S1E20: Parashat Normal

1, 2, 3, 4, KAREEM, ABDUL-JABBAR! This week we learn about True American, Truth on the forehead, and develop a Truly fantastic screenplay idea—copyright us, Robin & Jay™. Also Russell is a golem.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Bring your anthropomorphic clay monster to life and get ready to play true American. It's ParaShot Normal this week on Jew Girl. Hello and welcome to Jew Girl, a New Girl podcast for the Jew Curious, in which I make my brother watch my favorite TV show, New Girl, for the first time and learn some stuff about Judaism. My name is Robin.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

My name is Jay, and I am a true American.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Hell yeah, you are. America 250, baby.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Wow's uh well, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

Speaking of 4th of July, summer break. Welcome back from summer break, everybody. I think we've been away for a week or two. I don't even know where I am in the calendar anymore, but here we are. Here we are. It's summer. It's summer. Calendars are a myth.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

When this comes out, the 250th will have definitely passed.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Good.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

But how topical that that is for us, our time, us time. Us time. That is coming up in our future, us future, and this episode, uh True American, which I vaguely knew about before watching. Like I don't think I had ever watched that far in the show, but I did know from other friends of mine who were fans of the TV show that there was like some game where people stand on pillows or something.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

Hell yeah. That makes me very happy because, yes, in my mind, this is just peak new girl lore. It's so good. True American. I'm so happy to be here. So happy to have you in the true American world now.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

I am curious if there are actual rules to this game or not, because it it does seem like they just had them do some funny things on the show.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Yeah, great question. We're we're jumping ahead to the trivia a little bit, but I will say, no, there were no real rules in the show, but now fans have created rules. So you can play true American if you want to.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Wow, all right.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

Well, let's jump into a recap. After spending a week straight at Russell's fancy place, Jess invites him to spend some time at the loft. Jess tells the roommates to be normal for once, but they do not be normal. So to break the awkwardness at dinner, Jess suggests a game of True American, which is a chaotic floor is lava drinking game with inscrutable rules and a loose candy land-like structure that famously starts with the chant one, two, three, four, JFK, FDR, which is classic. Uh, everybody gets wasted. Russell's having a great time with the guys, even after Jess wants him to come to bed. And the next day he is too hungover to go apple picking, thus ruining the nice weekend Jess had planned. Uh, but Jess doesn't want to confront him because fighting is what Russell and his ex-wife did. She's the cool girlfriend, I guess. Nick and Schmidt try to pitch Russell their invention called Real Apps, which is just random tools taped to a phone, until Russell points out it sounds like the word relapse. In insisting Russell hold the prototype, they stab him in the hand with it, one of the tools. And because they are out of band-aids, Jess tries to tape a napkin to his hand, which is just the cherry on the top of Russell witnessing their whole not so polished living conditions, and he leaves upset. Later, Jess confronts him about judging her lifestyle, saying she's not going to apologize for her world, except for the hand stabbing, and they make up. Meanwhile, Winston has a new job again. He is working with Joe Napoli, a famous but just despicable sports radio host who's a real jerk to him. He considers quitting, but Alvin, the kid he nannied, intentionally gets him nanny blacklisted by making up something about drugs, but like in an encouraging way. And Russell's advice to Winston is to get revenge by dipping his testicles in Napoli's milkshakes, which Winston does, but then his conscience kicks in and he stops Napoli before he can actually drink it. And Winston admits what he did, but the guy actually thinks it's funny and he tries to feed it to famous real-life basketball player Kareem Abdul Jabbar instead, who by the way also works for this radio show. Shout out to Kareem Abdul Jabbar. I know you because of airplane. And that's it. That's the recap. Let's pass around that feeling shtick. I want to hear everything you thought about this episode, Jay.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

This was one of the funniest episodes, I think. It was so good. So many good jokes back to back. My first thought when this episode started was oh yeah, Russell is a character that Jess is dating. Which might just be a product of it being a while since I've watched like two episodes ago, I guess. Yeah, we were on summer break. We were on summer break, and he wasn't in the last episode, I don't think. So I completely forgot about him. I don't know how many episodes into my uh my count. You know, I was like, I gave him like three episodes or something like that. Oh, yeah. I don't know if we've passed uh that number or not, but I I bet I bet they won't last long. And uh True American, of course, was fantastic to finally see. Yes. In all of its chaotic glory. That's so good. Did you have feelings before I go into favorite moments?

SPEAKER_00 5:39

No, I just I love it so much. I love it so much, and I love that you love it too. Yay!

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Oh yeah, yeah. Great episode. Favorite moments. Uh, Winston's thank you to Jess after she says that they all look grown up and handsome. Winston says thank you, and it and it feels so genuine and heartfelt. It's just like it shouldn't be as funny as it is to me. But I love it. Also, Winston jumps scaring Russell just to then ask him if he's afraid of black people.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

I had that too. I had it too. It's 2012, baby. He's scared of black people.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

Such a good joke.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

So funny.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

Nick's battle with the garbage disposal. I think this is the best one we've seen so far.

SPEAKER_02 6:21

Ah.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

Because they all have to get involved in like shaking whatever weird stick he's plunged down into it. It's just I love the idea that they have like rogue appliances that they have to deal with in these increasingly aggressive ways to try to fix or or tame, right? They're like wild animals in the apartment that they're trying to subdue.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

So true.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

And then also real apps. That just felt like a such an out-of-the-blue addition in the episode. Have they been making prototypes this whole time and I've just been ignoring it? Are they always looking at business ideas and I just didn't pick up on that thread?

