Week 3 Story: A Graceful Protector

Back in the time of war there was a little Jewish boy who lived with his grandfather the Rabbi. This time of war was not a safe place for anyone of Jewish descent. Nazi Germany was a rising tide throughout Europe and death followed wherever the Germans went. The Rabbi was at an age now where he could not protect himself from these forces nor could he protect his grandson. The grandson, who's name was Yaniv, was only 13. He did not quite fully understand the danger of the world around him but knew that things were not safe.

Yaniv curiously asked "Grandfather, why are these men taking our friends away?" 

"Hush, do not speak of this outside where others can hear." snapped the Grandfather. 

The Rabbi knew there was something in the ancient scripts that he had seen before, it was something that he could use to keep the two of them safe in the time of war. He searched all through the night and finally had found it, the old writings there was a script. Only three families knew of the secret script and the Rabbi happened to be one of them. 

Yaniv watched his grandfather start to build a giant sculpture from clay. Curious once again he asked, "Grandfather what are you doing?"

"Protecting us." he replied

"But how will a sculpture made of such brittle material protect us?" asked Yaniv

The Grandfather ignored him and kept working, knowing that Yaniv would know in time. By morning he had finished the sculpture and the final touch was to bring the object to life. The written script that the Rabbi had was now written on to an old cloth, with the Rabbi and the child's name on the backside. This ensured that Golem would only obey Yaniv and himself. As the Rabbi placed the rolled up cloth into the giants mouth, its eyes and mouth began to glow. 

The Golem was alive, he stood up and in a loud booming voice said "I am yours to command." 

The grandfather gave it the instruction to protect him and the boy from any harm and it did just that for the span of the entire war. They set out to rescue as many people as they could and while in doing so the Golem protected them while they helped the others.

As time went on there came a time where the Golem no longer had to protect them from the dangers of the Nazis, but the golem has been passed down from generation to generation since, and still lives to protect the lives of the family. 

The Golem Brought to Life by the Rabbi

Photo Provided by: Wikimedia Commons

The Updated version of this story can be found here: Webtext

Authors note: This story was produced from the idea of a story that was part of the Jewish Fairy Tales section of the reading. Though the actual story was a Rabbi who created a "Bogey-man" to protect himself from the king. The King saw that the Rabbi had brought an inanimate object to life and was going to have him killed if he could not do it again. So the Rabbi did but made sure that the new being protected him from the kings doings. I made this story to fit the terrible time in the lives of the Jewish culture because it brings an aspect of good to the table where they were able to fight back rather than be mass murdered by Nazi Germany. Everyone of this world is a human being and the prejudice people are ignorant and evil. This story shows the oppressed rising up against the odds. Dealt the worst possible hand in life, Yaniv and his grandfather figured out a way to turn the tide and beat the enemy oppressing them.

Bibliography: "The Rabbi's Bogey-Man" from Jewish Fairy Tales by Gertrude Landa web source