By Rabbi Yehudah Yudel Katz
Legends of the Golem and Eliyahu Hanavi.
Fist edition, Peitrikow, 1909.
Shnayer Leiman, professor of Jewish history and literature at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, explains how the legend of the Golem of Prague is largely based on a literary hoax known as Niflaot Maharal, falsely ascribed to Maharal’s son-in-law. The work, which claims to be an eyewitness account of how Maharal created the Golem, was really authored by Rabbi Yudl Rosenberg, who published it in 1909.
Excerpted with permission from “The Adventure of the Maharal of Prague in London: R. Yudl Rosenberg and the Golem of Prague, ” by Shnayer Z. Leiman, Tradition 36:1 (2002).
In brief, Niflaot Maharal tells the following story. In 1572, the Maharal was appointed Chief Rabbi of Prague. Upon his arrival, he learned that the Jews in Prague were repeatedly the victims of blood libel. In order to stave off further accusations, the Maharal turned to the head of the Christian community in Prague, Cardinal Johann Sylvester, and offered to engage in a debate with him about the false blood accusations.
The terms of the debate were agreed upon, and the debate took place over a thirty day period. The Cardinal was persuaded by the Maharal’s defense, and a copy of the proceedings was sent to the King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolph II (d. 1612). The King too was persuaded by the wisdom of the Maharal’s arguments, and on the first day of Shevat, 1573, he granted the Maharal a private audience in the royal palace. Rudolph agreed to draft and enforce new legislation which would protect the Jews against the blood libel. Despite these impressive political gains, the Maharal decided in 1580 that it was necessary to create a Golem in order to protect the Jews against their enemies. On 20 Adar, 1580, the Golem was created; on Lag Ba-Omer, 1590, it was destroyed. The bulk of Niflaot Maharal is devoted to a detailed account of the adventures of the Golem during its ten years of service to its master, the Maharal of Prague.
In fact, much of the information provided by Niflaot Maharal is historically inaccurate. In 1573, Rudolph II was neither King of Bohemia nor Holy Roman Emperor. In that year, Maximillian II (d. 1576) served in both capacities. Indeed, Maharal was granted a private audience with Rudolph II. A contemporary account of this meeting has come down to us; it states unequivocally that the meeting occurred in 1592! Alas, not only did no Cardinal by the name of Johann Sylvester serve in Prague during the lifetime of the Maharal, but no Cardinal by that name seems to have served at any time in Prague or, for that matter, anywhere else.
Clearly, Niflaot Maharal was not written by the Maharal’s son-in-law. It appears to be a literary hoax, and like all the other alleged manuscripts from the Royal Library in Metz, it was a modern forgery published by R. Yudl Rosenberg.
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