Ham (son of Noah) Ham (son of Noah) Ham, according to the Table of Nations in the Book of Genesis, was a son of Noah and the father of Cush, Mizraim, Phut and Canaan. Ham's descendants are interpreted by Flavius Josephus and others as having populated Africa and adjoining parts of Asia. The Bible refers to Egypt as "the land of Ham" in Psalm 78:51; 105:23,27; 106:22; 1 Chronicles 4:40. Since the 17th century a number of suggestions have been made that relate the name "Ham" to a Hebrew word for "burnt", "black" or "hot", to the Egyptian word "ḥm" for "servant" or the
Elijah Ba'al Shem of Chełm Elijah Ba'al Shem of Chełm Elijah Ba'al Shem or Eliyahu Ba'al Shem of Chełm (government of Lublin) (born 1550; died at Chełm, 1583) was a Polish rabbi who served as chief rabbi of Chełm. He also studied Kabbalah, and, according to his descendant Tzvi Ashkenazi, created a golem. He is credited with creating the first golem with a ""shem"" (that is, using a combination of letters from one of the names of God to form a name; Elijah used ""Sefer Yezirah""), so he was known as a "Ba'al Shem." He is the first rabbi in history to be known by