5.0758 Golems and Aliens Redux (3/45)
Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Tue, 10 Mar 1992 20:16:05 EST
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 5, No. 0758. Tuesday, 10 Mar 1992.
(1) Date: Mon, 09 Mar 92 20:35:11 EST (17 lines)
From: EPSMARM@YALEVM
Subject: Re: 5.0751 It Must Be Spring: Aliens and Golems (3/58)
(2) Date: Wed, 11 Mar 1992 00:11 IST (16 lines)
From: Marc Bregman <HPUBM@HUJIVM1>
Subject: Re: 5.0751: Aliens and Golems (3/58)
(3) Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1992 13:46 MST (12 lines)
From: LHAMPLYONS@cudnvr.denver.colorado.edu
Subject: Re: 5.0752 Rs: Transgendering; CALIS (3/51)
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 09 Mar 92 20:35:11 EST
From: EPSMARM@YALEVM
Subject: Re: 5.0751 It Must Be Spring: Aliens and Golems (3/58)
RE; Golems and Psalm 139:16. The Hebrew has it "Your eyes have seen my
*golem*- literally, my unformed shape, or at least, my form before the spirit
of life was breathed into it- they were all recorded in your book." The book
here is understood to be Sefer Yetsirah- the Book of Formation, in which the
secrets of creation are revealed (or encrypted). For a very comprehensive
treatment of the Golem, see Idel, Moshe, Golem: Jewish Magical and Mystical
Traditions on the Artificial Anthropoid (SUNY Press 1990), and Aryeh Kaplan's
edition of Sefer Yetzirah (Weiser, 1990) subtitled "in theory and practice."
Note also that Israel's first computer was named "Golem", and that Gershom
Scholem has a lovely essay for all virtual humanists in his "Messianic Idea in
Judaism" entitled "The Golem of Prague and the Golem of Rehovot" (pp.
355-340). I have for some time considered giving a course on the Golem. It
would, of course, be a practicum. B'EMET, Marc M. Epstein, Yale University.
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------21----
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 1992 00:11 IST
From: Marc Bregman <HPUBM@HUJIVM1>
Subject: Re: 5.0751: Aliens and Golems (3/58)
Many thanks for all the replies on Golem. At least on the question
of "golem" in Psalms 139:16 I can be of some help. The Hebrew
has the Psalmist ("David") saying to God: "Your eyes saw my *golem*"
which here probably means something like "unfinished form" -- in
Modern Hebrew *Xomer Gelem* is "raw material". In the Hebrew Bible
the word "Golem" is a *hapax legomenon* (i.e. it only occurs this
one time) so it is a bit difficult to determine its precise meaning.
The Midrash puts this verse in the mouth of Adam and while Adam was
in this "pre-formed" state, God showed him all of future human
history (see for example, Tanhuma Buber Bereshit 28).
Marc Bregman, Hebrew Union College, Jerusalem
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------21----
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1992 13:46 MST
From: LHAMPLYONS@cudnvr.denver.colorado.edu
Subject: Re: 5.0752 Rs: Transgendering; CALIS (3/51)
Samuel Delaney's _Triton_ is not out-of-print, if you're prepared to buy 3
novels
in one. It is the third story in _Radical Utopias_, a current Book of the Month
Club offering (and I believe also available at bookstores). The other 2 novels
are Suzy McKee Charnas' horrific _Walk to the End of the World_, and Joanna
Russ'
_The Female Man_.
Liz Hamp-Lyons