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82-529: Mudman or Mud-man may refer to: Golem , a folkloric being that is often made from mud Characters [ edit ] Mud-man ( Dungeons & Dragons ) , a monster in the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons Mudman, a character in the World Heroes series of games Mudman, a character in the My Hero Academia series Mudman,

164-445: A certain and explicit way, from several respectable persons that one man [living] close to our time, whose name is R. Eliyahu, the master of the name, who made a creature out of matter [Heb. Golem ] and form [Heb. tzurah ] and it performed hard work for him, for a long period, and the name of emet was hanging upon his neck until he finally removed it for a certain reason, the name from his neck and it turned to dust." A similar account

246-539: A character in the Atomic Puppet series of games Mudman, the titular character in a comic by Paul Grist Other uses [ edit ] Kim Jones (artist) (born 1944), an American performance artist also known as Mudman Casio G-Shock Mudman , a watch See also [ edit ] Creation of man from clay Mudmen (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with

328-586: A friend. The nature and quality of their words are mysterious, sealed, and hidden." But it has been said of this passage, "Even when [the Maharal is] eulogized, whether in David Gans' Zemach David or on his epitaph ..., not a word is said about the creation of a golem. No Hebrew work published in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries (even in Prague) is aware that the Maharal created a golem." Furthermore,

410-486: A golem, in the 12th century. In 1625, Joseph Delmedigo wrote that "many legends of this sort are current, particularly in Germany." The oldest description of the creation of a golem by a historical figure is included in a tradition connected to Rabbi Eliyahu of Chełm (1550–1583). A Polish Kabbalist , writing in about 1630–1650, reported the creation of a golem by Rabbi Eliyahu thusly: "And I have heard, in

492-519: A number of different approaches. The main work discussing the Mishnah is the Talmud, as outlined . However, the Talmud is not usually viewed as a commentary on the Mishnah per se , because: the Talmud also has many other goals; its analysis — " Gemara " — often entails long, tangential discussions; and neither version of the Talmud covers the entire Mishnah (each covers about 50–70% of the text). As

574-543: A result, numerous commentaries-proper on the Mishna have been written, typically intended to allow for the study of the work without requiring direct reference to (and facility for) the Gemara . Mishnah study, independent of the Talmud, was a marginal phenomenon before the late 15th century. The few commentaries that had been published tended to be limited to the tractates not covered by the Talmud, while Maimonides' commentary

656-536: A ruling was revisited, but the second ruling would not become popularly known. To correct this, Judah the Prince took up the redaction of the Mishnah. If a point was of no conflict, he kept its language; where there was conflict, he reordered the opinions and ruled, and he clarified where context was not given. The idea was not to use his discretion, but rather to examine the tradition as far back as he could, and only supplement as required. According to Rabbinic Judaism ,

738-457: A single paragraph of the work, i.e. the smallest unit of structure, leading to the use of the plural, " Mishnayot ", for the whole work. Because of the division into six orders, the Mishnah is sometimes called Shas (an acronym for Shisha Sedarim – the "six orders"), although that term is more often used for the Talmud as a whole. The six orders are: The acronym "Z'MaN NaKaT" is a popular mnemonic for these orders. In each order (with

820-478: A source and a tool for creating laws, and the first of many books to complement the Tanakh in certain aspects. Before the publication of the Mishnah, Jewish scholarship and judgement were predominantly oral, as according to the Talmud, it was not permitted to write them down. The earliest recorded oral law may have been of the midrashic form, in which halakhic discussion is structured as exegetical commentary on

902-614: A special tune for the Mishnaic passage "Bammeh madliqin" in the Friday night service ; there may also be tunes for Mishnaic passages in other parts of the liturgy, such as the passages in the daily prayers relating to sacrifices and incense and the paragraphs recited at the end of the Musaf service on Shabbat . Otherwise, there is often a customary intonation used in the study of Mishnah or Talmud, somewhat similar to an Arabic mawwal , but this

