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Judah Low ben Bezalel (1525 — 1609) was a Jewish scholar and rabbi, most of his life in Prague. He is commonly referred to as the "Maharal [of Prague]" (Moreinu ha-Rav Loew, "Our Teacher and Rabbi Loew"). Within Judaism, he is known for this works on philosophy of religion and his supercommentary on Rashi's Torah commentary. Outside Judaism, he is best known for his Golem, which he created - according to the legend - to defend the Prague Ghetto from antisemitic attacks.
BiographyLow was born in Prague to Rabbi Betzalel, whose family originated from the German town of Worms. He received his formal education in various yeshivot, rabbinical colleges. Low was independently wealthy, probably as a result of his father's successful business enterprises. He accepted a rabbinical position in 1553 as "Landesrabbiner" of Moravia at Nikolsburg, directing community affairs but also determining which tractate of the Talmud was to be studied in the communities in that province. He also revised the community statutes on the election and taxation process. Although he retired from Moravia in 1588 at age 60, the communities still considered him an authority long after that. One of his activities in Moravia was the rallying against slanderous slurs on legitimacy (Nadler) that were spread in the community against certain families and could ruin the finding of a marriage partner for the children of those families (shidduch). This phenomenon even affected his own family. He used one of the two yearly grand sermons (between Rosh ha-Shana and Yom Kippur 1583) to denounce the phenomenon. He moved back to Prague in 1588, where he again accepted a rabinical position, replacing the retired Isaac Hayoth. He immediately reiterated his views on Nadler. On 23 February 1592, he had an audience with Emperor Rudolf II, which he attended together with his brother Sinai and his son-in-law Isaac Cohen; Prince Bertier was present with the emperor. The conversation seems to have been related to Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, a subject which held much fascination for the emperor. In 1592, Low moved to Posen, where he had been elected as Chief Rabbi of Poland. In Posen he composed Netivoth Shalom and part of Derech Chaim (see below). Towards the end of his life he moved back to Prague, where he died in 1609. He is buried there. His nameThe name "Löw" or "Loew", derived from the German Löwe, "lion" (cf. the Yiddish Leib of the same origin), is a kinnuy or substitute name for the Hebrew Judah or Yehuda, as this name - as originally the tribe of Judah - is traditionally associated with a lion. In the Book of Genesis, the patriarch Jacob refers to his son Judah as a Gur Aryeh, a "Young Lion" (Genesis 49:9) when blessing him [1] (http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=1&CHAPTER=49). In Jewish naming tradition the Hebrew name and the substitute name are often combined as a pair, as in this case. The Maharal's classic work on the Rashi commentary of the Pentateuch is called the Gur Aryeh al HaTorah, in Hebrew: "Young Lion [commenting] upon the Torah". The Maharal's tomb in Prague is decorated with a heraldic shield with a lion with two intertwined tails, alluding both to his name and to Bohemia, the arms of which has a two-tailed lion. InfluencePupilsIt is unknown how many pupils the Maharal taught in Moravia, but the main students from the Prague period include Rabbis Yomtov Lipmann Heller and David Ganz. The former promoted his teacher's program of regular Mishnah study by the masses, and composed his Tosefoth Yom Tov (a Mishnah commentary) with this goal in mind. David Ganz died young, but produced the work Tzemach David, a work of Jewish and general history, as well as writing on astronomy; both the Marahal and Ganz were in contact with Tycho Brahe, the famous astronomer. Jewish philosophyIn the words of a modern writer, the Maharal "prevented the Balkanization of Jewish thought". His systematic and analytical approach to Jewish philosophy has made his works to Jewish philosophy what the Shulkhan Arukh is for halakha. His works inspired the Polish branch of hasidism, as well as a more recent wave of Torah scholars originating from Lithuania, most markedly Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler. A recent authority who has roots in both traditions is Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner. Rabbi Hutner, in turn, maintains that Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (Germany, 19th century) must have been influenced by the Maharal's ideas. Judah Low was not a champion of the Kabalah, and none of his works is devoted to it. Nevertheless, Kabbalistic ideas permeate his writings in a rational and philosophic tone. His main Kabbalistic influences appear to have been the Zohar and Sefer Yetzirah, as Lurianistic Kabbalah had not by that time reached Europe. Although he could not reconcile himself to the investigations of Azariah di Rossi, and understood all the utterances of the Aggada (narrative, non-legal parts of the Talmud) literally, yet he was entirely in favor of scientific research in so far as the latter did not contradict divine revelation. LiteratureMain article: Golem The legend of his creation of a golem inspired Gustav Meyrink's 1915 novel Der Golem. Various other books have been inspired by this legend, the authenticity of which has been doubted; although the Golem motif is old, the connection between the Golem on the one hand and the Maharal and Prague on the other is known only from ca 1840. Maharal is featured in the Dutch work "De Procedure" (The procedure) by Harry Mulisch (1999), which also deals with the Golem legend. MiscellaneousIt is claimed in some circles of Orthodox Judaism that the Maharal's lineage is from the Davidic line running all the way back to the original Judah. John Kerry may be a descendent of Rabbi Loew, though one historian who studied the connection says that he "can't precisely prove everything." Bibliography
His works on the holidays bear titles that were inspired by the Biblical verse in I Chronicles 29:10: "To you, God, is greatness, power, splendour and shining, as on all the Heavens and the Earth, to you, God is kingship, and greatness and primacy in all." The book of "greatness" (gedula) on the Sabbath was not preserved, but the book of "power" (gevurah) is Gevurath Hashem and the book of "splendour" (netzach) is "Netzach Yisrael." Books
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