The Judah Initiative, referred to as the Men of Judah by their Golem, is a society of Rabbis formed during World War II to fight the Thules.
History[]
Early History[]
During World War II, the Judah Initiative was formed by a group of Rabbis with connections to the Men of Letters to fight the Thule Society, a society of Nazi necromancers with the desire to dominate the world. After Commandant Eckhart, a high-ranking member of the Thule High Command managed to successfully devise a way to resurrect the dead Thule members, the Judah Initiative created a Golem in the ghetto of Vitsyebsk, Belarus where Eckhart performed his experiments to stop them in 1944. The Golem slaughtered all of the Thules except Eckhart who escaped using the Cloaking Flame spell. The Thules lost the Ledger of the Thules detailing Eckhart's experiments, but continued to exist even with this defeat.
Following the end of World War II, the Thule became less active and eventually all of the Judah Initiative died off except for Rabbi Isaac Bass who had only been 17 years old when he joined the Judah Initiative. Rabbi Bass continued to hunt the Thule and their ledger however and trained his grandson Aaron, the last remaining descendant of the Judah Initiative to one day take his place in hunting the Thule. Aaron never took Rabbi Bass seriously, thinking he was traumatized by his experiences in the war and smoked the pages of the instruction manual for the Golem.[1]
Season 8[]
In 2013, Rabbi Bass finally managed to locate the Thule ledger in a college library in Wilkes-Barr, Pennsylvania before being found by the Thule Torvald. Rabbi Bass left Aaron a message to where he'd hidden the Thule ledger before Torvald killed him. Following Rabbi Bass' death, the Golem went into Aaron's possession though he lacked the knowledge of how to properly take control of him.
The murder of Rabbi Bass drew the attention of Sam and Dean Winchester who learned of the Judah Initiative and their work from the files in the Men of Letters bunker. Investigating, the Winchesters and Aaron met and located the Thule ledger, killing Torvald along the way. The group learned from the ledger of the nature of the Thule experiments and how to kill the reanimated Thule members before being attacked by a group of Thule led by Eckhart. The Winchesters killed Eckhart and two other Thule though Heintz got away and burned the Thule bodies to prevent resurrection. Following the fight with Eckhart, Aaron decides to take full control over the Golem and take upon himself the mantle of a Judah Initiative member and hunt down and kill the remaining Thule despite the Winchesters offer to lock the Golem up in the bunker.[1]
Season 12[]
Between 2013 and 2016, acting as the Judah Initiative, Aaron and the Golem began hunting down the Thule using the names given in the Thule ledger. Together, they are able to kill half of the known Thule membership with Aaron killing six and the Golem killing the others. Their actions prove to be enough of a threat to the Thule that Commandant Nauhaus, the Thule leader, sees their hunt as a problem. After finding possible Thule activity in Columbus, Ohio, the Winchesters contact Aaron who tells them of his and the Golem's progress and gives them what little information he has on "Das Blut", the Thule High Command's next big plan.[2]
Powers and Abilities[]
- Golem Creation - The Judah Initiative had the ability to create Golems to aid in their work.
- Golem Control - By writing their names on the scroll in the mouth of the Golem they created, the various members of the Judah Initiative could gain control over the Golem.
- Hunting Skills - The Judah Initiative members presumably had varying levels of hunting skills for their work in hunting down and killing the Thules.
Weaknesses[]
- Mortality - As regular humans, the members of the Judah Initiative were susceptible to disease, age and mortal injuries.
Known Members[]
- Rabbi Isaac Bass (deceased)
- Aaron Bass (active)
Appearances[]
Trivia[]
- Occult practices such as magic and necromancy are considered sinful and forbidden by Jewish holy law (Exodus 22:18, Leviticus 19:31, Deuteronomy 18:9, etc.). However, some occult-like practices became highly controversial within the Jewish community through the ages, the most notorious example being the mystical Kabbalah.
- Following the fight with Eckhart in Everybody Hates Hitler, Aaron Bass comments "looks like I'm the Judah Initiative now." In The One You've Been Waiting For, Aaron is referred to as a member of the organization by Commandant Nauhaus who is less than pleased about Aaron and his Golem hunting down the Thule.
- According to Aaron, he is the last remaining descendant of the Judah Initiative's members despite both of his parents being alive. Presumably this is to do with the fact that his parents only saw Rabbi Bass as crazy and wanted nothing to do with his stories.