A Golem is an animated anthropomorphic being, created entirely from inanimate matter. The word was used to mean an amorphous, unformed material in Psalms and medieval writing. The Golem can be of any varying size and shape, though is usually in some kind of humanistic shape. The eyes would be either hollow or inserted with stones and the mouth would be wide. But early on, it was noted that the main disability of the Golem was its inability to speak, though they can sometimes scream if frustrated or in pain.
--{An important fact: within Genesis(the Bible), it tells how that when God made Adam, he used the clay from the earth to create him in God's own image-This could mean that humans are actually Golems as well!}--
In the game PS2 RPG game Drakan: The Ancient Gates, Golems were a regular feature of the game in the various stages, being made form a multitude of things such as snow and ice or purple stone, being aptly named 'The Pain Golem', created by felsh, misery and despair, but these creatures only seem to have the one eye which seems to shoot out lasers from it to harm you. But Golems powers can vary in many different ways, including summmoning the dead, evil spirits and even invisibility. Some can even have weapons and be plated in metallic armour. You can give them any powers you wamt to, though, as this is all speculation.
The word Golem occurs once in the Bible in Psalms '139:16', which uses the word 'galmi' (my golem) meaning 'my unshaped form', connoting the unfinished human being before God’s eyes. The Mishnah uses the term for an uncultivated person: "Seven characteristics are in an uncultivated person, and seven in a learned one," and in Modern Hebrew, golem is used to mean 'dumb' or 'helpless'. Similarly, it is often used today as a metaphor for a brainless lunk or entity who serves man under controlled conditions but is hostile to him under others. "Golem" passed into Yiddish as goylem to mean someone who is clumsy or slow. The original golem creations can be made form rocks, clay, fire or even wood, but the most famously used material is mud.
The most famous Golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late-16th-century rabbi of Prague. There are many tales differing on how the Golem was brought to life and afterwards controlled.
Judaism: The earliest stories of golems date to early Judaism. In the Talmud, Adam was initially created as a golem when his dust was "kneaded into a shapeless husk". They were a creation of those who were very holy and close to God. A very holy person was one who strove to approach God, and in that pursuit would gain some of God's wisdom and power. One of these powers was the creation of life. However, no matter how holy a person became, a being created by that person would be but a shadow of one created by God.
Middle Ages: During the Middle Ages, passages from the Book of Creation were studied as a means to attain the mystical ability to create and animate a Golem, although there is little in the writings of Jewish mysticism that supports this belief. It was believed that golems could be activated by an ecstatic experience induced by the ritualistic use of various letters of the Hebrew Alphabet forming a "shem" (any one of the Names of God). The shem was written on a piece of paper and inserted either in the mouth or in the forehead of the golem, thus bringing it into life.
The Golem of Prague: The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late 16th century rabbi of Prague, who reportedly created a Golem to defend the Prague ghetto from antisemitic attacks and pogroms. Depending on the version of the legend, the Jews in Prague were to be either expelled or killed under the rule of Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor. To protect the Jewish community, the rabbi constructed the Golem out of clay from the banks of the Vltava river, and brought it to life through rituals and Hebrew incantations. The Golem was called Josef and was known as Yossele. It was said that he could make himself invisible and summon spirits from the dead. The only care required of the Golem was that he can't be alive on the day of (Jewish) Sabbath (Saturday). Rabbi Loew deactivated the Golem on Friday evenings by removing the shem(the incantation which brings it to life) before the Sabbath began, so as to let it rest on Sabbath. One Friday evening Rabbi Loew forgot to remove the shem, and feared that the Golem would desecrate the Sabbath. A different story tells of a Golem that fell in love, and when rejected, became the violent monster seen in most accounts. Some versions have the golem eventually going on a murderous rampage.