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984-429: A tradition that unattributed statements of the law represent the views of Rabbi Meir (Sanhedrin 86a), which supports the theory (recorded by Sherira Gaon in his famous Iggeret ) that he was the author of an earlier collection. For this reason, the few passages that actually say "this is the view of Rabbi Meir" represent cases where the author intended to present Rabbi Meir's view as a "minority opinion" not representing

1066-410: Is "kneaded into a shapeless husk". Like Adam, all golems are created from mud by those close to divinity, but no anthropogenic golem is fully human. Early on, the main disability of the golem was its inability to speak. Sanhedrin 65b describes Rava creating a man ( gavra ), whom he then sends to Rav Zeira . Zeira speaks to the man, but he does not answer, whereupon Zeira says, "You were created by

1148-522: Is a popular figure in the Czech Republic . The 1915 novel by Gustav Meyrink ( The Golem ) was briefly popular and did much to keep the imagination about the golem going. Several restaurants and other businesses have names that make reference to the creature. A Czech strongman , René Richter goes by the nickname "Golem", and a Czech monster truck outfit calls itself the "Golem Team". Abraham Akkerman preceded his article on human automatism in

1230-474: Is an animated anthropomorphic being in Jewish folklore , which is created entirely from inanimate matter, usually clay or mud . The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel , the late 16th-century rabbi of Prague . According to Moment magazine, "the golem is a highly mutable metaphor with seemingly limitless symbolism. It can be a victim or villain, man or woman—or sometimes both. Over

1312-492: Is arranged in order of topics rather than in the form of a Biblical commentary. (In a very few cases, there is no scriptural source at all and the law is described as Halakha leMoshe miSinai , "law to Moses from Sinai".) The Midrash halakha , by contrast, while presenting similar laws, does so in the form of a Biblical commentary and explicitly links its conclusions to details in the Biblical text. These Midrashim often predate

1394-407: Is inscribed on the golem, sometimes on its forehead. In this example, the golem could then be deactivated by removing the aleph (א), thus changing the inscription from "truth" to "death" ( מת , mét , 'dead'). One source credits Solomon ibn Gabirol , who lived in the 11th century, with creating a golem, possibly female, for household chores. Samuel of Speyer also was said to have created

1476-462: Is not known whether this is a reference to the Mishnah, but there is a case for saying that the Mishnah does consist of 60 tractates. (The current total is 63, but Makkot was originally part of Sanhedrin , and Bava Kamma (literally: "First Portal"), Bava Metzia ("Middle Portal") and Bava Batra ("Final Portal") are often regarded as subdivisions of one enormous tractate, titled simply Nezikin.) A number of important laws are not elaborated upon in

1558-465: Is not open to the general public. Some Orthodox Jews believe that the Maharal did actually create a golem. The evidence for this belief has been analyzed from an Orthodox Jewish perspective by Shnayer Z. Leiman. The general view of historians and critics is that the story of the Golem of Prague was a German literary invention of the early 19th century. According to John Neubauer, the first writers on

1640-630: Is not reduced to a precise system like that for the Biblical books. (In some traditions this intonation is the same as or similar to that used for the Passover Haggadah .) Recordings have been made for Israeli national archives, and Frank Alvarez-Pereyre has published a book-length study of the Syrian tradition of Mishnah reading on the basis of these recordings. Most vowelized editions of the Mishnah today reflect standard Ashkenazic vowelization, and often contain mistakes. The Albeck edition of

1722-499: Is often used in a narrower sense to mean traditions concerning the editing and reading of the Biblical text (see Masoretic Text ). The resulting Jewish law and custom is called halakha . While most discussions in the Mishnah concern the correct way to carry out laws recorded in the Torah, it usually presents its conclusions without explicitly linking them to any scriptural passage, though scriptural quotations do occur. For this reason it