SPEAKER_00 7:00

No, they're definitely not always looking at business ideas. And I don't know if this is like the first example of it, but I do feel like ongoingly, sort of, Nick is always trying to like come up with an idea, has a random idea that he's like, that'd be pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 7:17

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Not a ton, but it's not like out of character, but it's probably thinking ahead. I'm saying that. So maybe this is the first example of like, and I think Schmidt is in marketing, I'm pretty sure. True. So I guess that's in keeping with what we know about Schmidt.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

Okay. So together, Nick and Schmidt are looking for that million-dollar idea. I guess so. And Russell's got the money to be an investor. That's right. Relapse. Relapse. That was just that was great. And the fact that it stabbed Russell in the hand was just, you know, the cherry on top. What other favorite moments do you have that I haven't listed or that I have listed?

SPEAKER_00 7:51

I loved so much. I love so much. But I will highlight when Nick quotes Aladdin. He's like offering Russell cheese, and then he's like, I can show you around. I can show you our world. Way up here, it's crystal clear. And just is like, Nick, you're doing Aladdin. And he goes, again? And then like under his breath.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

I missed that.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

And then also, also, I really love when Nick is eating from Russell's bowl of noodles. And Jess is like, she tells him not to, and he says, Yeah, but we're bull brothers now. I just love the idea of being bull brothers. Those are two little ones. But like I love the whole thing. Yeah. True American, just everything about Trim American.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

Speaking of noodles, uh, yeah. Should we move to our douchebags? Douchebags.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

Yes, that's exactly the thing I had in there.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

I uh I put two things here. And I don't know, you know, certainly there have been more douchebaggy things. Oh yeah. But these are the two things that gave me pause this episode. Yeah. I'll say it that way. That gave me pause was the fact that she was making some dish that she just refers to as quote ethnic noodles.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

Ethnic noodles.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

That's a real vague there, real vague. And then the second thing I had that gave me pause was describing the color of the milkshakes as Beyonce colored.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Oh god, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

These milkshakes need to be Beyonce colored. And I'm like, well, should we be doing that? That's a great point. As two very spoiler alert, very white people, you and I. Surprise listeners. We're probably not the best people to decide whether or not this is a good joke or or problematic.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

Uh but it's like one that I wouldn't make, you know? Right. Just a case. Like, I don't know. That's what the douchebag Sadaka box is for, I guess. The jerks that were like, I don't know. I don't know for laughing at that.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

I don't know. But uh but Joe Napoli seems to uh be throwing that term around much. So yeah. Yeah, he was a he was a jerk. He is a jerk. What a jerk of a bot. I should have put him in the douchebag section.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

I know, that's true, yeah. Yeah, the noodles. I mean, I get that's the joke. It's the joke that he because the quote is like, so you really just call these ethnic noodles? So it's like the joke that it's like crazy and racist question mark.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

Like right, that's why I was like, doesn't get the full douchebag rating.

SPEAKER_00 10:23

It just exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

Gives me pause. It gave me enough pause to put in this section.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

I put it in the box too. It's there in my little my little box. Well, a little bit of trivia.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

Hearkening back to what you asked earlier. We're gonna talk about true American briefly. According to Lamorne Morris, Winston, the whole true American scene is improvised. And all that the script said was they play a drinking game called True American.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

Isn't that amazing? Oh, that's incredible. Isn't that so incredible? We also, if I'm not mistaken, we get like a snippet of it before the intro, right? Like, yes. Jess is like, I bet they all miss me. You know, I've been away on vacation, and it cuts away to them just for like a second, and they're like standing on the couch and like throwing things and yelling shame or I don't remember, or like lava.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Yes, exactly right. And when she gets back, they're like, You missed the best game of True American ever. And she's like, Oh, you played true American without me? I think I think that happens. So yeah, it's definitely that.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

And I think I was a little shocked that Jess already knows this game. I expected it to be something that like she was introduced to or that she came up with, and we like see her explain it to other people. But I guess for a fictional drinking game that didn't actually have rules when they filmed it, that would be a little hard for them to have an episode about teaching someone how to play.

unknown 11:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

Just purely didactic episode on how to play this drinking game. Yeah. Also in my little trivia corner here, can we talk about Karim Abdul Jabbar for a second? Because he's not Jewish, but I did Google for like any connection here. And apparently a family friend of his, like his dad's friend, was among the troops who liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp. Wow. But what I really want to tell you has nothing to do with Judaism, uh, is that Wikipedia tells me that he was six feet and eight inches by the time he was in eighth grade. Whoa. Eighth grade, six foot eight. Wow. Has nothing to do with this podcast. I was just, I couldn't read that and then not tell someone.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

It's crazy. He is shockingly tall in that first scene where he walks in.

SPEAKER_00 12:41

He's a tall dude.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

I completely forgot this note I had for Feeling Shtick about it. Just said, wow, Karim Abdul Jabbar.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

I know, what a get.

