The Golem of Brooklyn

The Golem of Brooklyn (on sale now!) is a ferociously funny reimagining of the golem of Jewish folklore. Accidentally brought to life in a basement apartment in Brooklyn, he embarks on an absurd road trip through modern America to face off against the rising threat of antisemitism in America. A thought-provoking novel from from Reboot network member, Adam Mansbach, author of the New York Times bestselling pseudo-children’s book Go the F*ck to Sleep, The Golem of Brooklyn is a modern-day adventure shadowed by an ancient past. Learn more about the book, upcoming events, and and how to bring it to your community here. 

The Golem

By John Bucher – Host of The Golem Rescored. “I’ve always loved monsters. They embody that which exists in the shadows of our imagination, at the intersection of power and terror. They are objects of morbid curiosity, central to the liminal space between light and darkness that exists in each one of us. I’m a mythologist, which means I study stories around the mysteries of human existence. When Noam Dromi invited me aboard as host for a project he was producing for Reboot about the Golem of Jewish folklore, it truly felt like a mystical moment, a rare opportunity to search for a monster that I had read about for years.” Read more.

The Golem as Us

In this episode scored by Universal Eyes, we look within, exploring with Riva Lehrer, an artist, writer and curator who focuses on representations of people who’ve been stigmatized by physical embodiment, sexuality, or gender identity. Her acclaimed memoir, Golem Girl, was published by Penguin/Random House in October 2020. We talk with Lehrer about how the Golem represents something that can connect us all and how we see ourselves in the golem along with the themes of psychology and ableism. Watch here.

The Golem of the Future

Scored by London-baseed artist Sharon Gal, this episode looks at the Golem of the future and how the ideas Wegener explored in 1920 are relevant to Artificial Intelligence, Humanoids, and the Metaverse. With Dr. Ken Goldberg, professor and chair of the industrial engineering and operations research department at UC Berkeley and an artist, writer, inventor, and researcher working at the intersection of art, robotics, and social media, we explore whether there is a connection between the themes found in The Golem and the emerging worlds of Artificial Intelligence, Humanoids, and the Metaverse? Watch here.

The Golem on Screen

In this episode, with Maya Barzilai, author of Golem: Modern Wars and Their Monsters and associate Professor at the University of Michigan, we delve into the filmmaker himself, his experiences in World War I, and why his passion for The Golem led him to retell this story on film three times. This episode is scored by Marika Hughes, an acclaimed cellist and composer living in New York. She is accompanied by guitarist Shahzad Ismaily, who has performed with Yoko Ono, Laurie Anderson, Bonnie Prince Billy, and many others. Shahzad’s aural tapestries work perfectly with Hughes dark drones in this piece, a perfect soundtrack to the Golem. Watch here.

Stories of the Golem

This episode is scored by ∈Y∋, a founding member of the legendary Japanese avant rock bands The Boredoms and Hanatarash. We explore the ever-morphing folklore of the Golem and where its presence is felt in today’s artistic world. With Kate Scelsa, an artist who uses her experience as an author, playwright, musician and actress to reimagine how we tell stories, we look at how modern artists and storytellers are influenced by the Golem and the themes in its story. Watch here.

The Legacy Of The Golem

This episode is scored by the team that recently produced the new score for Cecil B Demille’s Ten Commandments. This trio consists of Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin, Steven Drozd of the Flaming Lips, and jazz drumming legend Scott Amendola. We delve into the finale of The Golem: How He Came Into The World with film criticism by Ina Archer, a filmmaker, visual artist, programmer and writer and media conservation and digitization specialist at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture. Watch here.

The Golem Rescored: Teaser

A clip from Episode 2 of The Golem Rescored, with a score by a trio featuring Sway Machinery’s Jeremiah Lockwood, a student of Jewish Mysticism and the blues along with Meg Baird, a chanteuse formerly of the band Espers, and her longtime collaborator guitarist Charlie Saufley, both of whom are in Heron Oblivion.