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1804-474: Is often used today as a metaphor for a mindless lunk or other entity that serves a man under controlled conditions, but is hostile to him in other circumstances. Golem passed into Yiddish as goylem , meaning someone who is lethargic or in a stupor. The oldest stories of golems date to early Judaism. In the Talmud (Tractate Sanhedrin 38b), Adam is initially created as a golem ( גולם ) when his dust

1886-521: Is seen in Frankenstein , The Sorcerer's Apprentice , and some other stories in popular culture, such as The Terminator . The theme manifests itself in R.U.R. ( Rossum's Universal Robots ), Karel Čapek 's 1921 play that coined the term robot . The play was written in Prague, and while Čapek denied that he modeled the robot after the golem, many similarities are seen in the plot. The golem

1968-461: Is sometimes a mixed blessing. Golems are not intelligent, and if commanded to perform a task, they will perform the instructions literally. In many depictions, golems are inherently perfectly obedient. In its earliest known modern form, the Golem of Chełm became enormous and uncooperative. In one version of this story, the rabbi had to resort to trickery to deactivate it, whereupon it crumbled upon its creator and crushed him. A similar theme of hubris

2050-646: Is written in Mishnaic Hebrew , but some parts are in Jewish Western Aramaic . The term " Mishnah " originally referred to a method of teaching by presenting topics in a systematic order, as contrasted with Midrash , which followed the order of the Bible. As a written compilation, the order of the Mishnah is by subject matter and includes a much broader selection of halakhic subjects and discusses individual subjects more thoroughly than

2132-697: The House of Shammai and the House of Hillel . After the First Jewish–Roman War in 70 CE, with the end of the Second Temple Jewish center in Jerusalem, Jewish social and legal norms were in upheaval. The Rabbis were faced with the new reality of Judaism without a Temple (to serve as the center of teaching and study) and Judea without autonomy. It is during this period that Rabbinic discourse began to be recorded in writing. The possibility

2214-461: The Midrash . The Mishnah consists of six orders ( sedarim , singular seder סדר ), each containing 7–12 tractates ( masechtot , singular masechet מסכת ; lit. "web"), 63 in total. Each masechet is divided into chapters ( peraqim , singular pereq ) and then paragraphs ( mishnayot , singular mishnah ). In this last context, the word mishnah means

2296-464: The Torah , with the oldest surviving material dating to the 6th to 7th centuries CE. Rabbis expounded on and debated the Tanakh without the benefit of written works (other than the Biblical books themselves), though some may have made private notes ( מגילות סתרים ) for example of court decisions. The oral traditions were far from monolithic, and varied among various schools, the most famous of which were

2378-638: The Vilna Gaon or "the saintly genius from Vilnius" (1720–1797). Rabbi Chaim Volozhin (Lithuania 1749–1821) reported in an introduction to Sifra de Tzeniuta that he once presented to his teacher, the Vilna Gaon, ten different versions of a certain passage in the Sefer Yetzira and asked the Gaon to determine the correct text. The Gaon immediately identified one version as the accurate rendition of

2460-480: The shem before the Sabbath (Saturday) began, so as to let it rest on Sabbath. One Friday evening, Rabbi Loew forgot to remove the shem , and feared that the Golem would desecrate the Sabbath. A different story tells of a golem that fell in love, and when rejected, became the violent monster seen in most accounts. Some versions have the golem eventually going on a murderous rampage. The rabbi then managed to pull

2542-473: The shem from his mouth and immobilize him in front of the synagogue, whereupon the golem fell in pieces. The Golem's body was stored in the attic genizah of the Old New Synagogue , where it would be restored to life again if needed. Rabbi Loew then forbade anyone except his successors from going into the attic. Rabbi Yechezkel Landau , a successor of Rabbi Loew, reportedly wanted to go up

