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R. Judah/Yehuda (ben Bezalel)Loew [Maharal of Prague]

was born

on1522

Son of

and

died

on7 לספטמבר 1609

Father of

Occupations:

Chief Rabbi of Poland

Images:

First name: R. Judah/Yehuda (ben Bezalel)

Surname: Loew [Maharal of Prague]

Gender:

זכר

Occupation:

Chief Rabbi of Poland

Date of birth: 1522

Place of birth: Poznan (Posen), Poland

Date of death: 7 לספטמבר 1609

Place of death: Prague, Czech Republic

Notes:

Talmudist, Kabbalist, chief rabbi of Prague. Popularly known as the Maharal, the abbreviation of Moreinu Harav Loew. Rabbi Judah Loew is linked to the legend of the Golem.

read bio:

http://www.kafka-franz.com/maharal-of-prague.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golem

see YouTube clips of the silent movie Der Golem (1920), by Paul Webbner & Carl Boese:

The Golem (1/7): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_VcjWH10J8&feature=related

The Golem (2/7): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYmFL0RX5Lk&feature=related

The Golem (3/7): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abQh1anE9lI&feature=related

The Golem (4/7): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqgP7vLTug8&feature=related

The Golem (5/7): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-rnN5OWTP8&feature=related

The Golem (6/7): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nqKGA0LLpk&feature=related

The Golem (7/7): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owm9724_5po&feature=related

The Maharal of Prague was a towering giant in Torah and Kabbalah and a fearless leader of European Jewry during the sixteenth century.

Maharal Retrospective

http://www.jewishmuseum.cz/doc/maharal/unique_publication_on_the_maharal.pdf

Tracing Maharal Family Tree / DNA

http://www.loebtree.com/maharal.html

http://tracingthetribe.blogspot.com/2009/11/dna-loeb-family-maharal-of-prague.html

http://www.familytreedna.com/group-join.aspx?Group=MaHaRaL

Maharal Institute

http://www.maharalinstitute.com/english/His-books.html

http://wiki.geni.com/index.php/Jewish_Dynasties

_______________________________________________________________________

(From Wikipedia & www.nehora.com)

Talmudist, Kabbalist, chief rabbi of Prague. Popularly known as the Maharal, the abbreviation of Moreinu Harav Loew.

The Maharal was probably born in Pozna (now in Poland), to Rabbi Bezalel (Loew), whose family originated from the German town of Worms. His birth year is uncertain, with different sources listing the eve of Passover Seder 1512 in Poznan, Poland (or 1520? or 1526? and birthplace Worms or Prague). His uncle Jacob was Reichsrabbiner ("Rabbi of the Empire") of the Holy Roman Empire, his brother Chaim of Friedberg a famous rabbinical scholar. Traditionally it is believed that the Maharal's family descended from the Babylonian Exilarchs (during the era of the Geonim) and therefore also from the Davidic dynasty. He received his formal education in various yeshivas (Talmudical schools), other sources claim that he was an "autodidact" and all his studies were of his own and not in any Yeshiva.

One biography of Maharal - - claims that the Maharal was married twice. His first wife was the daughter of Rabbi Abraham Haiut, and Lea & Feigele were daughters of this marriage.

Most other biography versions of Maharal do not mention the first marriage and named Pearl as the mother of all Maharal's children, including Lea and Feigele (see below).]

The Maharal married at the "late" age of 32 (1544) to Pearl, of a wealthy family. He had six girls and one boy who was named after the Maharal's father, Beztalel.

He was independently wealthy, probably as a result of his father's successful business enterprises and his wife's generous dowry. He accepted a rabbinical position in 1553 as Landesrabbiner of Moravia at Mikulov (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 1573 at age 60, the communities still considered him an authority long after that. In 1573 he moved to Prague, where he opened a yeshivah and became mentor of many outstanding disciples. The most prominent among these is Rabbi Lipman Heller, author of Tosefot Yomtov on the Mishnah. Not being appointed Chief Rabbi of Prague in 1583, he moved to his birth town Poznen in Poland as Chief Rabbi for 4 years, then returned to Prague for 5 years, and In 1592 the Maharal accepted the position of Chief Rabbi of Poland in Poznen, returning to Prague in 1597 to serve as its Chief Rabbi till 1604.

