century, when it is said that a Rabbi “created a Golem out of clay… to defend the Prague ghetto from anti-Semetic attacks” (Elisniv, 2012). As such, the golem is viewed as “a helper, a companion, or a rescuer of an imperiled Jewish community” (Golem).

Overall, Kabbalah seems to have some very interesting aspects to it, appearing to draw from various religions. The idea of a golem as a creature that has saved Jewish communities in the past or could save them in the future is fascinating, and I might just go see if there are other movies like Snow in August that feature golems to learn a little bit more about them and how modern day Kabbalists see this aspect of their faith.

References

Elisniv. (2012, May 8). The golem in the Attic. Moment Magazine. Retrieved March 27, 2022, from https://momentmag.com/the-golem-in-the-attic/ 

Ginzberg, L., & Kaufmann, K. (n.d.). Jewishencyclopedia.com. CABALA - JewishEncyclopedia.com. Retrieved March 27, 2022, from https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/3878-cabala#anchor2 

Golem. Jewish Museum Berlin. (n.d.). Retrieved March 27, 2022, from https://www.jmberlin.de/en/topic-golem 

Hanegraaff, W. (1998, January 1). New age religion and western culture : Esotericism in the mirror of secular thought : Hanegraaff, wouter J : Free download, borrow, and streaming. Internet Archive. Retrieved March 27, 2022, from https://archive.org/details/newagereligionwe0000hane/page/396/mode/2up 

Resnick, R. B. (2021, May 13). What Judaism says about reincarnation. My Jewish Learning. Retrieved March 27, 2022, from https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/reincarnation-the-transmigration-of-a-jewish-idea/