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2624-471: The tanna appointed to recite the Mishnah passage under discussion. This may indicate that, even if the Mishnah was reduced to writing, it was not available on general distribution. Very roughly, there are two traditions of Mishnah text. One is found in manuscripts and printed editions of the Mishnah on its own, or as part of the Jerusalem Talmud . The other is found in manuscripts and editions of

2706-541: The Babylonian Talmud ; though there is sometimes a difference between the text of a whole paragraph printed at the beginning of a discussion (which may be edited to conform with the text of the Mishnah-only editions) and the line-by-line citations in the course of the discussion. Robert Brody, in his Mishna and Tosefta Studies (Jerusalem 2014), warns against over-simplifying the picture by assuming that

2788-475: The Biblical laws, which was much needed since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE . The Mishnah is thus a collection of existing traditions rather than new law. The term "Mishnah" is related to the verb "to teach, repeat", and to adjectives meaning "second". It is thus named for being both the one written authority (codex) secondary (only) to the Tanakh as a basis for the passing of judgment,

2870-518: The Ghetto of Prague , English edition 1925. The Jewish Encyclopedia of 1906 cites the historical work Zemach David by David Gans , a disciple of the Maharal, published in 1592. In it, Gans writes of an audience between the Maharal and Rudolph II: "Our lord the emperor ... Rudolph ... sent for and called upon our master Rabbi Low ben Bezalel and received him with a welcome and merry expression, and spoke to him face to face, as one would to

2952-515: The Golem. Rosenberg claimed that the book was based upon a manuscript that he found in the main library in Metz. Wonders of Maharal "is generally recognized in academic circles to be a literary hoax". Gershom Sholem observed that the manuscript "contains not ancient legends, but modern fiction". Rosenberg's claim was further disseminated in Chayim Bloch's (1881–1973) The Golem: Legends of

3034-665: The Jewish People in the Period of the Second Temple and the Talmud, Volume 3 The Literature of the Sages: First Part: Oral Tora, Halakha, Mishna, Tosefta, Talmud, External Tractates. Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum , Ed. Shmuel Safrai, Brill, 1987, ISBN   9004275134 The first printed edition of the Mishnah was published in Naples . There have been many subsequent editions, including

3116-403: The Maharal himself did not refer to the Golem in his writings. Rabbi Yedidiah Tiah Weil (1721–1805), a Prague resident, who described the creation of golems, including those created by Rabbis Avigdor Kara of Prague (died 1439) and Eliyahu of Chelm, did not mention the Maharal. Rabbi Meir Perils' biography of the Maharal published in 1718 does not mention a golem. A similar tradition relates to

3198-585: The Mishnah in its original structure, together with the associated Gemara , are known as Talmuds . Two Talmuds were compiled, the Babylonian Talmud (to which the term "Talmud" normally refers) and the Jerusalem Talmud , with the oldest surviving Talmudic manuscripts dating to the 8th century CE. Unlike the Hebrew Mishnah, the Gemara is written primarily in Aramaic. The Mishnah teaches

3280-710: The Mishnah using a variety of melodies and many different kinds of pronunciation. These institutes are the Jewish Oral Traditions Research Center and the National Voice Archives (the Phonoteca at the Jewish National and University Library). See below for external links. Both the Mishnah and Talmud contain little serious biographical studies of the people discussed therein, and the same tractate will conflate

3362-659: The Mishnah was redacted after the Bar Kokhba revolt , Judah could not have included discussion of Hanukkah, which commemorates the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid Empire (the Romans would not have tolerated this overt nationalism). Similarly, there were then several decrees in place aimed at suppressing outward signs of national identity, including decrees against wearing tefillin and tzitzit; as conversion to Judaism

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3444-484: The Mishnah was vocalized by Hanoch Yelon , who made careful eclectic use of both medieval manuscripts and current oral traditions of pronunciation from Jewish communities all over the world. The Albeck edition includes an introduction by Yelon detailing his eclectic method. Two institutes at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem have collected major oral archives which hold extensive recordings of Jews chanting

