We don't think we'll ever see a golem, because you have to be holy as all get-out to create one, and we don't run into too many holy people. Since we're talking about homunculi, though, the golem lore is worth a mention, too.
There isn't any identifiable "first" golem story. Adam was created from dust and kneaded into the shape of a man, according to the Talmud, so from one perspective all humans are golems, or descended from golems. But as time went on, only the wisest and purest of rabbis would attempt the creation of a golem.
Dad made some notes about golems while he was looking into homunculi and alchemy:
Most golems can't speak. Idea is that if granted speech, they would have a soul, and that an imperfect creation (created by man rather than God) would have an imperfect soul and be dangerous.
From Sanhedrin 65b:
Rava stated: if they wish, Tzadikkim could create a world. Rava created a man and he sent it to Rabi Zeira. Rabi Zeira spoke with it and it did not respond. Rabi Zeira then stated, "you are created by my colleague, return to your dust." Rav Chanina and Rav Oshiah would sit every Friday and study the Sefer Yetzirah and create a calf that has reached a third of its potential development and subsequently eat it.
Eleazar of Worms mentions golems in commentary on Sefer Yetzirah:
Whoever studies Yetzirah has to purify himself, don white robes. It is forbidden to study alone, but only in tow's and three's, as it is written, ... And the beings they made in Haran, (Genesis 12:5), and as it is written, two are better than one (Ecclesiastes 4:9), and as it is written, it is not good for man to be alone; I will make a fitting helper for him (Genesis 2:18). For this reason Scripture begins with a "bet"-"Bereshit bara," He created.
It is required that he take virgin soil from a place in the mountain where none has plowed. Then he shall knead the soil with living water and shall make a body and begin to permutate the alef-bet of 221 gates, each limb separately, each limb with the corresponding letter mentioned in Sefer Yetzirah. And the alef-bets shall be permutated first, then afterward he shall permutate with the vowel-alef, bet, gimel, dalet-and always the letter of the divine name with them, and all the alef-bets.... Afterward, he shall appoint bet and likewise gimel and each limb with the letter designated to it. He shall do this when he is pure. These are the 221 gates.
To control the golem, the creator writes one of the names of God on its forehead, or on a tablet under its tongue. This can then be erased or removed. Or the creator could write the word EMET (truth) on its forehead. By erasing the first letter in EMET to form MET (dead) the creator would destroy the golem.
According to kabbalah, a golem can never disobey its creator.Later golem stories aren't sure. The most famous, "The Golem of Prague", tells the story of Rabbi Judah Loew, who creates a golem to defend Prague's Jewish ghetto against a pogrom. The golem did its job so well, killing people and scaring the bejeezus out of the ones it didn't kill, that Rabbi Loew destroyed it after securing a promise that Prague's Jews would be safe. Word is that the golem is stored in the attic of a synagogue in Prague, ready to be reanimated in time of need.
In other golem stories, the golem is dangerous or has magical abilities, including invisibility, a burning touch, and the power of summoning spirits.
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