On the southeast corner of 8th Avenue and Jefferson Street is a small blue-roofed building built in 1933. This is 802 Jefferson St., the former K Records building. Before that, it was Olympia’s first synagogue. Up in the attic is a brick casket. It’s fully sealed and cemented into the structure of the building.
I believe inside this masonry box is a small amount of clay from the Vltava River that was smuggled out of Czechoslovakia in the late 1920s.
When the indie music label moved into the building in 2004, they knew the place had once been a synagogue. They knew nothing of the holy mud that once touched the hands of Judah “the Maharal" Loew ben Bezalel, a late-16th century rabbi from Prague.
The Golem was made by the Maharal to protect Prague's Jewish community from persecution. He brought his sculpture to life by carving “emet” (the Hebrew word for truth) into its forehead. When the Golem's work was done, the rabbi deactivated it by rubbing out the aleph, which made the word “met” (the Hebrew word for death). The Golem returned to lifeless clay.
That clay was rumored to have been brought to Olympia, Greece. There are zero synagogues in Olympia, Greece. It was my working hypothesis that the clay never went there. I believe it was sent here.
On May 15, 2015, a team made up of a halo bender (Calvin Johnson), a TikTok sensation (Rabbi Seth Goldstein), and a writer of comedic nonfiction (me) climbed up there with flashlights and hard hats.
Calvin Johnson hunting in the attic of 802 Jefferson St. in Olympia on May 15, 2015.
Courtesy of David Scherer Water
Calvin and the rabbi went up the hatch first, and I followed. They navigated west toward the Jefferson Street side through a jungle gym of dusty exposed beams, trusses, and rafters. I felt compelled by mysterious instincts to go toward the back of the attic.
I called to them when I found the casket. I took a picture. They made their way over. We talked about getting a hammer, chisel, and a crowbar. Then I felt a spooky shiver of mystical inhibition. I don’t think I was the only one who felt it.
A brick casket found in the attic of 802 Jefferson St. in Olympia on May 15, 2015.
Courtesy of David Scherer Water
There was a joke about "Raiders of the Lost Ark." We suddenly lost interest in opening it up. Wordlessly, we made our way back to the hatch and climbed down the ladder.
We never spoke about it again.
David Scherer Water is the head of security for Temple Beth Hatfiloh, where he leads the effort to make his synagogue a safer place. He trains greeters, interfaces with law enforcement, and keeps up with the ever-changing policy landscape. But David believes the most important part of security is encouraging his fellow Jews not to get swallowed up in hypervigilance — to remain warm and welcoming even as violence against Jews increases, and to cultivate one's inner Golem. Please support David's work by becoming a free or paid subscriber to his Substack.
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SecondOtter
But were there snakes?
Wednesday, August 26 Report this
soaringcrane
Well done and edifying. Thanks.
Sunday, August 30 Report this