Mourners gather at a cemetery in Brooklyn to pay their last respects to Isaac Luria, a
Hasidic man brutally murdered by three teenaged hate-mongers. Among the group is Ariel
Luria, and her father, Jacob Weiss. When night falls, a shadowy figure enters the cemetery
and shapes a man-sized sculpture out of mud.
Mulder and Scully investigate Isaac Luria’s death. Isaac, who lived in a neighborhood
with a history of racial tension, was severely beaten inside his market. Police ruled out
robbery as a motive as nothing was stolen. They later retrieved a store surveillance tape
from the VCR of a sixteen year-old named Tony Oliver, one of the teenagers who participated
in the killing. Oliver was strangled by an unknown assailant. Most intriguing to Mulder is the
discovery of Isaac Luria’s finger prints on Oliver’s body.
Weiss shows them an anti-Semitic pamphlet left at his door that very morning. Mulder
tells his partner that whoever printed the pamphlets probably knows who killed Isaac. The
agents interview Curt Brunjes, who owns a copy shop across the street from Isaac’s market.
When the agents show Brunjes photos of Banks and Macguire, (the teenagers suspected of
beating Isaac), he claims their faces are unfamiliar. Unbeknownst to the agents, Banks
listens in on the conversation via a security surveillance camera. Scully tells Brunjes there
are rumors that Isaac has risen from the grave to avenge his murder.
Spooked, Banks and Macguire dig up Isaac’s coffin. As Macguire walks to the car to
retrieve some tools, Banks pries open the coffin lid and discovers Isaac’s body inside.
Later, Banks finds Macguire’s body protruding from a mound of mud.
The agents are called to the crime scene. Mulder locates a slender leather book tucked
beneath Isaac’s burial shroud. But when he touches the old book, it suddenly bursts into
flames. The agents turn to Kenneth Ungar, a scholar from the judaica Arcl-iives. Ungar
explains that what Mulder found was a book on Jewish mysticism. He insists it would never
have been buried with the dead. Ungar notes a name engraved into the leather: Jacob
Weiss.
Ariel tells the agents that although she and her husband received their wedding license
weeks before the murder, the marriage ceremony never transpired.
The agents locate Weiss in the attic of a synagogue. They also discover Banks’ dead
body hanging from a wooden beam. Weiss is arrested and charged with murder. He admits
to both of the murders, but Mulder believes someone–or something–was in the attic with
him.
Unger tells Mulder about the Golem, a creature from mystical text. He explains how early
Kabbalists believed a righteous man could create a living being from the earth itself. A
single Hebrew word, “emet,” is inscribed on the back of the Golem’s hand. To destroy the
Golem, Unger explains, the first letter, “e,” must be erased.
Brunjes is found murdered. When the agents examine the surveillance camera tape. they
discover that the Golem whose physical features match those of Isaac Luria is responsible
for the murder. Weiss returns to the synagogue after he is released from jail. There he
discovers Ariel preparing for her wedding ceremony. When Weiss attempts to stop his
daughter, the Golem attacks him. The agents rescue Weiss and, as Scully attends to his
injuries, Mulder searches for Ariel. The Golem attacks Mulder, knocking him aside as he
attempts to fend off the being. But Ariel intercedes. When the wedding continues, the Golem
places a ring on Ariel’s finger. Ariel expresses her love for Isaac, then wipes the letter “e”
off the Golems’ hand. The creature crumbles into dust.
THE X-FILES “KADDISH” #4X12
Original Air Date: 02/16/97
CAST:
DAVID DUCHOVNY as Special Agent Fox Mulder
GILLIAN ANDERSON as Special Agent Dana Scully
GUEST CAST:
JUSTINE MICELI as Ariel Luria
DAVID GROH as Jacob Weiss
HARRISON COE as Issac Luria
CHANNON ROE as Derek Banks
JABIN LITWINIEC as Clinton Bascombe
TIMUR KARABILGIN as Tony
JONATHAN WHITTAKER as Curt Brunjes
DAVID WOHL as Kenneth Ungar
GEORGE GORDON as the Detective
MURREY RABINOVITCH as 1st Hasidic man
DAVID FREEDMAN as Rabbi
WRITTEN BY:
HOWARD GORDON
DIRECTED BY:
KIM MANNERS
