Chapter IX: The Fright and the Golem
The Travels of Reb Mendelovitch is an experimental comix strip in the form of a scroll, describing the imaginary adventures of reb Mendelovitch in a chaotic, politically unstable world. The protagonist is based on Schneur Zalman, of Hebron, an orthodox artist, a HABAD rabbinical envoy who had traveled around the world, and the author’s great-great-grandfather.
In the ninth installment (the Fright and the Golem), Mendelovitch hides in the house of the Luviouvis in the devastated city of Herbon,* where they are working to build a Golem.
From bloody paths
And evil deeds
Did Mendelovitch flee
To the house of Luviouvi
In yonder land.
There is the Gvir with his Maidens.
They eat and drink
With gaping mouths.
Chapter Nine
The Fright
And the Golem
Luviouvi women:
Gurgle! Gurgle
Mendelovitch:
What are these joyous sounds?
Gvir:
Herbon that has been on the mountain,
Is destroyed today.
In the great confusion that arose
The city
Turned to nightmare.
Luviouvi women:
My Gvir! My lord! Ease our burden!
Gvir:
We shall quit the feasting!
And perhaps the Queen
Will produce a protector
From her loins.
As they dance
And rejoice,
The Luviouvi women sing
The song of the bowels
The song of the bowels
There is nothing in my pot
My plate is empty
Redemption comes
To my soul.
Harder, harder,
I shall be strong!
Harder, harder,
I shall be strong!
I shall expel hard things
But will not soil
My fine garments!
Harder, harder,
I shall be strong!
Harder, harder,
I shall be strong!
Gvir:
Blessed be
The issue of her loins
Awaken!
As the turd awakens
They called it
"Dreck"
For he did stink worse than
The stench of the city
That shall yet be remembered...
After the debasement of the Golem
Riots broke out
And Mendelovitch fled
From his rebel haven,
Escaping from
Confinement
And stagnation.
(*) A transposition of Hebron meaning, in Hebrew, that things have gone wrong, with an allusion to defecating.