3526-519: The Mishnah-only tradition is always the more authentic, or that it represents a "Palestinian" as against a "Babylonian" tradition. Manuscripts from the Cairo Geniza , or citations in other works, may support either type of reading or other readings altogether. Complete manuscripts (mss.) bolded . The earliest extant material witness to rabbinic literature of any kind is dating to the 6th–7th centuries CE, see Mosaic of Rehob . The Literature of

3608-462: The Mishnah. The Mishnah also quotes the Torah for principles not associated with law , but just as practical advice, even at times for humor or as guidance for understanding historical debates. Some Jews do not accept the codification of the oral law at all. Karaite Judaism , for example, recognises only the Tanakh as authoritative in Halakha (Jewish religious law ) and theology . It rejects

3690-402: The Mishnah. These include the laws of tzitzit , tefillin (phylacteries), mezuzot , the holiday of Hanukkah , and the laws of conversion to Judaism . These were later discussed in the minor tractates . Nissim ben Jacob 's Hakdamah Le'mafteach Hatalmud argued that it was unnecessary for "Judah the Prince" to discuss them as many of these laws were so well known. Margolies suggests that as

3772-699: The Oral Torah ( Hebrew : תורה שבעל-פה ) was given to Moses with the Torah at Mount Sinai or Mount Horeb as an exposition to the latter. The accumulated traditions of the Oral Law, expounded by scholars in each generation from Moses onward, is considered as the necessary basis for the interpretation, and often for the reading, of the Written Law. Jews sometimes refer to this as the Masorah (Hebrew: מסורה ), roughly translated as tradition, though that word

3854-536: The Prague ghetto from antisemitic attacks and pogroms ". Depending on the version of the legend, the Jews in Prague were to be either expelled or killed under the rule of Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor . The Golem was called Josef and was known as Yossele. He was said to be able to make himself invisible and summon spirits from the dead. Rabbi Loew deactivated the Golem on Friday evenings by removing

3936-536: The Prague Golem were: A few slightly earlier examples are known, in 1834 and 1836. All of these early accounts of the Golem of Prague are in German by Jewish writers. They are suggested to have emerged as part of a Jewish folklore movement parallel with the contemporary German folklore movement. The origins of the story have been obscured by attempts to exaggerate its age and to pretend that it dates from

4018-533: The Prince recorded the Mishnah in writing or established it as an oral text for memorisation. The most important early account of its composition, the Iggeret Rav Sherira Gaon (Epistle of Rabbi Sherira Gaon) is ambiguous on the point, although the Spanish recension leans to the theory that the Mishnah was written. However, the Talmud records that, in every study session, there was a person called

4100-615: The Prince went through the tractates, the Mishnah was set forth, but throughout his life some parts were updated as new information came to light. Because of the proliferation of earlier versions, it was deemed too hard to retract anything already released, and therefore a second version of certain laws were released. The Talmud refers to these differing versions as Mishnah Rishonah ("First Mishnah") and Mishnah Acharonah ("Last Mishnah"). David Zvi Hoffmann suggests that Mishnah Rishonah actually refers to texts from earlier Sages upon which Rebbi based his Mishnah. The Talmud records

4182-637: The Talmud Yerushalmi and the Talmud Bavli, and in variances of medieval manuscripts and early editions of the Mishnah. The best known examples of these differences is found in J.N.Epstein's Introduction to the Text of the Mishnah (1948). Epstein has also concluded that the period of the Amoraim was one of further deliberate changes to the text of the Mishnah, which he views as attempts to return

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4264-607: The Vilna edition, the text cited line by line in the Gemara often preserves important variants, which sometimes reflect the readings of older manuscripts. The nearest approach to a critical edition is that of Hanoch Albeck . There is also an edition by Yosef Qafiḥ of the Mishnah together with the commentary of Maimonides , which compares the base text used by Maimonides with the Napoli and Vilna editions and other sources. The Mishnah

