Name: Golem

Area of Origin: Jerusalem

In Jewish folklore, a Golem is an artificial being created from inanimate matter, magically given life by its creator to do their bidding. During the middle ages, it was believed that Golems could be activated by an ecstatic experience, induced by a ritualistic use of different letters in the Hebrew alphabet, forming a “Shem” (any one of the Names of God). These words were written on a piece of paper and placed in the Golem’s mouth, or inscribed on the forehead. In some variations, the word emet or “truth” (אמת) was placed on the forehead; The Golem could be deactivated by removing the first aleph (א) thus changing the word to met meaning “death”.