Page 13 - Hunter the Vigil - Mortal Remains
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The Rabbi and the Golem
hough most supernatural creatures are what God showed to him, but the Rabbi was
not able to decipher the mystical equations
Tagents of the Devil, the Golem may be and build the golem in Prague. Rabbi Loeb
a gift from God. Its origins in modern myth understood that he needed help, and secretly
may be traced back to 1580 when the devout visited Germany to seek the help of Johannes
and widely popular Rabbi Loeb received an Kepler, the great mathematician and father of
unsettling vision. In a feverish dream, God the scientific method.
spoke to Rabbi Loeb and gave the holy man
instructions to build a supernatural being Johannes became greatly excited by the
— a golem — using divine calculations that enigma Rabbi Loeb presented him. Togeth-
He would present to him over the course of er, the two of them worked to decipher the
several dreams. calculations. The Rabbi provided Kepler
Legends and folktales say otherwise, but with a detailed look at his visions, and Ke-
pler used his mathematical genius to make
Rabbi Loeb did not have enough mathemati- sense of them. Did Kepler know what the
cal knowledge to complete the task set before calculations would create? If he did, the
him. It is true that he dutifully wrote down mathematician never revealed the details
of his works, nor did he record his meeting
with Rabbi Loeb —which was unusual for
the prolific writer.
At the conclusion of this unlikely part-
nership, Rabbi Loeb returned to Prague,
and secluded himself in his temple to puri-
fy himself and ask for God’s guidance. Af-
ter several nights, the Rabbi emerged from
the temple to designate three other assis-
tants for his holy task. The first, Johannes
Kepler, represented the element of earth.
The other three signified the elements of
water, air, and fire.
Over the years, the Rabbi’s legend
grew, and the truth was supplanted in fa-
vor of more popular ideals. That is why the
precise details of Rabbi Loeb’s rituals were
never confirmed, nor was the identity of his
helpers revealed. In certain occult circles,
many are convinced that two women were
present, likely to represent water and fire.
Most troubling, however, is the idea
that the golem is made out of clay. This,
no doubt, is an allegory used to mask the
truth. After all, Adam was made from clay,
and God breathed life into him, turning
him into flesh. Man, however, is not God.
Though He may have given Rabbi Loeb the
proper formula to create life independent-
ly from the womb, the priest had to work
with the materials available to him: flesh.
