Editing Golem (section)

==History==
===Earliest stories===
The oldest stories of golems date to early Judaism. In the [[Talmud]] (Tractate [[Sanhedrin (tractate)|Sanhedrin]] 38b), [[Adam]] is initially created as a golem ({{lang|he|גולם}}) when his dust is "kneaded into a shapeless husk".<ref>{{cite web | title=Sanhedrin 38b | website=sefaria.org | url=https://www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.38b?lang=bi | ref={{sfnref|sefaria.org}} | access-date=2024-11-15}}</ref> Like Adam, all golems are [[Creation of life from clay|created from mud]] by those close to divinity, but no anthropogenic golem is fully human. Early on, the main disability of the golem was its inability to speak. Sanhedrin 65b describes [[Rava (amora)|Rava]] creating a man ({{transliteration|he|gavra}}), whom he then sends to [[Zeira|Rav Zeira]]. Zeira speaks to the man, but he does not answer, whereupon Zeira says, "You were created by the sages; return to your dust".{{efn|[[Jewish Babylonian Aramaic]]: {{right|מן חבריא את הדר לעפריך}}}}<ref>{{cite web | title=Sanhedrin 65b | website=Sefaria | url=https://www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.65b?lang=bi | ref={{sfnref|Sefaria}} | access-date=2024-11-15}}</ref>

During the [[Middle Ages]], passages from the ''[[Sefer Yetzirah]]'' (''Book of Formation'') were studied as a means to create and animate a golem, although little in the writings of [[Jewish mysticism]] supports this belief. The earliest known written account of how to create a golem can be found in ''Sodei Razayya'' by [[Eleazar ben Judah]] of [[Worms, Germany|Worms]], who lived in the late 12th and early 13th centuries.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kressel |first=Matthew |date=1 October 2015 |title=36 Days of Judaic Myth: Day 24, The Golem of Prague |language=en-US |work=Matthew Kressel |url=https://www.matthewkressel.net/2015/10/01/36-days-of-judaic-myth-day-24-the-golem-of-prague/ |url-status=live |access-date=2 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180802223529/https://www.matthewkressel.net/2015/10/01/36-days-of-judaic-myth-day-24-the-golem-of-prague/ |archive-date=2 August 2018}}</ref>

It was believed that golems could be activated by an [[ecstasy (emotion)|ecstatic]] experience induced by the ritual use of various letters of the [[Hebrew alphabet]]<ref name="idel">{{cite book |last=Idel |first=Moshe |title=Golem: Jewish Magical and Mystical Traditions on the Artificial Anthropoid |publisher=State University of New York Press |year=1990 |isbn=0-7914-0160-X |location=Albany, New York}} page 296</ref> forming a {{transliteration|he|[[Shemhamphorasch|shem]]}} (any one of the [[Names of God in Judaism|names of God]]), wherein the {{transliteration|he|shem}} was written on a piece of paper and inserted in the mouth or into the forehead of the golem.<ref name="jewishencyclopedia" /> In some tales (including certain stories of the Chełm and Prague golems), a word such as {{wikt-lang|he|אמת}} ({{transliteration|he|emét}}, 'truth') is inscribed on the golem, sometimes on its forehead. In this example, the golem could then be deactivated by removing the [[aleph]] (א),<ref>Kerstein, Benjamin. ''Jewish Ideas Daily''. 14 September 2010. 24 August 2017.</ref> thus changing the inscription from "truth" to "death" ({{wikt-lang|he|מת}}, {{transliteration|he|mét}}, 'dead').

One source credits [[Solomon ibn Gabirol]], who lived in the 11th century, with creating a golem,<ref>Bokser, Ben Zion (2006). From the World of the Cabbalah. Kessinger. p. 57.</ref> possibly female, for household chores.<ref name="je-ibngabirol">{{cite Jewish Encyclopedia | title=Ibn Gabirol, Solomon ben Judah|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6448-gabirol-solomon-ibn | noicon=1 }}</ref> A legend also existed claiming that [[Samuel of Speyer]] created a golem in the 12th century.<ref name="magic" />

In 1625, [[Joseph Solomon Delmedigo|Joseph Delmedigo]] wrote that "many legends of this sort are current, particularly in Germany."<ref name="magic" />