He was a prolific writer, and his works include: Tiferet Yisrael on the greatness of Torah and mitzvot; Netivot Olam, on ethics; Be'er Hagolah, a commentary on rabbinic sayings; Netzach Yisrael, on exile and redemption; Or Chadash, on the book of Esther; Ner Mitzvah, on Chanukah; Gevurot Hashem, on the Exodus; and many others. The Maharal's works reveal his illustrious personality as a profound thinker who penetrates the mysteries of Creation and metaphysics, clothing kabbalistic themes in a philosophic garment. His unique approach to Jewish thought influenced the ideologies of Chassidism and Mussar.

The Maharal castigated the educational methods of his day where boys were taught at a very young age and insisted that children must be taught in accordance with their intellectual maturity. Thus, Talmud and certainly not tosafot should be introduced only when the child is developmentally capable of fully comprehending what is being taught. He recommended that the system proposed in Pirkei Avot be followed.

The Maharal was a staunch leader of his community, he became the hero of many legends in which he appears as the defender of Prague Jewry against all its enemies, assisted by a Golem, a robot he made and gave life to by placing sacred writings in his mouth.

The Maharal's company and advice was sought by kings and nobleman giving rise to many colorful legends.

The Maharal's synagogue, Altneu Schul, still exists today and is preserved as a shrine by the Prague municipal authorities, who in 1917 erected a statue in his honor.

In the Torah world the Maharal lives on in his writings, which are an enduring source of wisdom and inspiration.

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The Maharal's father, Bezalel ben Haïm LOEB (LOEW) was born about 1480. Unlike his young brother, stayed behind to help his father and did not pursue studies in Poland. Bezalel married the daughter of Rabbi Chaim ISSEMHEIMER or married daughter of Rabbi Yitzchak KLOBER of Worms.

They had four sons and three daughters. The MAHARAL was the youngest.

He served as Rabbi of Worms ( ).

Betzalel’s tombstone reads: ”his praise and merits can not be told and no man like him can be found”

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(From Wikipedia in Hebrew):

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http://www.maharalinstitute.com/english/Biography.html

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Interconnecting branches of major Rabbinic personalities plotted by Frumkin family (See the Maharal's ancestry)

http://www.frumkin.org.il/Files/frnevbe.pdf

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http://seforim.blogspot.com/2007/02/shnayer-z-leiman-did-disciple-of.html

Shnayer Z. Leiman: Did a Disciple of the Maharal Create a Golem?

*** Books about the Maharal:

Maharal: Emerging Patterns (English)

The Golem of Prague (English)

The Maharal of Prague (English)

HaMaharal Mi-Prague (Hebrew)

---------------------

Prague, Czech Republic -

Institute Dedicated to Legendary Golem Creator Opens Today 09-18-2008.

Rabbi Judah Loew a 16th century scholar, is linked to the legend of the Golem. In Prague, Czech Republic an academic institute dedicated to the legendary 16th- Century Jewish scholar Rabbi Judah Loew, also known as the Maharal of Prague opened.

The Maharal Institute plans to educate future rabbis, introducing them to Talmud, Jewish law, ethics and mysticism as well as to Loew’s writings, said institute collaborator Tomas Jelinek. Rabbi Loew’s work has influenced generations of Jewish scholars but he has been best known for a legend according to which he had created the Golem, a man-like being with magic powers.

“People know him only as a Jewish magician,” Jelinek said of Loew. “We want to study the thoughts that had once originated in Prague, explore that Maharal again.”

The institute’s founding opens a year of events commemorating the 400th anniversary of Loew’s death in Prague in September 1609. His grave at the Old Town Cemetery is among the city’s chief tourist attractions.

http://www.vosizneias.com

--------------------------

The Maharal's Biography

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 (known as shidduchim within Orthodox Judaism) for the children of those families. This phenomenon even affected his own family. He used one of the two yearly grand sermons (between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur 1583) to denounce the phenomenon.

He moved back to Prague in 1588, where he again accepted a rabbinical 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, the Maharal moved to Posen, where he had been elected as Chief Rabbi of Poland. In Posen he composed Netivoth Olam and part of Derech Chaim. Towards the end of his life he moved back to Prague, where he died in 1609. He is buried there; his tomb is a famous tourist attraction.