4346-436: The accepted law. There are also references to the "Mishnah of Rabbi Akiva ", suggesting a still earlier collection; on the other hand, these references may simply mean his teachings in general. Another possibility is that Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Meir established the divisions and order of subjects in the Mishnah, making them the authors of a school curriculum rather than of a book. Authorities are divided on whether Rabbi Judah

4428-527: The basis of the Sephardic tradition for recitation. As well as being printed on its own, the Mishnah is included in all editions of the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds. Each paragraph is printed on its own, and followed by the relevant Gemara discussion. However, that discussion itself often cites the Mishnah line by line. While the text printed in paragraph form has generally been standardized to follow

4510-628: The beginning of the 3rd century CE. Modern authors who have provided examples of these changes include J.N. Epstein and S. Friedman. Following Judah the Prince's redaction there remained a number of different versions of the Mishnah in circulation. The Mishnah used in the Babylonian rabbinic community differing markedly from that used in the Palestinian one. Indeed within these rabbinic communities themselves there are indications of different versions being used for study. These differences are shown in divergent citations of individual Mishnah passages in

4592-514: The body of Rabbi Loew's Golem still lies in the synagogue's attic. When the attic was renovated in 1883, no evidence of the Golem was found. Some versions of the tale state that the Golem was stolen from the genizah and entombed in a graveyard in Prague's Žižkov district , where the Žižkov Television Tower now stands. A recent legend tells of a Nazi agent ascending to the synagogue attic, dying under suspicious circumstances thereafter. The attic

4674-570: The centuries, it has been used to connote war, community, isolation, hope, and despair." In modern popular culture, the word has become generalized, and any crude anthropomorphic creature devised by a sorcerer may be termed a "golem". There may be metal golems, such as Talos , or stone golems, e.g., in Dungeons and Dragons . The word golem occurs once in the Bible , in Psalm 139:16, which uses

4756-474: The codification of the Oral Torah in the Mishnah and Talmud and subsequent works of mainstream Rabbinic Judaism which maintain that the Talmud is an authoritative interpretation of the Torah . Karaites maintain that all of the divine commandments handed down to Moses by God were recorded in the written Torah without additional Oral Law or explanation. As a result, Karaite Jews do not accept as binding

4838-579: The contemporary city with a short satirical poem on a pair of golems turning human. A Yiddish and Slavic folktale is the Clay Boy, which combines elements of the golem and The Gingerbread Man , in which a lonely couple makes a child out of clay, with disastrous or comical consequences. In one common Russian version, an older couple, whose children have left home, make a boy out of clay and dry him by their hearth. The Clay Boy ( Russian : Гли́няный па́рень , Glínyanyĭ párenʹ ) comes to life; at first,

4920-475: The couple is delighted and treats him like a real child, but the Clay Boy does not stop growing and eats all their food, then all their livestock, and then the Clay Boy eats his parents. The Clay Boy rampages through the village until he is smashed by a quick-thinking goat. Golems are frequently depicted in movies and television shows. Programs with them in the title include: Other references to golems in popular culture include: Mishnah The Mishnah

5002-489: The exception of Zeraim), tractates are arranged from biggest (in number of chapters) to smallest. The Babylonian Talmud ( Hagiga 14a ) states that there were either six hundred or seven hundred orders of the Mishnah. The Mishnah was divided into six thematic sections by its author, Judah HaNasi. There is also a tradition that Ezra the scribe dictated from memory not only the 24 books of the Tanakh but 60 esoteric books. It

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5084-435: The first and second centuries CE. Judah ha-Nasi is credited with the final redaction and publication of the Mishnah, although there have been a few additions since his time: those passages that cite him or his grandson ( Judah II ), and the end of tractate Sotah (which refers to the period after Judah's death). In addition to redacting the Mishnah, Judah and his court also ruled on which opinions should be followed, although

