Rabbi Judah Leib was a major scholar and kabbalist. Block crafted his tale using the romantic background of the Prague Ghetto and its most prominent figure, Rabbi Judah Leib ben Bezalel. It owes as much to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the tale of The Sorcerer's Apprentice as it does to any Jewish source.
The main episodes of the classic tale (The Creation of the Golem/The Golem as Sorcerer's Apprentice/The Golem Defends The Community/The Golem Runs Amok/The Golem is Returned to Clay) originate with a novella written in the 1920s by a Czech writer named Chaim Bloch. The usual versions of the story, which show up every few centuries, are little more than brief statements: "Rabbi So-and-So replicated the act of Creation by making a man out of clay." Some versions mention keeping the golem around to do odd jobs. How did you come across the tale of the Golem, and what gave you the idea to remix the story into a Hannukkah book?įirst of all, despite what most people think, the classic golem story is hardly traditional. Your newest picture book, The Golem's Latkes, is based on a traditional folk story from Prague. Kimmel is the author of over one hundred books for children, including such well-loved classics as Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock and the Caldecott Honor Book Hershel and the Hannukkah Goblins.
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