(From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maharal_of_Prague)

In 1553 he was elected rabbi of Nikolsburg and the Province of Moravia, where he remained for the following 20 years. In 1573 he moved to Prague, where he opened a yeshivah and became mentor of many outstanding disciples. The most prominent among these is Rabbi Lipman Heller, author of Tosefot Yomtov on the Mishnah. In 1592 the Maharal accepted the position of rabbi in Posen, returning to Prague in 1598 to serve as its chief rabbi.

_____________________________________________

Czech Republic - The 'Golem of Prague' Stamp Issued in Honor of The Maharal

Published on: August 11, 2009, at 05:54 PM; News Source: Haaretz

Czech Republic - The post has issued a new stamp to mark 400 years since the death of Rabbi Yehuda Loew ben Bezalel, also known as the Maharal of Prague, who according to legend created a man out of clay.

The Maharal was an important rabbi in Prague in the 16th and early 17th centuries. He best known for the legend of the "Golem," in which he is said to have created from clay a living being that had superhuman powers and that was used to defend the Jews of the Prague Ghetto.

Still today, many believe that the body of the Golem is trapped in the attic of Prague's "Alt Noi Shul" synagogue.

The Maharal served as an admired teacher during a difficult time for Jews shortly after Spanish Inquisition, the Protestant reformation movement and other major social changes.

He is buried in the Jewish cemetery in the Prague old city, and his grave serves as a place of pilgrimage to many Jews every year.

Neighboring Slovakia has also recently paid respect to its Jewish past, having issued a stamp to commemorate the Chasam Sofer, a leading rabbi in the capital Bratislava in the first half of the century.

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Judah Loew ben Bezalel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Judah Loew ben Bezalel ("Judah Loewe son of Bezalel", also written as Yehudah ben Bezalel Levai [or Loewe, Löwe], 1525 – Thursday 7 September 1609 (Julian, 17th Gregorian) or 18 Elul 5369 according to the Hebrew calendar) [1] was an important Talmudic scholar, Jewish mystic, and philosopher who served as a leading rabbi in Prague (now in the Czech Republic) for most of his life. He is buried at the Old Jewish Cemetery, Prague in Josefov, and his grave with its tombstone intact, can still be visited.

He is widely known to scholars of Judaism as the Maharal of Prague, or simply as the Maharal ( " - MaHaRaL is the Hebrew acronym of Moreinu ha-Rav Loew, "Our Teacher the Rabbi Loew"). His descendants' surnames include Loewy and Lowy.

Within the world of Torah and Talmudic scholarship, he is known for his works on Jewish philosophy and Jewish mysticism and his supercommentary on Rashi's Torah commentary known as Gur Aryeh al HaTorah.

The Maharal is particularly known for the story about the golem, a myth that first appears in print close to 200 years after his death. According to the myth he supposedly created using mystical magical powers based on the esoteric knowledge of how God created Adam, but there is no contemporary evidence that this is true.

According to the legend, he did this to defend the Jews of the Prague Ghetto from antisemitic attacks against them; particularly false blood libels emanating from certain prejudiced quarters.

•

Biography

View of the synagogue of Rabbi Loew, the Old New Synagogue, Prague from the north-west with Jewish Town Hall to rear.

The Maharal was probably born in Pozna (now in Poland, though Pereles lists the birth town (in error) as Worms, Germany) to Rabbi Bezalel (Loew), whose family originated from the German town of Worms. His birth year is uncertain, with different sources listing 1512, 1520 and 1526 His uncle Jacob was Reichsrabbiner ("Rabbi of the Empire") of the Holy Roman Empire, his brother Chaim of Friedberg a famous rabbinical scholar. Traditionally it is believed that the Maharal's family descended from the Babylonian Exilarchs (during the era of the geonim) and therefore also from the Davidic dynasty.[5] He received his formal education in various yeshivas (Talmudical schools).

He 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 Mikulov (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.

In 1592, the Maharal moved to Posen, where he had been elected as Chief Rabbi of Poland. In Posen he composed Netivoth Olam 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 tomb is a famous tourist attraction.

•His name

His 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 - originally of 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. 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".

•Coat of arms of Bohemia

The Maharal's tomb in Prague is decorated with a heraldic shield with a lion with two intertwined tails (queue fourchee), alluding both to his first name and to Bohemia, the arms of which has a two-tailed lion.

•Influence

- Disciples:

It is unknown how many Talmudic rabbinical scholars the Maharal taught in Moravia, but the main disciples from the Prague period include Rabbis Yom Tov 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 incorporated into almost all published editions of the Mishnah over the past few hundred years) 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 MaHaRal and Ganz were in contact with Tycho Brahe, the famous astronomer.

•Jewish philosophy

In the words of a modern writer, the Maharal "prevented the Balkanization of Jewish thought" (Adlerstein 2000, citing Rabbi Nachman Bulman).

His works inspired the Polish branch of Hasidism, as well as a more recent wave of Torah scholars originating from Lithuania and Latvia, most markedly Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler (1892-1953) as well as Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1864-1935). A recent authority who had roots in both traditions was Rabbi Isaac Hutner (1906-1980). Rabbi Hutner succinctly defined the ethos of the Maharal's teachings as being Nistar BeLashon Nigleh, meaning (in Hebrew): "The Hidden in the language of the Revealed". As a mark of his devotion to the ways of the Maharal, Rabbi Hutner bestowed the name of the Maharal's key work the Gur Aryeh upon a branch of the yeshiva he headed when he established its kollel (a yeshiva for post-graduate Talmud scholars) which then became a division of the Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin in New York during the 1950s, known as Kollel Gur Aryeh. Both of these institutions, and the graduates they produce, continue to emphasize the serious teachings of the Maharal. Rabbi Hutner in turn also maintained that Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) (Germany, 19th century) must also have been influenced by the Maharal's ideas basing his seemingly rationalistic Weltanschauung on the more abstract and abstruse teachings of the hard-to-understand Jewish Kabbalah.

Rabbi Judah Loew was not a champion of the open study of Kabbalah as such, and none of his works are in any way openly devoted to it. According to him, only the greatest of Torah scholars are able to discern his true original inspirations and the intellectual framework for his ideas in their complex entirety. 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 Lurianic Kabbalah had not by that time reached Europe.

Although he could not reconcile himself to the investigations of Azariah di Rossi, he diffused the tension between the Aggada (narrative, non-legal parts of the Talmud) and rationalism by his allegorical interpretations of difficult passages. He was entirely in favor of scientific research insofar as the latter did not contradict divine revelation, all the while insisting on finding deep meaning in all the contributions of Talmudic teachers.

•Literature

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 book He, She and It and the Dutch work De Procedure ("The Procedure", Harry Mulisch, 1999), both retellings of the Golem legend. A poem by Jorge Luis Borges, entitled El Golem also tells the story of Judah Loew (Judá León) and his giving birth to the Golem. In that poem, Borges quotes the works of German Jewish philosopher Gershom Scholem. "The Maharal" by Yaakov Dovid Shulman (in English) questions if the stories about the golem are true. Even a Caldecott Medal winner (Golem by David Wisniewski) mentions Loew as Rabbi Loew. The fictional book Iron Council by China Miéville has a character named Judah Low who creates golems.

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http://www.hershfeld.com/family/individual.php?pid=I1004&tab=0&gedcom=Hershfeld.ged

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Rabbi in Prague

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Yehudah Loew of Prague, also known as the Maharal, was one of the outstanding Jewish minds of the sixteenth century. He wrote numerous books on Jewish law, philosophy, and morality, and developed an entirely new approach to the aggada of the Talmud. The Maharal rejected the idea that boys should begin instruction at an early age, insisting instead that children be taught in accordance with their intellectual maturity.

He was held in great esteem by his contemporaries and has had a profound impact on all streams of Judaism. Rabbi Kook stated that the "Maharal was the father of the approach of the Gaon of Vilna on the one hand, and of the father of Chasidut, on the other hand." Rabbi Shneur Zalman, founder of Chabad Chasidism, and a direct descendant of the Maharal, bases much of his famous work - the Tanya - on the teachings of his great grandfather.

Ironically, he is credited with the creation of a golem, an activity he would probably have opposed. A golem is a human figure created from clay and brought to life by use of the Ineffable Name of God. Since the letters of that name were considered to be the original source of life, it is thought possible for one knowledgeable in the secrets of the Divine Power to use them to create life.

Discussions of golems go back to the Talmud. Rava is said to have created such a man. In the sixteenth century numerous golems were said to have been created, but in each case their power increased and threatened human life, so they were destroyed by their makers.

Yehudah Loew of Prague was said to have created a golem to protect the Jewish community from Blood Accusations. It was close to Easter, and a Jew-hating priest was trying to incite the Christians against the Jews. The golem protected the community from hard during the Easter season. However, the creature threatened innocent lives, so Yehudah Loew removed the Divine Name, thus rendering the golem lifeless.

Today someone who is large but intellectually slow is sometimes called a golem. Pete Hamill has written a book called Snow in August about a golem created in the late 1940's in Brooklyn.

The Maharal was very active in community work. He did much to improve social ethics. He was a far-seeing educator whose many ideas for educational reform struck deep chords in many people.

His resting place in the Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague is still visited today by thousands of people.

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Source: Gates to Jewish Heritage; Jewish Prague; OU.org

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see http://the.wikipedia.org/wiki/ in Hebrew or

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judah_Loew_ben_Bezalel in English

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Rabbi Jehuda Loew ben Bezalel [the MaHaRal of Prague]

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Legendary creator of the Golem of Prague.

R. Yoseph I of Rome

Our ancestor R. Yoseph I descends from King David in one of two possible ways. According to The ESKELES Genealogy by Zeev ESHKOLOT he was the son of Rav Khai (Hai) Gaon (b. 939, d. 1038 CE). See p. 320 and 1130 of vol. 7 of Encyclopedia Judaica. (See Aryeh LIFSCHEUTZ, Avoth Atarah le-Banim, Warsaw (1927) p. 163 for claim of descent from R. Hai.)

However, in Hai's eulogy, Samuel Ha-Nagid said that Hai left no child. (!?) Perhaps this simply meant that Samuel's son R. Yoseph I had already passed away.

Alternatively, According to David HUGHES, RDavidH218 at Aol.com, Yoseph was rather the son of Samuel Ha-Nagid, and Hai married a daughter of Samuel Ha-Nagid. (Gaon of the Sura academy 997-1013).

Either way the descent of R. Yoseph I proceeds through the Maharal and the Chavas Yoir to my step-grandfather Carl OPPENHEIMER. This information matches up with the Yikhus Letter in the possession of the Sans Hassidim (Zans Khassidim) which goes through R. Bezaelel Ben Yaacov. See The ESKELES Genealogy by Zeev ESHKOLOT.

Each entry is supposed to be the son of daughter of the previous entry.

R. Yoseph I. Gaon. Executed 1066. Married daughter of Rabbi Nissim Ben Yaakov. According to Moshe Shaltiel MosheShaltiel at cs.com, Yoseph was assassinated in a pogrom in Granada (1062) where he served as a Grand Vizier like his father before him. Yoseph Ha-Nagid married the daughter of Rabbi Nissim Ben Yaakov.

R Yekhiel

R. Avraham

R. Azarya (Azariah) I

R. Yekhezkel (Ezekiel) of Spain

R. Laemel (Laemiel)

R. Azarya (Azariah) II

R. Eliya (Elijah)

Rabbi Yoseph (Joseph) II

Rabbi Nakhman (Nachman)

Rabbi Klonimus (Kalonymos) Kalman

Rabbi Leibush

Rabbi Eleazar

Rabbi Yerakhmiel (Yerakmiel)

Rabbi Arye-Zeev (Arieh-Zeev)

Rabbi Yaacov

Rabbi Bezalel (Betzalel) (Hazaken) Ben Yaacov.

Isaac, generation omitted in some manuscripts.

Yehuda LOEW Hazoken (d. 1440)

Bezalel ben Yehuda LOEW (According to Mordechai Schlanger certain sources skip this generation and give Hayyim as son of Yehuda LOEW Hazoken.)

Hayyim (b. about 1450) married Vogelin Feigele. See Aryeh Lifschuetz, Avoth Atarah le-Banim, Warsaw (1927) p. 163 for claim of descent from R. Hai. Children: Nathan Loeb, Zvi Helman Loeb, Yaakov (Reichsrabbiner), Bezalel ben Haïm Loeb

Bezalel married daughter of Rabbi Chaim ISSEMHEIMER. Children: Hayyim, Rabbi Shimshon (Samson), Rabbi Judah (Jehuda) LOEW, Sinai LOEB

Yehuda Lieb, called the Maharal of Prague (1525-1609) married Perla SHMELKES. For genealogy, see N'tiv Hoalom. Children: Rabbi Betzalel LOEWE, Vogele Bezalel, Rachel LOWE.

