The Golem and The Jinni

Open Ended

How would you define a "holiday" story?

Multiple Choice

What is a golem?

• That one guy who is really into jewelry

• An automaton or robot in scifi/fantasy stories through technology or magic

• A clay being in Hebrew folklore brought to life by magic

Multiple Choice

What is a jinni?

• The blue guy voiced by Robin Williams

• The blonde who got stuck in a bottle in the 60s

• Intelligent fire spirits found in Arabic mythology

Poll

Would you rather...?

• Easily find belonging in a community while struggling with a sense of self

• Feel confident in your personal identity but struggle to fit into a community

-Literally created to serve and can hear the desires of everyone around her

-Struggles to find her own personal identity

-Eagerly joins the community she finds herself in

The Golem

-A being who has centuries of creating a personal identity

-Confident in who he is to the point of arrogance

-Struggles with feeling beholden to the community he finds himself in

The Jini

Poll

What makes the strongest community?

• One that puts more emphasis on preserving cultural traditions and age old values

• One that moves forward with the rest of the world and evolves with each new generation

• No community. We should all live in the woods by ourselves.

-Struggles with the 'rules' of the community she has ended up in but eager to adapt

-Doesn't chafe under the traditional aspects of the community

The Golem

-Uninterested in the 'rules' of the community he has ended up in and generally has no interest in adapting

-Chafes under the obligations of being a part of a traditional community

The Jini

Open Ended

Do you feel a strong connection to your name? Do you find it a key part of your identity? Why or why not?

"...he'd hoped that the act of choosing a name would help her toward independence... She repeated it quietly to herself, testing it while the Rabbi looked on, amused.

'Do you like it?' he asked.

'Yes," she said, and she did.

The Golem

"To him the new name suggested that he was no longer the same being at all...every so often, as he listened to the chatter of yet more visitors, he spoke his true name in the back of his mind, and took comfort in the sound."

The Jini

Draw

Draw your best approximation of the biggest dichotomy for 2023 is going to be for you personally.