Golem

This is Golem... a mythical character of old old Prague.

A Golem by “definition is an “Animated being created entirely from inanimate matter.” Although legends of golems exist from long before Prague was settled, the Golem of Prague that one sees in the caricature above was created by a Rabbi named Yehudah Levi ben Betzalel of Prague, who was known as "the Maharal."

According to legend, in the 16th Century, during the reign of Rudolf II, the Rabbi created his Golem from the mud of the river Vltava to help save the Jews of Prague from the malicious accusations that Jews were using blood from Christian children during Passover. Dead or murdered Christian children would often be "planted" in Jewish houses for priests to “discover” which would then incite the masses to their pickaxes and torches and further bloodshed.

It was The Golem who is credited with putting an end to these murderous rampages through the Jewish neighborhoods of Prague. After these times, the Rabbi de-animated him and locked his body in the attic of Prague's Old-New Synagogue. To keep him safe, the Rabbi enacted a ban on anyone entering the attic of the Old-New Synagogue.

It is widely believed even now that the body of Prague’s Golem rests there to this day. During the Second World War, the Old-New Synagogue miraculously survived the destruction of synagogues by the Nazis, and even the Gestapo did not enter its attic.