SPEAKER_01 12:52

Didn't expect to see him. He's the I think the most famous person they've had on the show.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

I think. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

Yeah, I'm sure that's true. Um he's Muslim. He converted, by the way, interestingly. Uh he grew up Catholic. But back to Judaism here, he has been long he has long been outspoken against anti-Semitism in sports and generally. I think because he had this family-friend uh connection, you know, liberating uh concentration and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 13:24

So incredible. Thanks, Karim. Thanks, Kareem.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

You're Kareem Abdul Jabbar. I just picture the kid in an airplane. Yeah. Listeners, if you've never seen the movie Airplane, I think we can recommend it.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

This is technically an explicit podcast, so you can go watch that.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

You know what the crazy thing is, I think we've referenced it before. So Oh really? That ship has sailed. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

Whoa. Here's some trivia. Oh. Kareem Abdul Jabbar was not originally going to play that basketball pilot. They had someone else in mind who I think couldn't do it for some reason or other. And so then they brought Kareem Abdul Jabbar in. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

Was it still a famous basketball player, or was it just like a random? Oh, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

And apparently, I I read this on Wikipedia, I think, after watching the episode. And apparently, that joke itself in airplane, there's a layer to it that would go over our heads because it was referencing like another movie from years earlier where a basketball player who is famous played a pilot.

SPEAKER_02 14:35

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

So they were sort of making a joke on that too, having a famous basketball player be the co-pilot in airplane.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

Oh my gosh. Now I know.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

But it's funny without knowing that layer. So.

SPEAKER_00 14:49

Yeah, also true.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Listeners, go watch airplane.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

Go watch airplane.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

And take your douchebag Sataka box with you for all the things that might give you pause.

SPEAKER_00 15:01

Oh my god, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

But enjoy it if you can, you know?

SPEAKER_00 15:05

Yeah, yeah. Well, Jay. I think it's time for us to be observant Jews. This is, of course, the segment in which we find out if we two Jews observed any Jewish jokes this episode, or the elusive episode bear. Those are the two things we were looking out for, seeing how observant we are. So, Jay, did you catch any Jewish jokes? Jewish content? Nope. Yep, me neither. Moving on. How about a bear? Nope. Yeah, yeah, just the fridge bear. That's all I saw. And we did get some up close. Some up close on the fridge bear. Good old Elijah. We love him. Open the door for Elijah. But yeah, that was it. Not a bear heavy episode, this one.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Not a bear heavy. Not a heavy bear.

SPEAKER_00 15:55

Not a heavy bear. Well then let's just move right along, shall we?

SPEAKER_01 15:58

Not a heavy bear. A small, itty bitty tiny bear.

SPEAKER_00 16:02

A small little bit of a bear, you might say. And in fact, oh my gosh, here's another little bit of a something. It's a schmid bit. Oh, it's a schmid bit. And this is the part of the episode, of course, folks, where I uh I take a little something that Schmidt did this episode, or did or said, and I use that as a launch point to just talk about something Jewish. And Jay, honestly, I'm on summer break right now, and we've just got a Schmid bit today. We're not even gonna worry about a drosh after this. Love it. I poured all my all my energy into this one little schmid bit, and we're going deep, and it's gonna be fun because it's a fun one. It's like summer. Summer. Summertime, baby. So when they are playing True American, both near the start of the game and also during the game later, they do they do the count and they all hold up numbers on their forehead. And it's kind of unclear what it does.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Yes, very unclear.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

Right? It like chooses teams, but then it also lets Russell move spots later. So anyway, today's Schmidbit is inspired by a thing on someone's forehead. But it's not the thing that everyone thinks I'm gonna talk about. It's not to fill in. I although if I had done, you know, two things, I guess that was gonna be the other one. But this one is even more fun. So thing on someone's forehead, not a number, but a word. Do you have any idea what I'm gonna talk about? You might, but you might not.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

No, not in the slightest. And I'm I'm only peripherally aware, I think, of what you meant when you said to fill in.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Which I guess we're not gonna go into for all the people who don't know what that is. You're not gonna no one's gonna know. Eventually.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

For the future. Yeah, I was honestly like, I could do both, but I'll just save that one. I'm sure it'll come up again.

SPEAKER_01 17:57

Yeah, save it.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

Foreheads will come up again. Okay, well, the answer is, and I thought maybe you would know, and you might know once I say it, because every now and then it crops up in like the sci-fi world or the fantasy world, okay? Okay, because it's a fantasy being. It's the golem. The golem.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

Have you ever heard of that? Yes. Yes. Yes, I think that word has been popularized with the American youth through Minecraft.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

Oh my god. Okay, wait. I was actually just before this making sure that I pronounced golem correctly and not like not like golem. I had to just put on a little YouTube video to make sure I was saying golem right, which I was. But it was like, it's all over pop culture, and you might not even realize it. And one of them, I was like, is that a Minecraft thing? And then I was gonna Google, like, is there a golem in Minecraft? And then I didn't have time.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

There's I think there's now two golems in Minecraft, if I'm not mistaken.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

Wow. Oh my god, so exciting. You'll have to tell me about this Minecraft golem after.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

I uh let me let me give you let me just give you all the knowledge I have on golems first as a baseline, because it's nothing.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

Love it.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

So Minecraft, just the word golem, kind of like a person-y thing. And I want to say, but don't quote me on this. And if anyone has this video game, don't fact check me. Scribble knots. Did you ever play the video game Scribble Knots?

SPEAKER_00 19:18

Yes, is that where you like feed it a word and it can create it?

SPEAKER_01 19:21

Yes, you like put a word into a notebook and it that object, that noun, appears, and then you can use it to solve puzzles.

SPEAKER_00 19:29

Yes, I loved that.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

Yeah, incredible game. So fun.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

Incredible game. How did they even do that?

SPEAKER_01 19:34

I anyway. I don't know. And you know what's okay, you know what's crazy? I was thinking about that game this morning on my on my Wait, were you really? Yeah, I was. I couldn't even tell you why, but I remember having that same thought. How did they even do that? How did they do it? That's crazy. Anyways, anyways, I think in that game, if you type Golem in, it would give you sort of like a clay blob monster.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

Wow. Did you type Golem in?

SPEAKER_01 20:07

No. See, this well, I guess that's the thing. I could be mistaking it with a different video game. There was definitely some, and it's not Minecraft. There was definitely some other game that I played that you could kind of create the image of some clay guy.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

Okay, but I see. It was like it was in your it was in your like knowledge base vaguely, and so you could have typed it into one of these games. Right.

SPEAKER_01 20:31

I know there's something about like there was some Jewish tie, maybe it has to do with like clay or mud and a humanoid being, like figure. You got it. All right, you've got it.

SPEAKER_00 20:43

You're right on. This is good. You've got this, all right, cool.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

Teach me everything.

SPEAKER_00 20:48

The golem. Well, it's from Jewish folklore. Jewish folk, uh, Jewish folklore. It's fun. It's chock full of like ghosts and spirits and demons and witches and like mystical creatures. So yeah, the most famous of these is the golem, which in Jewish folklore, as you say exactly correctly, it's a humanoid figure shaped out of mud or clay and then brought to life through some kabbalistic magic.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

Wait, literally, it says mud or clay, not just like one of those yes, mud or clay.

SPEAKER_00 21:18

Yeah. Wow. That's right. You got it. You're spot on. That was luck. No, it's it's in your brain. Thanks, Minecraft, and everything else.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

I should say Minecraft, it's not made of mud or clay. So, you know, the parallels are not that strong. It's just like a non human humanoid thing.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

Who's to say? Everything looks like blocks.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

Who's to say it's not mud blocks, you know? Well, you make them out of iron. It's literally called the iron golem in Minecraft. Wait, you can make them? Oh yeah. Oh yeah, that's the whole thing.

SPEAKER_00 21:54

Oh, I assumed it was like a monster you had to fight.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

No, they're they're good. They're good guys, they help you.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Ooh, wait, I love that. Ooh, oh, this is cool. That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 22:05

This is a Minecraft uh podcast now, listeners. In Minecraft, yes, you can make an iron golem, which will fight all the monsters, right? It like protects the villagers. Oh. Or you can make a copper golem, which admittedly is a bit more uh utilitarian in the sense that I'm trying not to say slave.

SPEAKER_00 22:29

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

Because what it does basically is it sorts all of your items into chests for you so that you don't have to. It's your butler. It's your butler. It's your maid. Yeah, it's made of it's um you just pretend it's a machine and not a living thing made with magic.

SPEAKER_00 22:47

Yeah. And that's exactly oh, that's so cool. Okay, and you're gonna see why I think this is so cool. But it yeah, it's so it specifies the material, I guess, because it's comparing it to the baseline golem, which is mud or clay, but then these ones are made out of something else. All right, cool. Gotcha. Do you bring it to life through magic?

SPEAKER_01 23:03

Uh actually, not as explicitly as other magic things in Minecraft.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:09

You you basically just need the right blocks of the material, and then get this to make it come to life, you put a jack-o'-lantern on top. You kind of make like a T-shaped body, right? Uh-huh. And then you put a jack-o'-lantern head on top, and it turns into an actual like entity in the game.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

I love that. That's so fun. Well, in in uh Jewish folklore, no jack-o'-lantern heads, but it is magic, Kabbalistic magic, Kabbalah, Kabbalah, you know, Jewish mysticism, it gets a little magical. So there's all these ideas that, you know, they're like words or you know, phrases in the Bible or something that are like so powerful that they have like powers and things like that. So anyway, I guess I want I'm I'm getting ahead of myself, sort of. The the most famous story about a golem, there are actually a bunch of different stories. This is something that pops up here and there. Oh, okay. It can prove, you know, that somebody's really good at, you know, really advanced in Kabbalah, and they're the ones who are making a golem. So anyway, the most famous story about somebody making a golem is the Golem of Prague, in which a real historical guy, a famous rabbi and scholar from the 16th century, Rabbi Judah Lowe, Rabbi Lowe, is credited with creating a golem to protect his community from anti-Semitic attacks. Oh, wow. This the story is actually much later, but it's like about this historical guy. And yeah, that's why I think this is so cool that, like, you know, it's kind of a monster-looking thing. But in a lot of these stories, in most of these stories, it's not created to be a, you know, it's created to protect the village. Wow. Just like in Minecraft. Yeah. There's got to be some Jews on staff over there at BloodCraft.com or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

I feel like whenever I see an interview with one of the developers, they always sound uh Scandinavian.

SPEAKER_00 25:11

Uh, they can be Jewish too. They could be Jewish, yeah. You know, really shout out to all you Scandinavian Jews out there. I know you exist.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

Most of our listeners actually are uh Scandinavian. We found our real niche.

SPEAKER_00 25:25

Uh not enough sunlight over there. They're gonna do something. Listening. Listening to New Girl Podcasts. So yeah, so yeah, there were some pogroms happening in Rabbi Lowe's time. You know, pogroms, uh, the bad things, violence against Jews, and and people not so great. Not so great over there in the in the Jewish ghetto in Prague. So by the way, Prague actually had one of the largest Jewish communities, well, largest Jewish ghettos in Europe. Oh wow. At some point, at least. I don't know if it was at this point, but gotcha. So a lot of Jews in Prague back then. And yeah, they uh needed a little monster guy to protect them.

SPEAKER_01 26:07

And you said this was the 16th century, so we're talking like it's set, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:11

The story is set in the 16th century. Um, was written, scholars think it was sort of like written or formulated much later in the like 19th century, but oh okay. Set in the 16th century, you know, that's sort of the thing. It's like, you know, you talk about oh, this rabbi was so learned and powerful in Kabbalah that you know, he had a golem. Did you know that he made a golem? So that kind of a story where you're like hearkening back to sages of yore and how powerful the Kabbalah was in the day.

SPEAKER_02 26:43

So wow.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

So this guy, Rabbi Lowe, he was like, Oh my god, God, hey, oh no, how do I protect the Jewish people? And God's like, make a golem, obviously. So he did he begin, he's like, gather and shape some clay from the Voltava River. And so, okay, so that's what he does. He gathers and shapes some clay from the Voltava River, and he does some rituals and he speaks some Hebrew incantations or something, does some secret Jewish magic, and then he brings the figure to life. So, bringing the figure to life. The specific method of bringing a golem to life varies from story to story. And like I said, there are other Jewish golem folktales beyond just the Prague one. But a couple of the methods involve putting things on the golem's forehead. There we go, that's how we got here. Oh, right. Things on the golem's forehead. Yeah, you forgot how we got here. Forehead time.

SPEAKER_01 27:42

You throw a number on the golem's forehead and it comes to life.

SPEAKER_00 27:45

Almost.

SPEAKER_01 27:46

But it's not clear what the number does.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

So one of the most famous methods is to inscribe the Hebrew word emet on its forehead. Okay. Emmet it means truth. Other methods in other tellings involve using a shem, which is shem literally means name, but the idea of like a shem is a secret, holy name of God, you know, all these names for God, and some are like super holy and maybe even secret because they're so powerful. It's so mystical that it it carries magical powers, basically. So writing that shem, that holy name on a little piece of parchment and putting it in the sometimes in the golem's mouth, or in some tellings, putting it in its forehead. Foreheads! Foreheads. So Emmet. Remember that though, Emmett. That's that's one that sort of carries over to a lot of pop culture, as you'll see, like a few letters written on its forehead.

SPEAKER_01 28:50

Gotcha. Neat. Which one do you like most?

SPEAKER_00 28:53

Uh, you know, I think they're both cool, but the Emmett one is really cool, and I haven't actually revealed why it's so cool yet. Because this is only half of the half of the Emmett story, Emmett on your forehead story. Shout out to all the guys named Emmett out there.

SPEAKER_01 29:09

I'm a really bad co-host that I don't see what your uh your plan is ahead of time. So I like ruin all of your reveals by asking good questions ahead of time.

SPEAKER_00 29:19

How would you know? You wouldn't have known that I that there's another shoe to drop with the Emmett here. Fair enough. So in the Prague story, let's just keep going with the story here. Rabbi Lowe names his golem Yossola. And Yossala cannot speak or really think, but he's really strong. So he's doing all these household chores during the day. Wow. Like carrying water and chopping wood and stuff. So that this is another reason I'm so excited by the Minecraft paradigm of golems. Cause yeah, also housework.

SPEAKER_01 29:53

Wow. Sorting your items into your chests.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

Sorting your items. Honestly, yes, actually, right? That's it's like such a direct one-to-one. This is incredible. Water, chopping wood, you know, sort of your items.

SPEAKER_01 30:07

I have always been impressed with the Minecraft teams because they try to they try to do things that like somewhat reflect lore in the world, or like, you know, like when they added pandas, it tried to be like educational about the endangerment of pandas to some extent, you know, like they're they're kind of mindful in that sense. But I had no idea that they had put that much thought into the uh the golems.

SPEAKER_00 30:32

Right? I and it's that's such a like a deep pull, a deep cut, you know? It's not just like, oh, a fairy or a Yeti or something like that. It's like it's a pretty deep cut. And so I love that they did so many elements of it. So yeah, so during the day, household chores, and then at night he roams the streets making sure all of the Jewish people are kept safe. Wow. So very cool. Uh, except whoops, eventually it does go on a terrifying violent rampage. That does happen.

SPEAKER_01 31:03

Oh no. This honestly sounds like a uh just kind of like a different Frankenstein's Frankenstein monster, you know what I mean? Yes. Like uh this one was like made. I don't could you say that Frankenstein's monster was made with a purpose, other than like the morbid curiosity of trying to make uh another living thing out of dead material, you know? Like we don't have to answer that question. But this is so clearly being made with a purpose, which feels a little different. Like I, you know, I watched the most recent Frankenstein adaptation, the movie that came out. Did you see it?

SPEAKER_00 31:39

Yeah, uh-huh. No, I didn't. Was it good?

SPEAKER_01 31:41

Very good. That one a little bit did seem to have a reason for Frankenstein's monster being created, which, without spoiling everything, is is basically the idea of like, well, could you live forever if you could transfer your mind to a new body?

SPEAKER_00 31:57

Hmm. I see.

SPEAKER_01 32:00

And maybe that's closer to the original Mary Shelley book. I'm I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_00 32:04

I know, you know, yeah, I was gonna say it's been so long since I've read the book, and I've read it multiple times, so I should have a better recollection, but I can't remember if there was like a purpose other than, you know, hubris, him wanting to sort of play God with his science. I can't remember. That's interesting. But yeah, it certainly doesn't I I don't think there was such a um a charitable reason as I want to protect my neighborhood from anti-Semites.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

Right. Right. It definitely seems to have a more uh good purpose from the onset. So, so tell me more. So it goes rogue.

SPEAKER_00 32:40

Yeah, it it goes rogue. Whoopsie daisy, it goes rogue. Uh gets a little violent. I mean, it doesn't know its own strength. Uh yeah, I sort of forget the particulars. You know, there's a bunch of stories where this kind of thing happens. It's like whoopsie. No, I don't even know. But everyone's freaking out. Like everyone is scared of this thing to begin with, and then like, uh-oh, it starts to not know its own strength. There it like gets a little, I mean, it's just clay. It's just mud. It can't talk, it can't really think. So things are bound to go awry. It's it doesn't have its frontal pre-frontal cortex or whatever developed. Like uh, can't be always making the right choices here.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

You know what a topical movie this could be, this story could be adapted into with the rise of uh like household robots on the horizon and AI, you know?

SPEAKER_00 33:33

Yeah, yeah, very true. This is for you to make Jay.

SPEAKER_01 33:38

All right. Copyright us right now.

SPEAKER_00 33:41

TM TM TM, as the McElroy brothers say. So yeah, so yeah, as big strong monsters are wont to do, accidental, terrifying, violent rampage. So now it's a big, scary, destructive monster. But the rabbi, Rabbi Lowe, he holds the power to sort of turn him off, turn off the monster. And he does that depending on the story, either by removing the shem, like that little parchment with the holy secret magical name, or here it is, here's the here's the thing we were all waiting for, or by erasing one of the letters on the forehead, the aleph, the first letter of Emmet, so that Emmet truth becomes just met, which means dead. Clever. There it is. That's where it comes from. Yep. Cause it's like Emmett truth. Why is that on its forehead kind of random? I think it's just because it becomes the word death when you get rid of one of the letters.

SPEAKER_01 34:45

I think I know why now, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:47

Yeah, exactly. Very convenient, very convenient. But yeah, isn't that cool? Yeah, I kind of like that one. I mean, I really like both of them. I think there's something like spooky magical cool about like a deparchment with some magic word on it. That's cool too. But also it's cool that, like, oh god, let me just wipe off that first letter. Oh, phew, now it's dead. It's very dramatic, you know.

SPEAKER_01 35:08

So in our screenplay that we're now gonna write for this.

SPEAKER_00 35:11

A hundred percent, sure.

SPEAKER_01 35:13

Are we are we doing both? Are we are we gonna have him put the scroll in when he's building it? The shem it, is that what you called? Just shem. The shem. Maybe he puts the shem in when he's building the monster, the the golem. I don't want to say monster.

SPEAKER_00 35:29

No, no.

SPEAKER_01 35:30

We'll put some respect on this golem.

SPEAKER_00 35:32

Yeah, please. He's only a monster, you know, when things go awry.

SPEAKER_01 35:36

Right, unintentionally. Of course, I'm sure there would be like some like tech bros out there being like, well, when AI goes rogue, you can't blame it either. And it's like, you know, we can blame the humans that made it. And then failed to account for everything that it could do.

SPEAKER_00 35:51

Yeah, where's our failsafe wiping off the olive to turn it into Met, you know?

SPEAKER_01 35:56

Bam, there you go. There it is. All right, so this is actually just our new AI company. It's called Emmett. That is copyrighted to us. So is the screenplay.

SPEAKER_00 36:08

So is the screenplay.

SPEAKER_01 36:09

I think our screenplay, it opens, but no, I'm not gonna not gonna go with that. Uh, but yeah, I like the idea of maybe trying to do both. You know what I mean? If you could have it both ways, like be like, oh, I'm putting the shem inside, but I need to activate it with the with the word.

SPEAKER_00 36:25

Right. Like, you know, in in some of these stories, every single week for Shabbat, the rabbi takes the shem out of its mouth or something so that it rests, you know, so that it's not like working on the Sabbath, um, and then puts it back in afterwards so that it could start working again. And so maybe it's like, you know, the shem is sort of like a sleep awake thing, but then the Emmet met, that's like death, you know. So you put in its mouth so that it can be awake, but then it's like you make it live with the Emmet, and then as long as it has the Emmet, it's still like alive, but the Shem kind of makes it anyway. We don't have to be workshopping our screenplay.

SPEAKER_01 37:07

Well, well, well, let me let me just one more thought. One more thought here, which is do you think it would be better to have a golem movie story in the modern age? I mean, maybe it's set back then, right? But like I'm saying a modern movie created about it. Do you think it would be better for the messaging and the and the theme if the shem was like the wrong shem, right? Like you had a shem, but you don't know what that name is summoning, really, right? So, like, there's a nefariousness in the soul, if you will, of whatever you're putting this shem in the mouth, right? Is that better? Or is it better if it is just like a non-thinking, not intentionally evil thing that just like you know, does harm because it's not a a living thinking thing, and that's just how life happens. And so it's like, is that a better commentary? Because that might be a better AI parallel, right?

SPEAKER_00 38:12

Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 38:13

Than being like, oh, well, you you put an evil shem inside without realizing it, you know?

SPEAKER_00 38:20

Well, maybe instead of like good evil dichotomy, it's just a matter of like if the shem is the programming, if the shem is the code, you know, these AI tools are only as good as, or well, maybe they're better, but you know, they're founded on the kernel of their programming.

SPEAKER_02 38:40

Right.

