Grace.
Jacob argued that it was forbidden to do any kind of work on the Sabbath. Rabbi Loew rebutted that they would not be doing the work, God would. Besides, the Sabbath would be the only safe day to give life to clay without also imbuing it with emotions. Only on the Sabbath could the golem become animated by the Light of God without also retaining that light.
Yet now, as Rabbi Loew looked down upon the golem’s strangely elongated face with its high cheekbones and slanted eyes, he saw something he found puzzling and perplexing. The golem would not look back at him, and the rabbi felt certain that he saw shame in the golem’s slumped shoulders and averted gaze. How was that possible, Rabbi Loew wondered, since the golem was not supposed to feel anything? It was said that when the golem’s hands encircled a Jew-hater’s throat, Joseph could not even feel the warm flesh of the miscreant's neck. To the golem it was as if his hands existed in a time and space entirely separate from his mind, which was devised to mechanically follow Rabbi Loew's orders. So how could it be possible, Rabbi Loew wondered further, that Joseph could feel shame?
Had Joseph quit attending the small synagogue because Rahel had become a woman? Could it be, Rabbi Loew speculated, that the golem was illuminated by Rahel’s beauty the way that humans were illuminated by God's Light? Since God was responsible for the entire creation, in a certain way her radiance could be considered no more than a reflection of His Divine Light. Yet, if that were so, why had the golem quit attending her father’s synagogue when Rahel had become a woman? Surely as she matured, her radiance had become more intense. Why wouldn’t Joseph have wanted to partake in her light as it became even brighter?
Looking down upon the bald crown of Joseph the Mute who had thrown off his concealing hood, the rabbi surmised that in the presence of Rahel’s beauty, for the first time the golem had experienced self-awareness. Rahel was like the moon reflecting the sun's light, only in this case it was God's Light she reflected. In that Light the golem saw himself for what he was, not a warm passionate man, but a cold lump of clay.
The golem sat with his head upon his knees, and Rabbi Loew was moved by Joseph’s apparent despair. Yet, whether the golem's longings were real or not, the rabbi told himself that Joseph was created to protect all Jews, whether old and feeble or young and beautiful. It was imperative that the golem accepted such tasks, or else he had no purpose. However, to ease Joseph's burden, Rabbi Loew told him to follow behind the young couple so he would not have to look upon Rahel’s face. He also told Rahel’s father to make sure her hair was covered at all times.
Before the appointed day for Rahel to have her talk with Thomas, her mother asked, “Don’t you find him comely? Come now, Rahel, be honest. It is no sin to find even a Christian boy handsome.”
“He is fair enough of flesh,” said Rahel, “but his inner light is pale. I could never accept a husband with a weaker spirit than father's.”
When Rahel’s mother told her husband what Rahel had said, they both ceased to worry about their daughter's upcoming meeting with Thomas the Christian.
It was a delightful summer day, and white and yellow daisies bloomed around the path that led to the river. Rahel wanted more than anything to take off the coarse hood that covered her hair and scratched her cheeks, but she had promised her father that she would leave it on. If she kept her head down, she could not even see Thomas walking next to her. And it was impossible for her to see Joseph the golem who followed at a discreet distance. If Joseph had not been told it was Rahel, she was so well concealed in her heavy brown cloak he would not have known it was her.
Rahel did not understand why Thomas was so silent. He had insisted on this meeting and now it seemed he had nothing to say, even though they only had such a short time together. She was about to tell him that their meeting was a waste of time and they should turn back before they got to the river.
“I have a confession to make,” Thomas said. “Something I can no longer keep from you, and I must tell you before I get to the main reason I wanted to see you today.”
Rahel turned to him, and even though her lips and eyes were all that were not concealed by her hood, he felt overwhelmed with longing for her.
“Thaddeus arranged for me to meet you. That is why he scheduled the debate with your father at his synagogue. Worse yet, I promised him that I would talk you into converting to Christianity after we were married.”
Rahel did not get angry. She simply laughed at Thomas and said, “I would not marry you if you were the most respected Jew. You do not appeal to me.”
Thomas, who could have had his pick of any Christian girl in the kingdom, was dumbstruck by her reaction. Falling to one knee in front of Rahel, he grabbed her hands with such force that her head covering fell down about her shoulders. The sun's reflection off the water washed her face and hair with a brilliant light.
"Please promise that you will at least regard me as a friend," Thomas said.
The dazzling light off Rahel’s face and hair confused the poor Joseph so badly, he imagined that Thomas was stealing away the prized girl. Before Rahel could say a word to stop him, the golem had lifted Thomas by his ankles and smashed his head upon a large rock that sat half submerged in water. On the third blow, Thomas’s skull split open, and Rahel saw the same pure light emanating out of the wound in his head that she had seen in her father’s soul. She laid her hand upon the golem’s arm and Joseph froze as if he’d turned to stone.
At Rahel’s bidding, the golem carried Thomas back to her father’s house, where her parents laid the bloody boy upon their bed. The rabbi and his wife felt devastated by what the golem had done to this beautiful boy. His face was unrecognizable, his nose broken, one eye socket pushed above the other, his chin shoved over to one side. He was uglier than the rabbi or even the golem.
Rahel remained by Thomas’s bedside for two weeks, nursing him. She did not even go to shul on the Sabbath. It was not until after those two weeks that the doctor said it was a miracle that Thomas would live, but there was nothing that could be done to restore the boy’s handsome face. Thomas would forever be uglier than the most disfigured congregants that came to Rahel’s father’s synagogue.
Thaddeus was delighted by this tragic turn of events. What good fortune! He now had a concrete case against his nemesis, Joseph the golem, who for years had foiled his plans to bring down the Jews. However, when the police came to arrest the golem, young Thomas stopped them. He said that Joseph had not harmed him. Quite the contrary, because of Joseph’s actions, Thomas now felt whole. He had won Rahel’s love, since she'd seen that Thomas was as pure and beautiful of spirit as her father.
Once again Thaddeus had been thwarted in his evil plans to bring down the Jews of Prague. Instead of Rahel converting to Christianity, Thomas converted to Judaism, married Rahel and became a rabbi. When Rahel’s father retired, Thomas was the perfect choice to take over the humble synagogue that welcomed the destitute, crippled and maimed. Even Joseph the golem returned to the congregation, although he would never again allow himself to look through the lattice at Rahel, despite the fact that she had become the plump mother of three children and was no longer the most beautiful girl in the Prague Ghetto.
Rahel and the Golem of Prague Page 3