Czech Republic: Golems and Ghosts in Legendary Central Europe
May 25 - June 13, 2008
JWST 419Z
This course, which will be taught in the Czech Republic and Slovakia looks at Jewish civilization with a focus on Central Europe and especially on legends of the golem and of ancient Jewish cemeteries, which are interconnected themes. The golem legends involve issues surrounding the creation of life, its limits, possibilities and dangers. The most important version of the legend takes place in Prague, where a clay man-creature was made by a mixture of divine and human action. Many legends surround its creator, the rabbi and sage, Judah Leyb ben Bezalal,(d.1609) known as the Maharal, a man of both science and religion. Surrounding legends form a Jewish cultural motif, crossing national and linguistic boundaries. The Maharal’s grave, in the ancient Jewish Quarter of Prague is an important cultural locus and itself spawns legends. All of this is set within a larger tradition of Jewish mysticism and mythology. The course draws from Jewish folk and rabbinic sources, examines how the legend was transformed through Jewish literature in the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Students will learn how to connect history and locale, understand the threads of Jewish and non-Jewish history in this historic site. They will visit places where ancient manuscripts reside and where artifacts reflect a mythic past.
Itinerary
The program will include classroom work in addition to a variety of site visits, including guided tours of Prague's Jewish Quarter and Old Town, film screenings and guest lectures. Students will also take part in local cultural activities, visit sites of ancient Jewish scholarship, and meet with local Jewish communities. The architecture and memorial sites, educational and museum resources will be used, as well as inscriptions on ancient tombstones. The program will include a study trip through Moravia and Slovakia. Accommodation will be in a dormitory or apartments in Prague and a hotel during the study trip.