[Avodah] Golem

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Jul 11, 2023 at 07:49:45PM -0400, Joel Rich via Avodah wrote:
> Any thoughts on why the chacham tzvi decided to address the golem issue. I
> understand that there were Kabbalistic masters, who claimed the ability.
> Perhaps there were also secular myths and stories (alchemists et al) at the
> time?

The idea of golem is in the gemara. E.g. Sanhedrin 65b has Rava making a
non-speaking humunculous (word "golem" not used) and giving it to Rav
Zeira.

The word golem is used a bit later (38b) to describe Adam before recieving
a nishmas chayim.

Perhaps I would know if I saw the Chakham Tzevi's specific wording why
it is more of a quesiton why he would address a topic found in the gemara
than any other such topic.

In fact, in his day in the 17th and early 18th cent CE, the Enlightenment
was hitting Europe and such fantastical stories were being questioned
like never before. So, maybe it's not that the alchemists were playing
with the idea that there was a rise of pushback against such attempts. And
so our mesorah needed defending.

-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Zion will be redeemed through justice,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   and her returnees, through righteousness.
Author: Widen Your Tent
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF