Judaism Unbound Episode 410: The Golem of Brooklyn – Adam Mansbach
Adam Mansbach is a best-selling author, screenwriter, cultural critic and humorist. His newest novel, The Golem of Brooklyn, tells the fictional story of a stoned Brooklyn art teacher who accidentally creates the Golem, a Jewish folkloric creature. He joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a discussion of the book and its broader explorations of race, faith, healing, and humor.
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[1] Learn more about Adam Mansbach on his website, and don’t forget to check out his new novel, The Golem of Brooklyn.
[2] Mansbach refers to the Golem of Prague as the Michael Jordan of Golems – read about his legendary slam dunks here – and the Golem of Chelm as the Scottie Pippen (or LeBron James, maybe Bill Russell?) of golems – check out his all-star stats here.
[3] Mansbach explains that the subject of epigenetics – the scientific premise that trauma impacts our DNA and is therefore inheritable – is a major theme throughout The Golem of Brooklyn. For one exploration of this concept, see this article in The Scientific American.
[4] Lex mentions our previous episode, Episode 299: Becoming a Golem – Julie Weitz, in which Weitz, a performance artist, discusses her project of dressing as a golem and engaging in local activism.
[5] Lex proposes that, in light of its discussion of epigenetics and time travel, The Golem of Brooklyn is in conversation with Netflix’s Russian Doll, a television starring Natasha Lyonne in which a woman repeatedly dies in a time loop. For takes on the Jewishness of Lyonne’s show, check out these articles: "Netflix’s Russian Doll is Surprisingly, Deeply Jewish" on Hey Alma and "‘Russian Doll’ Season 2 May Be the Most Jewish Netflix Show Ever" on Kveller. You can also listen in to our podcast, featuring the show’s Executive Producer Allison Silverman, via Episode 330: “Russian Doll” as a Jewish Text - Allison Silverman.
[6] Dan shouts out Amichai Lau-Lavie, who talks about the idea of artists as rabbis and rabbis as artists. See below for our past episodes with Lau-Lavie in which he discusses his thoughts on the relationship between these spiritual and creative roles.
Episode 29: Lab/Shul – Amichai Lau-Lavie
Episode 219: Tools for the Journey – Amichai Lau-Lavie
Episode 381: Rites (Rights?) of Passage – Amichai Lau-Lavie
[7] Mansbach discusses how white Jews use antisemitic remarks made by Black individuals to paint entire minority communities as an anti-Jewish monolith that excuses their decision to fall back on anti-Blackness and distract from instances of antisemitism perpetrated by white people. Jewish Currents recently published a brilliant article related to this topic which analyzes Kanye West’s antisemitic remarks alongside James Baldwin’s landmark essay, “Negroes Are Anti-Jewish Because They’re Anti-White.” Read it in full at "Reading Baldwin After Kanye".
[8] Praising the Talmud’s kooky storytelling tactics, Mansbach retells the wild series of events that takes place between Kamtza and Bar Kamtza vis-a-vis the destruction of the Second Temple. The story in question takes place beginning in Gittin 55b:16.
[9] Lex and Mansbach discuss part of Mansbach’s book in which a girl converts to Judaism standing on one foot. This is a reference to a famous Talmudic story starring the sage Hillel the Elder. See Shabbat 31a:6.
