Page "Golem" Paragraph 26

The origins of the story have been obscured by attempts to exaggerate its age and to pretend that it dates from the time of the Maharal.

It has been said that Rabbi Yudel Rosenberg ( 1859 – 1935 ) originated the idea that the narrative dates from the time of the Maharal.

Rosenberg published Niflaos Maharal: Ha Golem Al Prague ( Wonders of the Maharal: The Golem of Prague ) ( Warsaw, 1909 ) which purported to be an eyewitness account by the Maharal's son-in-law, who had helped to create the Golem.

Rosenberg claimed that the book was based upon a manuscript that he found in the main library in Metz.

Wonders of the Maharal " is generally recognized in academic circles to be a literary hoax ".

Gershom Sholem observed that the manuscript " contains not ancient legends but modern fiction ".

Rosenberg's claim was further disseminated in Chayim Bloch's ( 1881 – 1973 ) The Golem, legends of the Ghetto of Prague ( English edition 1925 ).