Topic 1 - He is the Golem/We are the Golem

The first topic that I want to write about is the role of the Golem as symbolic of a certain view of Jewish self-defense/reaction to powerlessness, and if or how the way we view the Golem has changed with the way we (the Jews) see ourselves and our own self-defense/reaction to powerlessness (real or perceived) today.

The topic was inspired by a conversation we had at a recent Torah study group held by a local synagogue about the Golem. The Golem, if you don't know, is a creature of Jewish mythology formed from mud who is given a human shape and, for the most part, performs the commands of his creator (he is for the most part devoid of his own thought or volition). The most famous version of the Golem story is the one about Rabbi Judah Loew ben Betzalel, the Chief Rabbi of Prague in the Middle Ages. Rabbi Loew, the story goes, created the Golem to protect the Jewish community from its many external threats. Other Golem stories sprang up in other Jewish communities of Europe throughout the Middle Ages.

Over the course of pouring over Biblical, Talmudic and modern texts looking at the origin of the Golem story, the rabbi leading our discussion made the comment that in the modern era, those who were part of the founding of the Israel Defense Forces chose to see themselves as the "new Golem" of the Jewish people - the new defender of the Jewish people. He said it almost as an after thought, but when he said it I could feel it grip me and refuse to let go. This subtle comment struck me with the sense that the tonal shift he described could symbolize something pretty significant about the ways in which Jewish communities think about themselves in relation to their surroundings, has or hasn't changed over the millennia. But what?

Here are some of the questions I think I'll explore with this topic:
1. How widespread was the Golem - was it a widely adopted practice for communities to make Golems, or are these stories about the Golem largely apocryphal?
2. How did this change of perspective on/approach to self-defense - from one in which Jews made an instrument of protection with their hands to one in which Jews physically took their protection into their own hands - intersect with changing ideas of Jewish destiny and the nature of the world?
3. (Or, really, 2b) What relationship exists between the view of the Golem and the emergence of the Enlightenment and a swing towards the scientific vs. mystical view of the world and its origins?

Now, like I've said, I'm giving myself a month to chew these over - some of these questions might be smaller or bigger than I'm imagining. Regardless, I'm excited to jump in!