===The Golem of Chełm===
{{See also|Elijah Ba'al Shem of Chełm}}

The oldest description of the creation of a golem by a historical figure is included in a tradition connected to [[Elijah Ba'al Shem of Chelm|Rabbi Eliyahu]] of [[Chełm]] (1550–1583).<ref name="idel" /><ref name="Introduction">[http://www.press.umich.edu/pdf/9780472117598-intro.pdf Introduction to "The Golem Returns"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012061347/http://www.press.umich.edu/pdf/9780472117598-intro.pdf |date=12 October 2012 }}. Retrieved 23 September 2011.</ref><ref name="magic">{{cite book|last=Trachtenberg|first=Joshua|title=Jewish Magic and Superstition|location=Philadelphia|publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania Press]]|year=2004|orig-year=Originally published 1939|isbn=9780812218626|page=85}}</ref><ref name="gelbin">Gelbin, C . S., [https://books.google.com/books?id=5HkzGcG9YeAC&q=Maharal ''The Golem Returns – From German Romantic Literature to Global Jewish Culture, 1808–2008''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160614171217/https://books.google.com/books?id=5HkzGcG9YeAC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=Maharal&f=false |date=14 June 2016 }}, University of Michigan, 2011</ref>

A [[Poland|Polish]] [[kabbalah|Kabbalist]], writing in about 1630–1650, reported the creation of a golem by Rabbi Eliyahu thusly: "And I have heard, in a certain and explicit way, from several respectable persons that one man [living] close to our time, whose name is R. Eliyahu, the master of the name, who made a creature out of matter [Heb. ''Golem''] and form [Heb. ''tzurah''] and it performed hard work for him, for a long period, and the name of ''emet'' was hanging upon his neck until he finally removed it for a certain reason, the name from his neck and it turned to dust."<ref name="idel" /> A similar account was reported by a Christian author, Christoph Arnold, in 1674.<ref name="idel"/>

Rabbi [[Jacob Emden]] (d. 1776) elaborated on the story in a book published in 1748: "As an aside, I'll mention here what I heard from my father's holy mouth regarding the Golem created by his ancestor, the Gaon R. Eliyahu Ba'al Shem of blessed memory. When the Gaon saw that the Golem was growing larger and larger, he feared that the Golem would destroy the universe. He then removed the Holy Name that was embedded on his forehead, thus causing him to disintegrate and return to dust. Nonetheless, while he was engaged in extracting the Holy Name from him, the Golem injured him, scarring him on the face."<ref>שו"ת שאילת יעב"ץ, ח"ב, [https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=1408&pgnum=225 סי' פ"ב] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509025816/https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=1408&pgnum=225 |date=2013-05-09 }}. Cf. his בירת מגדל עוז, Altona, 1748, p. 259a; מטפחת ספרים, Altona, 1768, [http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=21115&st=&pgnum=90&hilite= p. 45a] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509032718/http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=21115&st=&pgnum=90&hilite= |date=2013-05-09 }}; and מגילת ספר, ed. Kahana, Warsaw, 1896, [https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=37017&st=&pgnum=12&hilite= p. 4] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509043404/https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=37017&st=&pgnum=12&hilite= |date=2013-05-09 }}. See also שו"ת חכם צבי, [https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=19566&st=&pgnum=163 סי' צ"ג] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509043324/https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=19566&st=&pgnum=163 |date=2013-05-09 }}, and the references cited in שו"ת חכם צבי עם ליקוטי הערות, Jerusalem, 1998, vol. 1, p. 421 and in the periodical כפר חב"ד, number 351 (1988), p. 51. Cited by Leiman, S.Z., [http://seforim.blogspot.com/2007/02/shnayer-z-leiman-did-disciple-of.html "Did a Disciple of the Maharal Create a Golem?"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111210431/http://seforim.blogspot.com/2007/02/shnayer-z-leiman-did-disciple-of.html |date=2012-01-11 }}</ref>

According to the Polish Kabbalist, "the legend was known to several persons, thus allowing us to speculate that the legend had indeed circulated for some time before it was committed to writing and, consequently, we may assume that its origins are to be traced to the generation immediately following the death of R. Eliyahu, if not earlier."<ref name="idel" /><ref>The tradition is also recorded in ה לחורבנה /תל-אביב: ארגון יוצאי חלם בישראל ובארה"ב, תשמ"א</ref>

===The classic narrative: The Golem of Prague===
[[File:Rabbi Löw Saloun.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Rabbi Loew]] statue at the New City Hall of Prague]]
[[File:Old_New_Synagogue-back.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Old New Synagogue]] of [[Prague]] with the rungs of the ladder to the attic on the wall. In the legend, the Golem was in the loft]]
[[File:Ústěk Jewish museum.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Úštěk Synagogue]] with a statue of a Golem in [[Úštěk]]]]
[[File:Golem by Philippe Semeria.jpg|thumb|upright|Illustration by Philippe Semeria, 2009. The Hebrew word {{Langx|he|אמת|4=truth|label=none}}, is inscribed on the golem's forehead.]]

