Destroy Golem
Poem By: Alex Scofi
Part 1 - The Palestinian
She told me that the school held her back.
She was repeating the grade.
I don’t understand.
You passed my class with flying colors.
You were one of the smartest kids in class.
How could this be?
I missed too many school days.
Wait why-
And suddenly I remembered.
You see last year,
while other kids were laughing and others were having first kisses
She was fighting.
Not with boys
Not with girls
But with men.
Men
with guns.
Men
with bullets.
Men
dropping bombs.
She lost an aunt,
and then a cousin,
and then an uncle,
and then… well she told me so many I lost track.
I don’t think she’s lost track.
This is a poem I wrote in about the idea of reading one of my favorite Jewish story books to one of the Palestinian students in my class. It's a Jewish plea for peace. It's in four parts so make sure you read until the end.
Part 2 - Golem
Was this wise to do?
A week later I read the story of Golem to the class.
In the town of Prague in the 1500’s,
A lie was being spread about the Jews,
that they were mixing the blood of Christian children
with the water and flour to make their matzoh.
The people in the Ghetto,
walled in their pen like animals,
knew what this Blood Lie meant.
They knew that this meant that the mobs would be coming,
knocking at their prison door.
So one Rabbi read and studied the ancient texts.
And in his sleep,
amongst the blood and fire, he saw a word.
GOLEM.
He used the Jewish language to breathe life into the mass of clay
Here, Golem was born.
A defender.
With the word Emet upon his head.
He would fight to protect the Jews from the Christian mobs.
When the pogrom came.
The Giant defended the Ghetto.
He held shut the gates of the Ghetto.
He fought back the mob.
but the destruction he caused was too much.
It made the Rabbi shudder.
Eventually the Emperor called for a meeting with the Rabbi.
“Will you conquer this city with your Giant and enslave us all?
Would a people who celebrate the end of their own slavery
wish to inflict slavery on others?
How long will the monster live?”
The Rabbi said
“Until the Jews are no longer in danger.”
The Emperor guaranteed their safety upon one request,
“Destroy Golem!”
The Rabbi agreed, but left with a threat.
“It will be done,
but if we are threatened again
the Golem will return,
Stronger than before.”
The Rabbi found the Giant,
sitting in a cemetery,
gazing at the tombstones.
The Rabbi asked the Giant to come near.
The Giant refused.
The Jews were safe.
The Giant knew what this meant.
He might only be clay,
but he still yearned for life.
He still found it... Precious.
The Giant threatened to not obey the wise Rabbi.
The Rabbi lashed out with his staff.
He erased a letter from the Giant’s forehead.
Emet became Met.
Truth became Death.
The Golem was given a resting place in the Synagogue.
Covered in books of prayer,
only to awaken when the Jews became endangered once again.
“When the desperate need for justice is united with holy purpose.”
Part 3 - The Jew
The girl asked me if I was Jewish.
I answered yes.
She looked at me.
I could feel my own guilt stare back at me from her eyes.
Would she hate me?
I wouldn’t blame her if she did.
For her cousin,
for her aunt,
for her uncle
for the ones I couldn’t remember…
I knew she would…
I knew she should…
If I were her, I would.
And then she said it.
“When are you getting the new Wolverine comic?”
She looked confused and asked,
“Why are you laughing?”
Part 4 - Destroy Golem
The Jews of modern day were threatened once again.
The threat of all threats…
They awoke Golem, a Giant for protection.
He was written by Ringleblum.
He fought with them in Warsaw.
but he is no longer Golem.
Emet gave him life.
however, emet has long since vanished.
the word became more hidden as golem grew.
it has vanished on the Giant.
The Giant now,
has hOly purPoSe
but no justiCe
never tRuth
just. seething. Rage.
And our Sacred Pact.
We have forgotten a world that offered us Peace.
It once did.
It only made one request.
“Destroy Golem.”