The Golem Rescored

The vinyl version of our groundbreaking new score for the 1921 classic horror film The Golem: How He Came Into the World is now available online and in stores. The vinyl album of the new score is paired with an eight-part episodic video series of commentary hosted by pre-eminent scholars, composers and film historians discussing the significance of the film and its music and taking a deep dive into Jewish history, occultism, Hollywoodism, traditions, and astrology. Watch, listen and order the newly-pressed vinyl version here.

The Golem Rescored – About

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of The Golem, Reboot is cutting up the film into eight parts, creating an episodic series with new scores by renowned musicians and hosted by preeminent scholars, composers and film historians discussing the significance of the film and its music and taking a deep dive into the Jewish history, occultism, Hollywoodism, traditions and astrology.

The Golem Rescored: Guests

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of The Golem, Reboot is cutting up the film into eight parts, creating an episodic series with new scores by renowned musicians and hosted by preeminent scholars, composers and film historians discussing the significance of the film and its music and taking a deep dive into the Jewish history, occultism, Hollywoodism, traditions and astrology.

Reboot Rescored Presents: The Golem

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of The Golem, Reboot is cutting up the film into eight parts, creating an episodic series with new scores by renowned musicians and hosted by preeminent scholars, composers and film historians discussing the significance of the film and its music and taking a deep dive into the Jewish history, occultism, Hollywoodism, traditions and astrology. Debuting October 28th – learn more here

The Golem Rescored Release

Reboot is celebrating the 100th anniversary of “The Golem” by cutting up the classic film into eight parts, creating an episodic series with new scores by renowned musicians and commentary by preeminent scholars, composers and film historians discussing the significance of the film and its music. Join us for a deep dive into Jewish history, occultism, Hollywoodism, traditions and astrology! Launched October 28, 2021. Watch the entire series here.

2023: What a Year!

We’ve just had a film shortlisted for The Oscars. That, on top of our first Broadway credit earlier this year, has us kvelling. We engaged 5.5 million people in our projects. And Reboot Studios’ commitment to new Jewish projects now tops a half a million dollars of support for television, film, podcasts, music, theater and publishing content. Thank you for your support in helping propel us to one of the most successful and impactful years ever! During these dark times, we see light in the power of art as a unifying force, bringing people together to create greater empathy. Reboot produces contemporary Jewish cultural content that engages, educates and inspires. Our work, along with accompanying resources and curriculum, expands and energizes the Jewish conversation and experience. We are helping to tell a new generation of positive, diverse Jewish stories – critically needed to bring brightness and insight to these challenging times. Read more here.

Reboot Ideas Presents: Monster Mash

Reboot, with Detroit Public Theatre and Detroit Public Television, invites you to celebrate the most famous Jewish monster, the Golem, its history and contemporary lessons. This Reboot Ideas conversation, hosted on October 30, 2023 at Third Man Records in Detroit, featured New York Times bestselling author Adam Mansbach and Dr. Justin Sledge, a Detroit-based professor of Ethics, Religion, and Social-Political Philosophy whose research has an emphasis on Jewish esotericism and the occult. In a conversation moderated by Angelique Power, president & CEO of The Skillman Foundation, the two discussed the historical and contemporary connection between the legend of the golem and Jewish links between the supernatural, creativity and tikkun olam (repairing the world). Presented together with PBS Books. Learn more and watch the conversation here.

Reboot Ideas Presents: Monster Mash

Reboot, with Detroit Public Theatre and Detroit Public Television, invites you for a pre-Halloween event to celebrate the most famous Jewish monster, the Golem, its history and contemporary lessons, at a festival of music, film, conversation and art in Detroit. This interactive experience on October 30, 2023, features Adam Mansbach, the #1 New York Times bestselling author whose latest novel The Golem of Brooklyn was just released this fall, and Dr. Justin Sledge, a Detroit-based professor of Ethics, Religion, and Social-Political Philosophy whose research has an emphasis on Jewish esotericism and the occult. In a conversation moderated by Angelique Power, president & CEO of The Skillman Foundation, the two will discuss the historical and contemporary connection between the legend of the golem and Jewish links between the supernatural, creativity and tikkun olam (repairing the world). The evening will also feature the release of Reboot’s new vinyl record The Golem and Detroit artists Oliva Guterson and Faina Lerman manifesting Jewish monsters with a live painting installation, along with a new video by Lynne Avadenka, along with film screenings, music and more. Details and tickets here. This event will be recorded and available to stream following the program. Subscribe to Reboot’s YouTube channel for updates.

