The Eerie Golem Gets Its Own Exhibition

The golem—Jewish folklore’s spooky, artificial creature, fashioned out of clay—has had many careers, from an object of esoteric curiosity for medieval Jewish mystics to a monster for the masses in the early years of silent cinema. “Golem,” a new exhibit at Germany’s Jewish Museum Berlin, refashions the creature as a muse for generations of artists.

References to a golem date back to the Book of Psalms. A version of the word referred to the “unformed limbs” of a not-yet-animate Adam, according to Sharon Koren, professor of...

The Eerie Golem Gets Its Own Exhibition

At Jewish Museum Berlin, a look at how the golem, a legendary creature of folklore, inspired generations of artists.