The most famous golem narrative involves [[Judah Loew ben Bezalel]], the late 16th-century rabbi of Prague, also known as the Maharal, who reportedly "created a golem out of clay from the banks of the [[Vltava River]] and brought it to life through rituals and Hebrew incantations to defend the Prague [[ghetto]] from [[antisemitic]] attacks and [[pogrom]]s".<ref>Green, Kayla. [http://www.momentmag.com/the-golem-in-the-attic/ "The Golem in the Attic"]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170825231615/http://www.momentmag.com/the-golem-in-the-attic/ |date=25 August 2017 }} ''Moment''. 1 February 2011. 25 August 2017.</ref><ref name="newlife">{{cite news|first=Dan|last=Bilefsky|author-link=Dan Bilefsky|title=Hard Times Give New Life to Prague's Golem|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/world/europe/11golem.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=10 May 2009|access-date=19 March 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509123841/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/world/europe/11golem.html|archive-date=9 May 2013}}</ref> Depending on the version of the legend, the Jews in Prague were to be either expelled or killed under the rule of [[Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor|Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor]]. The Golem was called Josef and was known as Yossele. He was said to be able to make himself invisible and summon spirits from the dead.<ref name="newlife" /> Rabbi Loew deactivated the Golem on Friday evenings by removing the ''shem'' before the Sabbath (Saturday) began,<ref name="jewishencyclopedia" /> so as to let it rest on Sabbath.<ref name="jewishencyclopedia" />

One Friday evening, Rabbi Loew forgot to remove the ''shem'', and feared that the Golem would desecrate the Sabbath.<ref name="jewishencyclopedia" /> A different story tells of a golem that fell in love, and when rejected, became the violent monster seen in most accounts. Some versions have the golem eventually going on a murderous rampage.<ref name="newlife" /> The rabbi then managed to pull the ''shem'' from his mouth and immobilize him<ref name="jewishencyclopedia" /> in front of the synagogue, whereupon the golem fell in pieces.<ref name="jewishencyclopedia" /> The Golem's body was stored in the attic ''[[genizah]]'' of the [[Old New Synagogue]],<ref name="newlife" /> where it would be restored to life again if needed.<ref name="Legend">{{cite web|url=http://www.applet-magic.com/golem.htm|title=The Golem Legend|work=applet-magic.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130102224246/http://www.applet-magic.com/golem.htm|archive-date=2 January 2013}}</ref>

Rabbi Loew then forbade anyone except his successors from going into the attic. Rabbi [[Yechezkel Landau]], a successor of Rabbi Loew, reportedly wanted to go up the steps to the attic when he was [[Chief Rabbi|Chief Rabbi of Prague]] to verify the tradition. Rabbi Landau fasted and immersed himself in a [[mikveh]], wrapped himself in [[Tefillin|phylacteries]] and a prayer-shawl and started ascending the steps. At the top of the steps, he hesitated and then came immediately back down, trembling and frightened. He then re-enacted Rabbi Loew's original warning.<ref>{{cite book |last=Winkler |first=Gershon |author-link=Gershon Winkler |date=1980 |title=The Golem of Prague |location=New York |publisher=Judaica Press |pages=60–63 |isbn=0-910818-24-X}}</ref>

According to legend, the body of Rabbi Loew's Golem still lies in the synagogue's attic.<ref name="jewishencyclopedia" /><ref name="newlife" /> When the attic was renovated in 1883, no evidence of the Golem was found.<ref>{{cite book |publisher=Time-Life |title=Mysteries of the Unknown: Inside the World of the Strange and Unexplained |date=16 September 2014 |isbn=978-1618933522}}</ref> Some versions of the tale state that the Golem was stolen from the ''genizah'' and entombed in a graveyard in [[Žižkov|Prague's Žižkov district]], where the [[Žižkov Television Tower]] now stands. A recent legend tells of a [[Nazi]] agent ascending to the synagogue attic, dying under suspicious circumstances thereafter.<ref>{{cite web|last=Lee-Parritz |first=Oren |title=The Golem Lives On |url=http://www.jewishpost.com/news/The-golem-Lives-On.html |publisher=jewishpost.com |access-date=12 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100901092722/http://www.jewishpost.com/news/The-Golem-Lives-On.html |archive-date=1 September 2010 }}</ref> The attic is not open to the general public.<ref>[http://atlasobscura.com/place/old-new-synagogue Old New Synagogue located in Praha, Czech Republic|Atlas Obscura|Curious and Wondrous Travel Destinations] {{webarchive|url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20110829001745/http://atlasobscura.com/place/old-new-synagogue |date=29 August 2011 }}. Atlas Obscura. Retrieved on 23 September 2011.</ref>