Vogele (d. 1629) married Rabbi Isak (Jizchak) (Ha-)COHEN. Children: Chajjim COHEN, Rabbi Naftali COHEN, Chawa (Eva) COHEN

Chava (Even) COHEN (1580-1651) married Rabbi (Abraham) Samuel Bacharach. Children: Rabbi (Moses) Samson Bacharach, Sarah Bacharach, Hinde Bacharach, Telzel Bacharach.

Rabbi (Moses) Samson Bacharach (1607-1670) married Dobrusch Phöbus.

The Chavas Yoir, Rabbi Joir Chayim Bacharach (1638-1702) married Sarah (Dina Sorle) BRILIN. Children: Chajjim Bacharach, Samuel Sanwel Bacharach, Samson Bacharach, Dobrasch Bacharach, Chawa Bacharach, Malca Bacharach.

Chawa Bacharach (d. 1701) married Juda Löb OPPENHEIM. Children: Rabbi Simeon OPPENHEIMER, Reb Jechiel OPPENHEIMER

Rabbi Simeon OPPENHEIMER (d. 1753). Children: Juda Löb, Rabbi Zacharias (Issachar) OPPENHEIMER, Rechle (Rachel) OPPENHEIMER, Wolf OPPENHEIMER, Faygele (Vögele) OPPENHEIMER, Samuel OPPENHEIMER, Reb Löb OPPENHEIMER, Reb Itzig OPPENHEIMER

Juda Löb OPPENHEIMER (1720-1770) married Rehle. Children: Herz (Naphtali) OPPENHEIMER, Simon J. L. OPPENHEIMER

Herz OPPENHEIMER married Riwka. Children: Jakob, Simon, MAIER, Hajum.

Jakob OPPENHEIMER (1801-1883) married Jeanette Jankau. Children: Regine, Lenchen. Remarried Jeanetta Moses. Children: Rickchen, Hermann, Betty, Rebecca, Moses, Cilly

The MaHaRaL of Prague - המהר״ל מפר��ג is the 13th great grandfather of Mark Strauss

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Maharal of Prague

http://www.loebtree.com/maharal.html

The Maharal

The Maharal (b. around 1525, d. 1609 Prague, buried next to his wife Perl) was chief Rabbi of Prague (from 1597), talmudist, moralist, theologian, mathematician, and mystic. (See p. 374, vol. X of Encyclopedia Judaica.) Maharal is an acronym for Moraynu HaReav Judah LOEW ben B'zalel (Our teacher Judah LOEW son of B'zalel). Der Hohe Rabbi LOEW von Prag.

We suppose he came from Worms. As a poor student, Judah became engaged to a wealthy woman Perla SHMELKES daughter of Samuel SHMELKES and intended to continue his studies with her family's support. When they became impoverished, however, the marriage was delayed, and his fiancée had to run a food shop. One day a knight passed by and snatched a loaf of bread from the shop on his spear. He explained that he had not eaten for three days and left his cloak with its lining containing gold coins as payment. The marriage could thus go ahead, and Judah spent the rest of his life in relative affluence.

He came to Prague when he was past 50 years old. He was Landesrabbiner of Moravia in Mikulov (Vikolsburg) from 1553 to 1573. He then founded the Die Klaus yeshiva in Prague. He left in 1584 to serve as Rabbi in Moravia (or alternatively Posen) returning in 1588.

On 23 February 1592, Emperor Rudolf II invited him to an audience to the Hradshin. According to legend, the Emperor wanted to be introduced to mysticism by the Maharal who could perform cabbalistic wonders.

On 16 February 1594, his colleague astronomer Tycho BRAHE arranged for him to speak with the Emperor Rudolph II, possibly on the subject of alchemy. The Maharal then was named Chief Rabbi of Posen.

On According to legend he created the Golem at the Altneuschul Synagogue in Prague to serve the Jewish community. From out of dust and brought to life by the insertion of God's name under its tongue, it obeyed Judah's commands, helping Jews survive anti-Jewish measures and blood libel accusations and serving as a shabbos goi. Eventually it had be destroyed and returned to dust because it ran amok on a Friday afternoon during kabbalat shabbat when Judah forgot to remove the divine name. The remains of the golem where sealed up in the attic of the Altneu Synagogue in Prague. (This legend had been associated with Rabbi Elijah of Prague until the late 18th century. See Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. VII, p. 755.)

His statue graces the entrance of the City Hall of Prague (since 1917). The Maharal's first work Tikun Ho'alom was published this year (1995) in English translation.

