Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-3125844-20141025212223/@comment-67.197.0.221-20141119163725

Repost from Reddit:

[–]Yserbius

Argh. Ok, so they got the whole golem wrong on so many levels, but I'm willing to lend it to them for artistic liberty. But the prayer was confusing and just. so. wrong. The literal translation (which was very different from what was shown in the subtitles) is "May it be Your will, Hashem our Lord and Lord of our fathers, to send Your mercy on my seed". Now the first part is a pretty standard start for many prayers. The funny thing is that "seed" in this context always means "progeny" as in "children and grandchildren". Got me all confused and weirded out when he was described as a brother.

EDIT: and I'm reasonably certain that the scroll was upside down.

EDIT2: In regards to the golem. Pretty much nothing of the golem in the show resembled the classic Jewish concept. The one thing they got right, as far as I can tell, is the tale of the film crew who mysteriously disappeared when checking out the attic in the main synagogue in Prague. In some versions it's a group of Nazis. Everything else is wrong. A golem looks just like a person, not a person shaped lump of clay. It must have the Shem in its mouth at all times or else it reverts to clay. It follows the will of its creator to the letter and will simply stand by doing nothing when not instructed. And it certainly doesn't shove clay down peoples throats. Not that I'm complaining, it's an old legend and the show altered it to fit its needs. Oh, and the Rabbi had septuple branch menoras on his desk. Those are decorative. A real menora has eight branches and one taller one in the middle.