That’s a Wrap on 2022

2022 was an ambitious, exciting year for Reboot! We launched a new production arm, Reboot Studios, which was announced with a splash by Deadline. Reboot Studios, which funded 15 diverse grantees, will significantly expand our ability to create new projects that will grow our audience and further our mission to use art to educate, inspire and create movements. Through all of our programs this year, we feel proud of the questions we asked and topics we probed through multiple mediums. We could not have done this work without you. We are grateful to be on this collective Jewish journey together. We look towards the new year with hope and curiosity. Read more here about what we accomplished this year and what the path ahead looks like.

Halloween Sameach

Shadows lengthen, the cool air begins to bite, trees do their best Van Gogh impression and somewhere in the distance a synthy John Carpenter score is playing – Halloween cometh. A holiday as ancient as Irish paganism took America by storm in the early 20th century where it was more playful than spooky and captured the libidinal imagination with creature features and hard-core horror films as the century grew on. This holiday, both celebrating and recoiling at the notion that the barrier between the living and the dead is at its thinnest on October 31 has no real analog in Judaism. In fact, orthodox Judaism would likely consider its celebration by Jews as “avodah zarah,” tantamount to paganism. Reboot Network member Dr. Justin Sledge expands on why Jews don’t celebrate Halloween and explores Jewish mystical rituals that are Halloween aligned in his blog. Read more here.

Breaking the Fast With Traditions From Around the World

As we prepare for Yom Kippur and the ritual of the fast, we are looking around the world for inspiration for the Break Fast. While noodle kugel and blintz casserole may be a fan favorite for some families and communities, there are many other traditions. Dietician and food writer Micah Siva has shared some tips with Reboot with inspiration from Break Fast menus of Jewish communities far and wide. Read more here and download our High Holidays Resource Guide here.

Reboot: A Year in Review

2021 was a busy, big year for Reboot. We look back on the last 12 months with a deep breath of accomplishment while digesting all the high-quality and exciting work we have done and how we have grown as an organization.

Instead of slowing us down, the challenges of the pandemic forced us to change. We grew the quality and quantity of our projects, finding new ways to connect with and deeply engage new audiences.

We often turn the lens on ourselves to make sure that we have impact, and we have found through evaluations that our work is resonating with participants and helping them lead richer Jewish lives. In 2021, we more than tripled the number of new projects and vastly increased the number of participants in our programs, bringing us to nearly 4 million viewers/participants in the past 24 months.

Magic and Mystics

In this episode, scored by Threshing Floor, we explore the themes of magic and mystics, Jewish folklore, Talmud and philosophy with Dr. Justin Sledge, a professor of philosophy and religion in the Metro-Detroit area. He looks at the mystical spiritual leader Judah Loew ben Bezalel or “Rabbi Lowe” in The Golem film, who, in an effort to protect his people and avoid their expulsion, creates a massive warrior out of clay, using magic to bring him to life. Watch here.

Music and the Monster

Episode number two features a score from Jeremiah Lockwood, Meg Baird and Charlie Saufley. In this episode, we explore themes of music and mysticism and the interpretation of image through musical score, looking at the relationship between sound and image with Jeremiah Lockwood, a student of Jewish Mysticism and the blues. Film is a medium greatly focused on the image. But the music and the words that undergird those images are equally important in cinematic storytelling. And in the world of silent film, the music carries that entire load. Watch here.

Men Made of Mud

In this episode scored by Michael Morley, we look at different iterations of the Golem throughout film, myth and pop culture. The world of mysticism draws us all in and as we see in The Golem, the power of magic is often used to animate a great story. In his creation from mud, we see connections to the Genesis story through Frankenstein’s monster. But what draws us to those mysteries beyond our comprehension? We delve into the question with Mitch Horowitz, a historian of alternative spirituality, Award-winning author, and a writer-in-residence at the New York Public Library. Watch here.

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