The Golem: Creation Stories from Kabbalah to AI
FILM3-5b-Wed2
Henry Morris
This course will take place in person at 60 Turner Street. The room will be equipped with a HEPA air purifier.
April 23 - May 21
The story of the Golem, the artificial human/monster who protects a threatened Jewish community but then gets out of control, has roots in the Bible, Talmud, Kabbalah, and Yiddish literature. In the 20th century, films have brought this story around the world to illustrate the horrors of war, violence at unprecedented scale, and the dangers inherent in creating intelligent technology.
We will study the roots of the Golem story in classic Jewish texts and stories. With this background in mind, we move on to watch multiple film treatments of the Golem concept. These include the classic 1920 German silent film (The Golem: How He Came into the World), which influenced later films and videos from Frankenstein to the Simpsons, as well as an X-files episode about the creation of a Golem to mete out vengeance on an anti-Semitic group. We will also discuss an Israeli film about a woman who creates a child Golem to save her community, and finally look at a film about a man who falls in love with an intelligent bot he knows only through her voice.
What do these films reveal about the dangers of creating intelligent technology that advances beyond our capability to manage it? When a Jewish community looks to a Golem for protection, does that mean humans have taken over the mantle of creation from God and that God’s relevance to the life of the community has been marginalized? We will explore these timeless issues of God, humans, and creation.
Roughly the same amount of lecture and discussion.
Access to films will be through the class website. Three films, available via YouTube, require payment of $3.99 each. Readings will be accessed via the class website.
1.5-2 hours to watch the film at home and 1 hour on related readings.
Henry Morris worked for 35 years in high tech, most recently as Senior Vice President at International Data Corporation, the global technology market research company. He has been a member of BOLLI for 4 years and has taught courses on AI in the workforce, the Golem and AI, and Yiddish films. Henry received a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania and a Doctor of Hebrew Letters from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.