5166-895: The late 19th century Vilna edition, which is the basis of the editions now used by the religious public. Vocalized editions were published in Italy, culminating in the edition of David ben Solomon Altaras , publ. Venice 1737. The Altaras edition was republished in Mantua in 1777, in Pisa in 1797 and 1810 and in Livorno in many editions from 1823 until 1936: reprints of the vocalized Livorno editions were published in Israel in 1913, 1962, 1968 and 1976. These editions show some textual variants by bracketing doubtful words and passages, though they do not attempt detailed textual criticism. The Livorno editions are

5248-545: The oral traditions by example, presenting actual cases being brought to judgment, usually along with (i) the debate on the matter, and (ii) the judgment that was given by a notable rabbi based on halakha , mitzvot , and spirit of the teaching ("Torah") that guided his decision. In this way, the Mishnah brings to everyday reality the practice of the 613 Commandments presented in the Torah and aims to cover all aspects of human living, serve as an example for future judgments, and, most important, demonstrate pragmatic exercise of

5330-402: The passage. The amazed student then commented to his teacher that, with such clarity, he should easily be able to create a live human. The Gaon affirmed Rabbi Chaim's assertion and said that he once began to create a person when he was a child, under the age of 13, but during the process, he received a sign from Heaven ordering him to desist because of his tender age. The existence of a golem

5412-484: The points of view of many different people. Yet, sketchy biographies of the Mishnaic sages can often be constructed with historical detail from Talmudic and Midrashic sources. According to the Encyclopaedia Judaica (Second Edition), it is accepted that Judah the Prince added, deleted, and rewrote his source material during the process of redacting the Mishnah between the ending of the second century and

5494-417: The rulings do not always appear in the text. Most of the Mishnah is related without attribution ( stam ). This usually indicates that many sages taught so, or that Judah the Prince ruled so. The halakhic ruling usually follows that view. Sometimes, however, it appears to be the opinion of a single sage, and the view of the sages collectively ( Hebrew : חכמים , hachamim ) is given separately. As Judah

5576-621: The sages; return to your dust". During the Middle Ages , passages from the Sefer Yetzirah ( Book of Formation ) were studied as a means to create and animate a golem, although little in the writings of Jewish mysticism supports this belief. The earliest known written account of how to create a golem can be found in Sodei Razayya by Eleazar ben Judah of Worms , who lived in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. It

5658-400: The steps to the attic when he was Chief Rabbi of Prague to verify the tradition. Rabbi Landau fasted and immersed himself in a mikveh , wrapped himself in phylacteries and a prayer-shawl and started ascending the steps. At the top of the steps, he hesitated and then came immediately back down, trembling and frightened. He then re-enacted Rabbi Loew's original warning. According to legend,

5740-698: The text to what was regarded as its original form. These lessened over time, as the text of the Mishnah became more and more regarded as authoritative. Many modern historical scholars have focused on the timing and the formation of the Mishnah. A vital question is whether it is composed of sources which date from its editor's lifetime, and to what extent is it composed of earlier, or later sources. Are Mishnaic disputes distinguishable along theological or communal lines, and in what ways do different sections derive from different schools of thought within early Judaism? Can these early sources be identified, and if so, how? In response to these questions, modern scholars have adopted

5822-419: The time of the Maharal. Rabbi Yudel Rosenberg (1859–1935) of Tarłów , before moving to Canada where he became one of its most prominent rabbis, is said to have originated the idea that the narrative dates from the time of the Maharal. Rosenberg published Nifl'os Maharal ( Wonders of Maharal ) ( Piotrków , 1909), which purported to be an eyewitness account by the Maharal's son-in-law, who had helped to create

5904-553: The title Mudman . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mudman&oldid=1046846738 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Golem A golem ( / ˈ ɡ oʊ l ə m / GOH -ləm ; Hebrew : ‎גּוֹלֶם , romanized :  gōlem )

