The Golem

In Jewish myth and folklore, a golem is a human-like figure that is brought to life by powerful magic. They are powerful but simple-minded, and must obey their masters in all things. According to Jewish law, a golem’s life is valued at less than a human’s, for only God, not Man, can give a creature a soul. Golems are usually made from clay, though they can also be made of wood or even ash.

The magic that brings life to a golem comes from Kabbalah, a mystical, esoteric branch of Jewish teaching. It’s said that the prophet Jeremiah used the Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Creation), a powerful Kabbalistic text, to create a golem for himself.

The most famous golem tale is that of the 16th-century Golem of Prague. In the tale, Rabbi Judah Loew creates a golem to protect the Jews of Prague against the pogroms, or violent anti-Semitic attacks, common at the time. At first the golem obeys his master, but eventually he turns murderous, rampaging against the community he was meant to protect. Rabbi Loew, fearful for his people, is forced to destroy the creature he’d created. In some versions of this tale, the golem becomes violent because he is unlucky in love. In others, the golem stays obedient to his master, and lies down peacefully when Rabbi Loew ends his life. It’s said that the body of the Golem of Prague is still interred in the attic of the Old New Synagogue in Prague.

Golems in legend are almost always male. However, in one tale, an 11th-century poet and rabbi named Solomon ibn Gabirol creates a female golem out of wood, to be his servant. When the authorities question him about his new serving girl, he explains that she is merely a golem. He then removes the life from her, and she collapses once again into a pile of wood.

Because golems are usually mute and lacking in intelligence, the word golem is also Yiddish slang for someone who’s foolish, clumsy, or slow on the uptake.

The Jinni

In Middle Eastern and Muslim mythology, a jinni (also djinni or genie) is a spirit made of smokeless flame. A jinni (or, to use the plural, jinn) is usually invisible to humans, but can be seen when it wants to be.

There are many types of jinn, both minor and powerful, in the folk-tales and legends of the Middle East. An ifrit, for instance, is a tricksterish kind of jinn that often lives underground. A ghul is an ugly, slow-witted jinn that preys on human flesh; the English word “ghoul” comes from this type of jinn. Many jinn can shape-shift into animals, and disguise themselves as human.

The Western world is probably most familiar with jinn from the book The Thousand Nights and One Night, also known as the Arabian Nights, and its story “Aladdin and the Magic Lamp.” In this story, a boy named Aladdin is tricked by a sorcerer into fetching a magical lamp from a dangerous cave. When Aladdin rubs the lamp, a powerful jinni emerges, who must do Aladdin’s bidding. With the help of the jinni, Aladdin marries a beautiful princess, defeats the sorcerer, and becomes wealthy and powerful.

Jinn are mentioned often in the Q’uran. In Muslim belief, God created the jinn from fire, as humans were created from earth and angels from light. The 78th sura, or verse, of the Q’uran is called Surat al-Jinn. It describes how a group of jinn, upon hearing the Prophet Muhammad speak, renounce their previous beliefs and adopt Muhammad’s monotheism.

It’s 1899, the cusp of the 20th century, and New York City has never been more fascinating.

Queens and Staten Island formally become part of New York City, bringing the city’s population to nearly 3,500,000. The majestic Brooklyn Bridge still holds its title as the longest suspension bridge in the world. The city’s famous “El,” or elevated railway, stretches up and down Manhattan, carrying its riders across to Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx.

The city is in the midst of a population boom, driven by the explosion in European immigration to the United States. More than sixty percent of the city’s children have at least one foreign-born parent. Neighborhoods are drawn along ethnic lines: Russian, Polish, Italian, Irish, African-American, Syrian, German, Bohemian, Chinese.

Ragtime music is all the rage. Scott Joplin pens “The Maple Leaf Rag,” which will earn him the nickname “the King of Ragtime.”

The New York Giants have a less than ideal season, ending tenth in the National League with 60 wins and 90 losses. In October, the Bronx Zoo opens to the public. One of the wolves escapes, but is soon caught in a cellar near St. Mary’s Park.

At the Thalia Theater on the Bowery, Yiddish-speaking audiences thrill to The East Side Ghetto, the tale of an innocent cloak-maker girl seduced and betrayed by her villainous boss. Tickets to the vaudeville cost twenty-five cents. Or, for the same price, a customer at one of the Bowery’s kinetoscope parlors can peer through a small eyepiece and watch a brief movie of a famous contortionist or trapeze artist.

The Harlem River Speedway is a favorite strolling-place, where pedestrians can watch the well-to-do of the city exercise their racehorses. (Bicycles are strictly prohibited on the Speedway.) And in fashion news, women’s tea gowns now feature the “Watteau back,” a graceful billow of fabric that starts at the nape of the neck and extends all the way to the floor.

Most New Yorkers assume that their new neighbors are Muslim, but in fact the vast majority of Little Syria’s denizens are Christians, from the cities and villages in the region of Mount Lebanon. Greater Syria is part of the Ottoman Empire, and a number of Little Syria’s residents have left their homeland in order to evade conscription into the Imperial army. But the larger reason for their immigration is purely economic. The rush to America began in 1876, when Syrian delegates visited the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and saw for themselves the opportunities to be had. They went home and spread the word, and young Syrian men have been flocking to America’s shores ever since. American missionaries in Syria often encourage their co-religionists to emigrate as well, providing them with letters of introduction written in English.