The Golem and the Jinni

In The Golem and the Jinni, Wecker pulls from the religious texts and folklore of Judaism to develop the rules of the magic system that allows Chava to exist. In Jewish folklore, Golems are created from earth and clay and are brought to life through rituals and incantations developed by Jewish mystics called Kabbalists, who have studied both the Torah and the Sefer Yetzira (the “Book of Creation”) and follow the predominantly oral tradition of Kabbalah (“Golem.” Jüdisches Museum Berlin). Kabbalah can be traced back to a form of mysticism called Merkavah mysticism that began growing in popularity around the 1st century CE (“Kabbala.” Britannica, 2 Jan. 2024). The goal of Merkavah mysticism was to better understand the Book of Ezekiel. It stems from the belief that God created the world through a series of complex arrangements of letters and numbers. In this type of mysticism, each word and letter in the Hebrew, as well as alternative alphabets, are woven with innate powers of divine creation. Kabbalah began to appear in 13th century Spain, and its guiding work, the Zohar, was first publicized by Moses de León, who claimed that the Zohar is based on the writings of earlier rabbinic sages. (However, most modern-day scholars believe that de León wrote most of the book himself and fabricated its earlier provenance.) Kabbalah promotes a belief in God as an infinite being with 10 different mystical attributes. The primary goal of Kabbalists is similar to the Merkavah mystics: to understand and commune with God (“Kabbalah and Mysticism 101.” My Jewish Learning).

Golems are believed to have first appeared in a story from the Talmud (a sacred compilation of ancient teachings that is used as a key source of Jewish law and theology) (“Talmud and Midrash.” Britannica, 2023). The story tells of a group of starving rabbis in the desert who conjure food by creating a calf from earth. Kabbalists believed this act was done through the use of the Sefer Yetzira; they believed that God spoke creation into existence and that therefore, mystics can do the same. Golems are brought to life by an almost alchemical ritual and are intended to serve their creators. The word “Golem” comes from Hebrew and means “shapeless or unformed”; it is used to describe Adam in the Talmud before he had a soul (Oreck, Alden. “Modern Jewish History: The Golem.” Jewish Virtual Library). Because of Adam’s shift from Golem to human, and because humans can create a Golem, it can be inferred that humanity can create a life form but not a soul (Michaelson, Jay. “Golem.” My Jewish Learning).

In folklore and legend, Golems are carefully sculpted from clay by rabbis in desperate circumstances. They often serve a heroic role, saving the Jewish people from untenable circumstances and oppression. However, many stories depicting Golems are cautionary in nature, demonstrating how easily the creator can lose control of the Golem, which chaotically runs amok, its superior strength endangering the lives of all who surround it. In The Golem and the Jinni, both Rabbi Avram Meyer and Yehudah Schaalman are aware of the innate dangers of Golems, and both men predict that Chava will experience an internal struggle for control when she is overwhelmed. Avram recalls a time when he built his own tiny Golem while at Yeshiva. Once it gained a taste for violence and death, it became insatiable, beating a spider to death, smearing it into a pulp and ignoring all commands to stop. Thus, Wecker’s novel remains true to the popular lore about the Golem, which states that the only way to stop a Golem is to destroy it.

The mythology of the Golem has fascinated artists and writers since its inception in the 13th century. In modern times, pieces of the legends have been adapted to popular media like The Sorcerer’s Apprentice in Disney’s Fantasia, Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” as well as many movies like The Golem: How He Came into the World (1920). More recently, they have appeared in TV shows such as The X-Files, Supernatural, and The Magicians.