5986-549: The universe. He then removed the Holy Name that was embedded on his forehead, thus causing him to disintegrate and return to dust. Nonetheless, while he was engaged in extracting the Holy Name from him, the Golem injured him, scarring him on the face." According to the Polish Kabbalist, "the legend was known to several persons, thus allowing us to speculate that the legend had indeed circulated for some time before it

6068-408: The word גלמי ( golmi ; 'my golem', 'my light form', 'raw material' ) to connote the unfinished human being before God's eyes. The Mishnah uses the term to refer to someone who is unsophisticated: "Seven characteristics are in an uncultivated person, and seven in a learned one" ( שבעה דברים בגולם ). In Modern Hebrew , golem is used to mean 'dumb', 'helpless', or ' pupa '. Similarly, it

6150-569: The written collections of the oral tradition in the Midrash or Talmud. The Karaites comprised a significant portion of the world Jewish population in the 10th and 11th centuries CE, and remain extant, although they currently number in the thousands. The rabbis who contributed to the Mishnah are known as the Tannaim , of whom approximately 120 are known. The period during which the Mishnah was assembled spanned about 130 years, or five generations, in

6232-578: Was redacted by Judah ha-Nasi probably in Beit Shearim or Sepphoris between the ending of the second century CE and the beginning of the third century in a time when the persecution of Jews and the passage of time raised the possibility that the details of the oral traditions of the Pharisees from the Second Temple period (516 BCE – 70 CE) would be forgotten. Most of the Mishnah

6314-656: Was against Roman law, Judah would not have discussed this. David Zvi Hoffmann suggests that there existed ancient texts analogous to the present-day Shulchan Aruch that discussed the basic laws of day to day living and it was therefore not necessary to focus on these laws in the Mishnah. Rabbinic commentary, debate and analysis on the Mishnah from the next four centuries, done in the Land of Israel and in Babylonia , were eventually redacted and compiled as well. In themselves they are known as Gemara . The books which set out

6396-480: Was and still is traditionally studied through recitation (out loud). Jewish communities around the world preserved local melodies for chanting the Mishnah, and distinctive ways of pronouncing its words. Many medieval manuscripts of the Mishnah are vowelized, and some of these, especially some fragments found in the Genizah , are partially annotated with Tiberian cantillation marks. Today, many communities have

6478-531: Was believed that golems could be activated by an ecstatic experience induced by the ritual use of various letters of the Hebrew alphabet forming a shem (any one of the names of God ), wherein the shem was written on a piece of paper and inserted in the mouth or into the forehead of the golem. In some tales (including certain stories of the Chełm and Prague golems), a word such as אמת ( emét , 'truth')

6560-524: Was committed to writing and, consequently, we may assume that its origins are to be traced to the generation immediately following the death of R. Eliyahu, if not earlier." The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel , the late 16th-century rabbi of Prague, also known as the Maharal, who reportedly "created a golem out of clay from the banks of the Vltava River and brought it to life through rituals and Hebrew incantations to defend

6642-507: Was felt that the details of the oral traditions of the Pharisees from the Second Temple period (530s BCE / 3230s AM – 70 CE/ 3830 AM) would be forgotten, so the justification was found to have these oral laws transcribed. Over time, different traditions of the Oral Law came into being, raising problems of interpretation. According to the Mevo Hatalmud , many rulings were given in a specific context but would be taken out of it, or

6724-419: Was reported by a Christian author, Christoph Arnold, in 1674. Rabbi Jacob Emden (d. 1776) elaborated on the story in a book published in 1748: "As an aside, I'll mention here what I heard from my father's holy mouth regarding the Golem created by his ancestor, the Gaon R. Eliyahu Ba'al Shem of blessed memory. When the Gaon saw that the Golem was growing larger and larger, he feared that the Golem would destroy

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