The Golem of Prague                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          In the late 16th century rabbi of Prague, also known as the Maharal, who reportedly created a golem to defend the Prague ghetto from antisemitic attacks^[12] 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. To protect the Jewish community, the rabbi constructed the Golem out of clay from the banks of the Vltava river, and brought it to life through rituals and Hebrew incantations. The Golem was called Josef and was known as Yossele. It was said that he could make himself invisible and summon spirits from the dead.^[12] The only care required of the Golem was that he can't be alive on the day of Sabbath (Saturday).^[6] Rabbi Loew deactivated the Golem on Friday evenings by removing the shem before the Sabbath began,^[4][6] so as to let it rest on Sabbath.^[4] One Friday evening Rabbi Loew forgot to remove the shem, and feared that the Golem would desecrate the Sabbath.^[4] 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.^[12]

The rabbi then managed to pull the shem from his mouth and immobilize him^[4][6] in front of the synagogue, whereupon the golem fell in pieces.^[4] The Golem's body was stored in the attic genizah of the Old New Synagogue,^[12] where it would be restored to life again if needed.^[6] According to legend, the body of Rabbi Loew's Golem still lies in the synagogue's attic.^[4][12] When the attic was renovated in 1883, no evidence of the Golem was found.^[13] 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 during World War II and trying to stab the Golem, but he died instead.^[14] A film crew who visited and filmed the attic in 1984 found no evidence either.^[13] The attic is not open to the general public.^[15]

Some strictly orthodox Jews believe that the Maharal did actually create a golem. Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (the last Rebbe ofLubavitch) wrote that his father-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, told him that he saw the remains of the Golem in the attic of Alt-Neu Shul. Rabbi Chaim Noach Levin also wrote in his notes on Megillas Yuchsin^[16] that he heard directly from Rabbi Yosef Shaul Halevi, the head of the Rabbinical court of Lemberg, that when he wanted to go see the remains of the Golem, the sexton of the Alt-Neu Shul said that Rabbi Yechezkel Landau had advised against going up to the attic after he himself had gone up.^[17] The evidence for this belief has been analyzed from an orthodox Jewish perspective by Shnayer Z. Leiman.^[13][18]