Some [[Orthodox Jews]] believe that the Maharal did actually create a golem. The evidence for this belief has been analyzed from an Orthodox Jewish perspective by Shnayer Z. Leiman.<ref name="leiman">Leiman, S. Z., [http://seforim.blogspot.com/2010/05/golem-of-prague-in-recent-rabbinic.html ''The Golem of Prague in Recent Rabbinic Literature''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110924212735/http://seforim.blogspot.com/2010/05/golem-of-prague-in-recent-rabbinic.html |date=24 September 2011 }}</ref><ref name="tradition" />

===Sources of the Prague narrative===
The general view of historians and critics is that the story of the Golem of Prague was a German literary invention of the early 19th century. According to John Neubauer, the first writers on the Prague Golem were:
* 1837: [[Berthold Auerbach]], ''Spinoza''
* 1841: Gustav Philippson, ''Der Golam, eine Legende''
* 1841: Franz Klutschak, ''Der Golam des Rabbi Löw''
* 1842: Adam Tendlau ''Der Golem des Hoch-Rabbi-Löw''
* 1847: Leopold Weisel, ''Der Golem''<ref name="neubauer" />

A few slightly earlier examples are known, in 1834<ref>{{cite book |last1=Glasenapp |first1=Gabriele von |editor1-last=Haug |editor1-first=Christine |editor2-last=Mayer |editor2-first=Franziska |editor3-last=Podewski |editor3-first=Madleen |title=Populäres Judentum: Medien, Debatten, Lesestoffe |date=2 June 2009 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=9783484971042 |page=31 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qPzRvJgrMkEC&pg=PA31 |language=de |access-date=16 September 2018 |archive-date=3 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203234723/https://books.google.com/books?id=qPzRvJgrMkEC&pg=PA31 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Der jüdische Gil Blas |url=http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/buch/-502/6 |language=de |quote=der Golam... des Rabbi Liwa, vom Volke der hohe Rabbi Löw genannt |access-date=16 September 2018 |archive-date=27 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927064901/http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/buch/-502/6 |url-status=live }}</ref> and 1836.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Frankl |first1=L. A. |author-link1=Ludwig August von Frankl |editor1-last=Kaltenbaeck |editor1-first=Johann Paul |title=Oesterreichische Zeitschrift für Geschichts- und Staatskunde |date=1836 |publisher=Beck |page=368 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W7ZeAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA368 |language=de |access-date=16 September 2018 |archive-date=16 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180916120809/https://books.google.com/books?id=W7ZeAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA368 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Frankl |first1=L. A. |editor1-last=Bahrgang |editor1-first=Bweiter |title=Defterreichilche Beitfchrift |date=1836 |publisher=Oxford University |page=368 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FzwTAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA368 |language=de |access-date=16 September 2018 |archive-date=3 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203231832/https://books.google.com/books?id=FzwTAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA368 |url-status=live }}</ref>

All of these early accounts of the Golem of Prague are in German by Jewish writers. They are suggested to have emerged as part of a Jewish [[folklore]] movement parallel with the contemporary German folklore movement.<ref name="gelbin" />

The origins of the story have been obscured by attempts to exaggerate its age and to pretend that it dates from the time of the Maharal. [[Rabbi Yehudah Yudel Rosenberg|Rabbi Yudel Rosenberg]] (1859–1935)<ref name="Kieval">[[Hillel J. Kieval|Kieval, Hillel J.]] [http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Golem_Legend "Golem Legend"]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170825022936/http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Golem_Legend |date=25 August 2017 }} ''The YIVO Encyclopedia''. 24 August 2017.</ref> of [[Tarłów]], before moving to Canada where he became one of its most prominent rabbis, is said to have originated the idea that the narrative dates from the time of the Maharal. Rosenberg published ''Nifl'os Maharal'' (''Wonders of Maharal'') ([[Piotrków Trybunalski|Piotrków]], 1909),<ref name="Kieval" /> which purported to be an eyewitness account by the Maharal's son-in-law, who had helped to create the Golem.

