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What a Golem Can Teach Us About Teaching.
Speak Truth. Breathe Life.
Have you ever had a teacher or coach that made a difference in your life? Can you think back to something they said or did that you have repeated or emulated?
Maybe you are a coach or teacher and can think of times when a student thanks you for the impact you’ve had or the encouragement you gave.
Passing on knowledge is a process. It can be both beneficial and detrimental. It is ultimately a matter of truth and experience, or worse, life or death. Enter the golem.
Golems
The Hebrew word ‘golem’ appears only once in the Bible in Psalms139:16, where it means “shapeless or unfinished mass.” The Talmud, a sacred Jewish text, uses the words “imperfect” and “unformed” to describe the golem. In some of the stories, the golem is created to serve its master. In others, the creation is symbolic only, similar to a spiritual awakening after a religious experience.
In Talmudic legend, when God created Adam out of clay, he was a golem, a “body without a soul.” God gave him life by breathing into him. In Hebrew, the word for breath can also mean spirit and soul.
According to the literature about golems, there are several ways to create one and enchant them with life. Once the shape of the…