SPEAKER_00 38:40

And so if the programming has accidental, you know, it might not be nefarious by intent, but if it has accidental algorithmic bias baked in or something like that, like it has these ramifications, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 38:52

So maybe, maybe treat it like there is there is a failing in the shem that was chosen, but also it's still like not nefarious?

SPEAKER_00 39:01

Maybe not even a failing, but it's just like inherently, inherently, whatever the shem says is going to have ramifications that we couldn't foretell, you know, like he brings the goal into life for this one purpose, and then you know, it becomes something that he didn't anticipate just because it had ramifications he couldn't foresee, you know, the way that he built it. So I don't know, maybe there's something there.

SPEAKER_01 39:21

Does the rabbi know what the shem is in the story?

SPEAKER_00 39:24

Yes, because he's very learned in Kabbalah. So he wrote that he like knew the mystical name to use and he wrote it down and gotcha. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:32

Neat. You know, one more thing about why this would make a great screenplay, copyright us, is truth being written on the forehead of the metaphor for generative AI. Ooh, the irony. Ooh, look at that irony right there.

SPEAKER_00 39:54

We like that.

SPEAKER_01 39:55

And then you gotta wipe away the E. Or the uh mate, it's not an E, the olive.

SPEAKER_00 40:00

Right, right. Yeah. Yeah, love it. I love it. TM TM TM.

SPEAKER_01 40:06

We'll sue you if you make this into a movie, all of you uh movie producers that listen to this. All of you.

SPEAKER_00 40:12

Fun fact, according to legend, the body of that particular golem still resides in the attic of Prague's old new synagogue. That is really what it's called. The old new synagogue. Wow. Which I find really funny. Where the rabbi apparently stashed it away after he finally destroyed it for that last time. Alas, they renovated the attic in 1883, said they didn't find any evidence of a golem.

SPEAKER_01 40:35

So there you go. That's what they would say, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 40:38

I know. But as I mentioned, so historians think that the Golem of Prague story probably is a product of the early 19th century. But folk tales about golems are found back into the medieval period, like having been written way back then. Or even Talmudic times, if you count one reference in the Talmud to a creature that sounds golem-like. So that's a thing people were kicking around. That's cool. And by the way, I also thought it was interesting. The word from which we get Golem appears in the Tanakh, the full Hebrew Bible, like the Torah, plus all the extra stuff, too. Only once in the form of like my golem. And it is used to mean the unfinished human being before God's eyes. Which makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 41:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:24

Right? And in the Mishnah, the word is sometimes used to refer to someone unsophisticated. And it's like sometimes translated as a clod, which is funny because that's like a dirt word, too, right? You got a clod of dirt. It's also like an idiot. Unsophisticated person.

SPEAKER_01 41:40

And also like the AI platform.

SPEAKER_00 41:43

Oh, you just blew my mind. What? Oh, it's a real shame. I mean, it's not a shame. It's perfect that it's named Claude, but like that would have also been a great name for the creature in the movie. Just Claude.

SPEAKER_01 41:57

Because it's a dirt claude. It's just a name, you know? It's just a name. Just a name. We can name a golem that in a movie. That's not an issue.

SPEAKER_00 42:05

Yeah. Oh man. Oh, and then this is also interesting. Modern Hebrew, golem is used to mean dumb or helpless, and according to Wikipedia at least, is often used today as a this is perfect, Jay. This is perfect for our movie. It is often used as a metaphor for a stupid man or other entity that serves a man under controlled conditions, but is hostile to him in other circumstances. There we go.

SPEAKER_01 42:37

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 42:37

Ding ding ding. It all makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 42:40

Big wow.

SPEAKER_00 42:41

Big wow. So also apparently I wrote that down and then I was like, oh, I can find back to the episode here. I can find that metaphor in the episode a little bit because I was like, the roommates are kind of like stupid men who serve who serve Jess's purposes under controlled conditions. Like, I don't know, when they're all in their isolated loft bubble and things are going like in those controlled, they're always doing nice things for her. But introducing Russell into the dynamic has like upset that ecosystem. And the guys whom otherwise she loves and is always being supported by, suddenly she's perceiving them as an obstacle, like a burden. You know, like suddenly they're endangering her relationship with Russell. So the circumstances are no longer controlled where they're like working for her. Now they're working against her and her thing with Russell. And like the whole, also, the whole idea, you've got your Robins doing a stretch face on right now. But I and yes, I am. Yes, I own up to that. That's why this is not the theme.

SPEAKER_01 43:45

This is fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 43:47

It's a schmidmit. Don't forget. But in fact, the whole idea of telling them to act normal and then them not acting normal, that's kind of like shaping a human shape out of mud and telling it to act normal. And it's like it's almost. Normal, almost normal human, but something's a little off and like it can go awry, you know? So and and she's obviously trying to keep them under control, just like the people creating golems were trying to keep them under control, but they can't, but she can't, she can't keep them reined in, you know? Yeah, and and oh my gosh, yes, and when she's lost full control over them, they even go on a violent rampage of sorts when they stab Russell with the real apps.

SPEAKER_01 44:33

Well, our screenplay is already written. We just gotta adapt this episode clearly to uh it writes itself at this point.

SPEAKER_00 44:43

That's incredible. But maybe, maybe also Russell's a golem because they sort of make a monster out of him when they put symbols on his forehead playing true American, because true Americans would get some too drunk and hung over and makes him temporarily the enemy, I guess, to Jess because he like ruined their weekend. Except, did he is he the monster here? Like, do we blame him? Because I actually think Jess is just as much at fault. Like, she was the one that's like, let's play true American and get super drunk, and then she's like, eh, you got too drunk. Like, come on.

