My favorite story from this half of the week's reading unit is The Rabbi's Bogey-Man from Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends by Gertrude Landa.
At first I thought Rabbi Lion was an actual lion, so I was picturing the story wrong through half of it. He is a "magician," or in reality a chemist. He first created a woman servant who burned herself alive, so then he created a man. I liked the device of creation, self-destruction, and then improved creation with the stories of the golems. The ending speaks to the power-hungry nature of man; the desire to overtake the forces that dictate your life.
At first I thought Rabbi Lion was an actual lion, so I was picturing the story wrong through half of it. He is a "magician," or in reality a chemist. He first created a woman servant who burned herself alive, so then he created a man. I liked the device of creation, self-destruction, and then improved creation with the stories of the golems. The ending speaks to the power-hungry nature of man; the desire to overtake the forces that dictate your life.
(The bogey-man attempting to get into the cathedral. Source.)
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