Golem

In Jewish folklore, a golem (/ˈɡoʊləm/ GOH-ləm; Hebrew: גולם‎) is an animated anthropomorphic being, magically created entirely from inanimate matter. The word was used to mean an amorphous, unformed material (usually out of stone and clay) in Psalms and medieval writing.

The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late-16th-century rabbi of Prague. There are many tales differing on how the golem was brought to life and afterwards controlled.

History

Etymology

The word golem occurs once in the Bible in Psalm 139:16, which uses the word גלמי (galmi; my golem), meaning "my unshaped form", "raw" material, connoting the unfinished human being before God's eyes. The Mishnah uses the term for an uncultivated person: "Seven characteristics are in an uncultivated person, and seven in a learned one," (שבעה דברים בגולם) (Pirkei Avot 5:6 in the Hebrew text; English translations vary). In Modern Hebrew, golem is used to mean "dumb" or "helpless". Similarly, it is often used today as a metaphor for a brainless lunk or entity who serves man under controlled conditions but is hostile to him under others. "Golem" passed into Yiddish as goylem to mean someone who is clumsy or slow.

Golem (klezmer band)

Golem is a rock-klezmer band from New York City. They mix traditional Eastern European Jewish music with original material sung in Yiddish, English, Russian, as well as Ukrainian, French, Serbian-Croatian, Romany.

Golem was created in November, 2000 by Annette Ezekiel Kogan, bandleader, vocalist and accordionist. The group describes itself as "Eastern European Jewish folk-rock". The group performs internationally: throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, as well as France, Germany, the U.K, Poland and Sweden.

Biography

Annette Ezekiel Kogan formed Golem in 2000. Before even putting the band together she contacted David Krakauer, who was then curating the weekly "Klezmer Brunch" at the downtown venue, Tonic, and asked him for a gig. Krakauer agreed, and Ezekiel Kogan put together the first lineup for Golem’s debut.

Golem recorded its first EP Golem in 2001, followed by the self-produced full-length albums Libeshmertzn (Love Hurts) (2002) and Homesick Songs (2004).

In June, 2005, Golem recreated a "mock wedding", based on an old Catskills’ tradition, at the Knitting Factory in New York. An entire Jewish wedding ceremony took place before 200 "guests", complete with rabbi, chuppah, wedding party, and bride and groom in drag. The event was featured on the front page of the NY Times Arts section.

Golem (David Wisniewski book)

Golem is a 1996 picture book written and illustrated by David Wisniewski. With illustrations made of cut-paper collages, it is Wisniewski's retelling of the Jewish folktale of the Golem, with real people, real places, and a one-page background at the end.

The story is set in year 1580 in Prague, and the Jews are being persecuted. Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the town rabbi, can think of nothing more than creating a being out of mud and bringing it to life, using the holy name of God, to protect them. Once the Golem stops the persecution, Rabbi Loew erases the letters on the Golem's head, making the Golem "sleep the dreamless sleep of clay". The ending is ambiguous, ending with the words: "But many say he could awaken. Perhaps when the desperate need for justice is united with holy purpose, Golem will come to life once more."

This retelling is one of the few retellings in which the Golem has a name—it is Joseph.

The book won the Caldecott Medal in 1997.

References

Hora (song)

"Hora" (Hebrew script: הורה, English translation: "Hora") was the Israeli entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1982, performed in Hebrew by Avi Toledano and winning second place, but missed 61 points ahead of that year's winning country, Germany

The song is a moderately up-tempo number, with Toledano singing about the joy he feels in seeing parts of his country and dancing the traditional "Hora" folk dance.

The song was performed fifteenth on the night, following Yugoslavia's Aska with "Halo, Halo" and preceding the Netherlands' Bill van Dijk with "Jij en ik"). At the close of voting, it had received 100 points, placing 2nd in a field of 18.

It was succeeded as Israeli representative at the 1983 Contest by Ofra Haza with "Hi" that also won Israel the second place.

Sunder Lal Hora

Sunder Lal Hora (May 2, 1896 - December 8, 1955) was an Indian ichthyologist and was known for his biogeographical theory on the affinities of Western Ghats and Indo-Malayan forms. He was the second Indian director of the Zoological Survey of India, succeeding Baini Prashad.

Hora was born at Hafizabad in the Punjab on 2 May 1896. He schooled in Jullunder before college at Lahore. He met Thomas Nelson Annandale who visited his college in Lahore in 1919 and was invited to the Zoological Survey of India. In 1921 he became in-charge of ichthyology and herpetology and in 1947 became Superintendent of the Z.S.I. and then Director after Baini Prashad moved to become an advisor to the government. He died on December 8, 1955.

The Satpura hypothesis, a zoo-geographical hypothesis proposed by him that suggests that the central Indian Satpura Range of hills acted as a bridge providing for the Malayan affinity of many Indian fauna and flora in the peninsula and the Western Ghats of India. He used the suctorial adaptations of torrent fishes to support this biogeographical hypothesis, however new research suggests that the examples he used were cases of convergent evolution.

Hora (dance)

Hora, also known as horo and oro, is a type of circle dance originating in the Balkans but also found in other countries.

Etymology

The name (spelled differently in different countries) is cognate to the Greek χορός: 'dance' which is cognate with the ancient Greek art form of χορεία; see Chorea. The original meaning of the Greek word χορός may have been 'circle'. The course of the seasons was also symbolically described as the dance of the Greco-Roman Horae, and they were accordingly given the attributes of spring flowers, fragrance and graceful freshness.

Also, the word is present in Slavic languages and "hora" and "oro" are found in many Slavic languages and have the meaning of round (dance) and the verb 'oriti' means to speak, sound, sing which previously meant to celebrate.

The Greek χορός is cognate with Pontic 'khoron', Bulgarian хоро 'horo', Romanian 'horă', Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian/Montenegrin/Slovenian 'kolo', Macedonian/Montenegrin 'oro', the Turkish form 'hora', 'valle' in Albania, and in Hebrew הורה (Hora). The Khorumi dance of Georgia also might be connected to the Horon dance in the neighbouring Turkish regions, as it rose out of the Adjara region, where Kartvelian Laz people coexisted for centuries with Greek Pontians.