Anyone ever heard of the Drahichyn Golem before?
I can’t find much out there besides this article and a brief mention on the JewishGen town page.
And why would he forbid his children from becoming rabbis rather than just telling them not to study Kabbalah? It almost makes Rabbis sound supernatural like mystical wizards rather than someone who is a learned and wise teacher and leader. But I suppose those saying that todays Gaonim can great golems do see a mystical/supernatural element in them? So it’s not really the golem that is the Jewish superhero but the Rabbis who control them that have the superpowers???
Source
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“The last Polish golem
It is probable that the last golem on Polish soil was created by Rabbi Dovid Yafa (Yaffe, Yaffo) in 1800 in Drahichyn in Polesie (in today’s Belarus – not the more famous Drohiczyn in the Podlasie region of Poland). Reb Dovid was a descendant of the famous Rabbi Mordechai Yafa. However, as Jacek Moskwa explains, Reb Dovid far surpassed his ancestor in kabbalistic skills.
According to one of the versions of the story – which, as Jacek Moskwa highlights, doesn’t appear in other variants of the golem legend – the Drahichyn Golem was a kind of shabes-goy, which means that he performed all the chores forbidden to Jews during shabes. In winter, he would light up fire in ovens and stoves, which was very important. The golem would always receive his orders one day earlier, so that the religious law wasn’t infringed upon.
One day, as a result of a mistake made in the order, the golem started a fire which burned down the whole shtetl. Following this catastrophe, Rabbi Dovid commanded his children that they never follow in his footsteps and become rabbis. According to the family tradition, this fatherly precept was observed.”