Rosenberg claimed that the book was based upon a manuscript that he found in the main library in Metz. ''Wonders of Maharal'' "is generally recognized in academic circles to be a literary hoax".<ref name="idel" /><ref name="tradition">[http://traditionarchive.org/news/originals/Volume%2036/No.%201/The%20Adventure%20of%20the.pdf Leiman, S.Z., " The Adventure of the Maharal of Prague in London: R. Yudl Rosenberg and The Golem of Prague"], {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170917075811/http://traditionarchive.org/news/originals/Volume%2036/No.%201/The%20Adventure%20of%20the.pdf |date=17 September 2017 }} ''Tradition'', 36:1, 2002</ref><ref>Sherwin, Byron L. (1985) ''The Golem Legend: Origins and Implications''. New York: University Press of America</ref> [[Gershom Sholem]] observed that the manuscript "contains not ancient legends, but modern fiction".<ref>Sholem, G., ''Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism'', Schocken, 1961</ref> Rosenberg's claim was further disseminated in Chayim Bloch's (1881–1973) ''The Golem: Legends of the Ghetto of Prague'', English edition 1925.

The ''[[Jewish Encyclopedia]]'' of 1906 cites the historical work ''Zemach David'' by [[David Gans]], a disciple of the Maharal, published in 1592.<ref name="jewishencyclopedia">[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=334&letter=G&search=golem#1137 GOLEM] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125023845/https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6777-golem#1137 |date=25 January 2022 }}. ''Jewish Encyclopedia''. Retrieved on 23 September 2011.</ref><ref>[http://www.epa.hu/01400/01462/00004/pdf/1986_2_296-298.pdf HUNGARIAN STUDIES 2. No. 2. Nemzetközi Magyar Filológiai Társaság. Akadémiai Kiadó Budapest [1986&#93;] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510130210/http://www.epa.hu/01400/01462/00004/pdf/1986_2_296-298.pdf |date=10 May 2013}}. (PDF). Retrieved on 23 September 2011.</ref> In it, Gans writes of an audience between the Maharal and Rudolph II: "Our lord the emperor&nbsp;... Rudolph&nbsp;... sent for and called upon our master Rabbi Low ben Bezalel and received him with a welcome and merry expression, and spoke to him face to face, as one would to a friend. The nature and quality of their words are mysterious, sealed, and hidden."<ref>Gans, D., ''Zemach David'', ed. M.Breuer, Jerusalem, 1983, p.145, cited [http://www.rabbiyehudahyudelrosenberg.com/ Rabbi Yehudah Yudel Rosenberg and the Maharal's Golem] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090923154135/http://www.rabbiyehudahyudelrosenberg.com/ |date=23 September 2009 }}</ref>{{better source needed|date=August 2017}}

But it has been said of this passage, "Even when [the Maharal is] eulogized, whether in David Gans' ''Zemach David'' or on his epitaph&nbsp;..., not a word is said about the creation of a golem. No Hebrew work published in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries (even in Prague) is aware that the Maharal created a golem."<ref name="neubauer">Neubauer, J., [https://books.google.com/books?id=YINYl4iv4ecC&q=golem&pg=PA303 "How did the Golem get to Prague?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160614161741/https://books.google.com/books?id=YINYl4iv4ecC&pg=PA303&lpg=PA303&dq=gustav+philippson+the+Golem&source=bl&ots=euPUiGZv7x&sig=pxjaHEMbgMEPZsW6wk9knCLhrTw&hl=en&ei=Ls9tTpXgD8i3hAf85JiDDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=golem&f=false|date=14 June 2016}}, in Cornis-Pope, M., and Neubauer, J. ''History of The Literary Cultures of East-Central Europe'', John Benjamins, 2010, see also: Dekel E., Gurley D.E., "How Did Golem \came to Prague", JQR, Vol. 103, No. 2 (Spring 2013), pp. 241–258 [https://jqr.pennpress.org/media/23891/JQRnewArticle.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809114258/http://jqr.pennpress.org/media/23891/JQRnewArticle.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140602100921/http://jqr.pennpress.org/media/23891/JQRnewArticle.pdf|archive-date=2014-06-02|url-status=live|date=9 August 2017}}</ref> Furthermore, the Maharal himself did not refer to the Golem in his writings.<ref name="leiman" /> Rabbi Yedidiah Tiah Weil (1721–1805), a Prague resident, who described the creation of golems, including those created by Rabbis [[Avigdor Kara]] of Prague (died 1439) and Eliyahu of Chelm, did not mention the Maharal. Rabbi Meir Perils' biography of the Maharal<ref name="megilasYuchsin">{{cite book|author=Meir Perels|title=Megilas Yuchsin|year=1718|location=[[Prague]]|oclc=122864700}}</ref> published in 1718 does not mention a golem.<ref name="gelbin" /><ref name="leiman" />