SPEAKER_01 45:18

I, when you thought that I was putting on the oh, Robin is stretching this face, it was actually a I just wrote in my notes and I'm proud of it face. I wrote Russell is a golem. Because I wanted to say it at the end.

SPEAKER_00 45:39

Beat you to it, sorry.

SPEAKER_01 45:40

That's alright. That's all right.

SPEAKER_00 45:41

Russell is a golem. Give me a t-shirt. T-shirt says Russell is a golem.

SPEAKER_01 45:46

There you go.

SPEAKER_00 45:47

Yeah, is he a monster?

SPEAKER_01 45:48

I don't know. I don't know. Guess we'll find out next episode if he goes rogue and then just has to do something with his forehead. If she slaps him, I'm counting it.

SPEAKER_00 45:58

Oh yeah. If she, oh my gosh, I hope he gets a little smudge on his forehead and she just like cutely kind of licks her finger and wipes it away. There you go. And then he falls down dead to the floor.

SPEAKER_01 46:08

All right, all right. We're gonna we're gonna remember this and we're gonna keep our eye out.

SPEAKER_00 46:12

Russell's forehead, Russell's forehead, Russell's forehead. Or a piece of paper, which is reminding me of another random connection I thought about, which is that Karim Abdul Jabbar tries to save Winston by handing him that secret little piece of paper. Oh my goodness, you're right. Like that's the holy mystical secret name of God that is bringing the goal into life. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 46:39

It's not just a schmidd, it's a winst uh a winst thing. A winst thing? A winst note Winst thing? A winst thing.

SPEAKER_00 46:55

Thingston. Thingston. Also Winston. What do you think about what do you think about this one? Also, the episode is kind of all tied up in truth. Right? Emmett truth. Because it's sort of like, oh yeah, because Jess is embarrassed about the truth of what her life is like. But she's also not gonna apologize for it because it's real. It's her life, and she doesn't want to be ashamed of it. Is she ashamed? Do we think she's ashamed of it? I don't even know. She's obviously self-conscious about it. Yes. About the truth of her life. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:37

Yeah. Or Jess. Just gotta gotta break up with Russell, you know? Oh, is that what it all comes down to? She shouldn't be with someone who is making her embarrassed of her life or her age. Or, you know, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 47:51

That's true. That's true. Yeah. So what if she uses a napkin as a band-aid?

SPEAKER_01 47:56

So what? You're here.

SPEAKER_00 47:59

Here. Oh wow. Well, let's find out next time if uh he gets that olive wiped off his forehead. We're gonna watch out for this.

SPEAKER_01 48:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 48:11

Gonna track the Russell Golem. See where it goes.

SPEAKER_01 48:14

I'm telling ya. I think his episodes are numbered. He's uh we'll find out. He's gonna go on a rampage and they're gonna have to wipe the olive off of him.

SPEAKER_00 48:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:23

They're gonna kill Russell. That's how I kill That's how they break up in the show. That's how they get him off the show. Oh, I should have seen it. You were trying to tell me this whole time.

SPEAKER_00 48:35

You were I was trying to I'm trying to send you the message. You've you figured it out. Russell dies.

SPEAKER_01 48:41

You cracked the code. Probably of old age.

SPEAKER_00 48:45

Oh poor Russell.

SPEAKER_01 48:49

Poor Russell.

SPEAKER_00 48:50

Apologies to any listeners out there who are between the ages of 42 and 48, which is somewhere where Russell's is slash is supposed to pretend to be.

SPEAKER_01 48:59

He's supposed to pretend to be at least, at the very least. Dying of old age. Poor guy. Bad joke. Bad joke.

SPEAKER_00 49:09

Oh, good times. Good times, good times. Good golems. Good, good dying of old age when you're in your early to mid-40s. Thanks everybody for listening. Thank you, Jay, for having fun times with me. If you guys want to get in touch, you can reach out to us at JewGirlpodcast at gmail.com. And I invite you to join us next week when we will have Kareem Abdul Jabbar on the episode talking about Minecraft.

SPEAKER_01 49:35

Join us next time when a uh movie producer has reached out to us to pay us to start writing that screenplay.

SPEAKER_00 49:44

Tune in next week when all of those Scandinavian Jews out there are putting jack-o'-lanterns on their heads and coming to life.

SPEAKER_01 49:56

They weren't alive beforehand.

SPEAKER_00 49:57

They weren't. No.

SPEAKER_01 49:58

Join us next time when we make a Roomba golem in Minecraft to vacuum up all of the cat hair.

SPEAKER_00 50:07

Just a friendly little servant, you know? Join us next time when Frankenstein's here. We and we stab him with a real apps and then we tape him up with a napkin. Frankenstein's monster! Oh my god, what kind of an English major am I? Oh my god. Wait, Jay. Jay, can I tell you something I I thought about? Uh true American, true American chant. You know how the normal one is like one, two, three, four, JFK. And then everyone's like, FDR.

SPEAKER_02 50:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:44

I've I was like, oh my God, Jay and I, we could be like, one, two, three, four. Jay, we're Jews. Yes, we are. We'd be like, Do I do it?

SPEAKER_01 50:53

Yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_00 50:54

One, two, three, four. Jay, we're Jews. Yes, we are.