The Golem and the Jinni

Chava is one of the protagonists of The Golem and the Jinni. She is a Golem whom Yehudah Schaalman created at the request of a man named Otto Rotfeld, who desired a wife to accompany him to America. According to Jewish mythology and folklore, Golems, which are often referred to as creatures of burden, were sculpted from clay and animated through Kabbalistic rituals. In the world of the novel, Golems do not have much sentience and are prone to losing control and violence. However, Schaalman makes creates Chava to be curious, intelligent, and pragmatic because Rotfeld wants her to be a wife rather than simply a servant. A dying Rotfeld awakens Chava during his journey to America, and when he dies, she is left to fend for herself in a strange world. She can read people’s minds to the extent of learning their wants, needs, and desires, which is as much a burden as a gift. Her Golem nature compels her to help everyone she meets, but giving in to these urges constantly gets her into trouble. After a kindly old rabbi named Avram Meyer takes her in, she learns to control her nature and to live as a human.