According to Rabbi Yaakov Bacharach (Encyclopedia Judaica IV p. 54) (merchant, scholar, expert on Karaite halaka etc, a grandson of the Gaon Y. Yehuda Bacharach) a Yichus Brief (now destroyed) shows how his genealogy went back to the Chavas Yoir (and presumably the Maharal) and on to Rashi and then to King David.

Judah Loew ben BezalelFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Ladislav Šaloun's statue popularly ascribed to Loew at the new town hall of Prague in the Czech Republic.Judah Loew ben Bezalel, alt. Loewe, Löwe, or Levai, (c. 1520 – 17 September 1609)[1] widely known to scholars of Judaism as the Maharal of Prague, or simply The MaHaRaL, the Hebrew acronym of "Moreinu ha-Rav Loew," ("Our Teacher, Rabbi Loew") was an important Talmudic scholar, Jewish mystic, and philosopher who served as a leading rabbi in the city of Prague in Bohemia for most of his life.

Within the world of Torah and Talmudic scholarship, he is known for his works on Jewish philosophy and Jewish mysticism and his work Gur Aryeh al HaTorah, a supercommentary on Rashi's Torah commentary.

The Maharal is the subject of a nineteenth-century legend that he created The Golem of Prague, an animate being fashioned from clay.

Rabbi Loew is buried at the Old Jewish Cemetery, Prague in Josefov, where his grave and intact tombstone can still be visited. His descendants' surnames include Loewy, Loeb, Lowy, Oppenheimer, Pfaelzer, and Keim.

Contents [hide]

1 Biography

2 Death

3 His name

4 Influence

4.1 Disciples

4.2 Jewish philosophy

4.3 Descendants

4.4 Legend of the golem

5 Works

6 Commemoration

7 See also

8 Notes and references

9 Articles and books

10 External links

10.1 Articles

10.2 Resources

[edit] Biography

The Old New Synagogue, Prague where he officiated.

His tombstone in the Old Jewish Cemetery, Prague.The Maharal was probably born in Poznan[2] (Poland, though Perels[3] lists the birth town - mistakenly[2] - as Worms, Germany) to Rabbi Bezalel (Loew), whose family originated from the German town of Worms. His birth year is uncertain, with different sources listing 1512,[3] 1520[4] and 1526.[2][5] His uncle Jacob was Reichsrabbiner ("Rabbi of the Empire") of the Holy Roman Empire, his brother Chaim of Friedberg a famous rabbinical scholar. Traditionally it is believed that the Maharal's family descended from the Babylonian Exilarchs (during the era of the geonim) and therefore also from the Davidic dynasty.[6] There is no documented evidence of his having received formal religious education, leading scholars to conclude that he was an extremely gifted autodidact.[7]

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. This phenomenon even affected his own family. He used one of the two yearly grand sermons (between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur 1583) to denounce the phenomenon.

In 1592, the Maharal moved to Poznan, where he had been elected as Chief Rabbi of Poland. In Poznan he composed Netivoth Olam and part of Derech Chaim (see below).

[edit] DeathTowards the end of his life he moved back to Prague, where he died in 1609. He was buried in the Old Jewish Cemetery, Prague.

[edit] His nameHis 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 - originally of 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]. 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".

Coat of arms of BohemiaThe Maharal's tomb in Prague is decorated with a heraldic shield with a lion with two intertwined tails (queue fourchee), alluding both to his first name and to Bohemia, the arms of which has a two-tailed lion.

[edit] Influence[edit] DisciplesIt is unknown how many Talmudic rabbinical scholars the Maharal taught in Moravia, but the main disciples from the Prague period include Rabbis Yom Tov 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 incorporated into almost all published editions of the Mishnah over the past few hundred years) 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 MaHaRal and Ganz were in contact with Tycho Brahe, the famous astronomer.

[edit] Jewish philosophyIn the words of a modern writer, the Maharal "prevented the Balkanization of Jewish thought" (Rabbi Yitzchak Adlerstein 2000, citing Rabbi Nachman Bulman).

His works inspired the Polish branch of Hasidism, as well as a more recent wave of Torah scholars originating from Lithuania and Latvia, most markedly Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler (1892–1953) as well as Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1864–1935). A more recent authority who had roots in both traditions was Rabbi Isaac Hutner (1906–1980). Rabbi Hutner succinctly defined the ethos of the Maharal's teachings as being Nistar BeLashon Nigleh, meaning (in Hebrew): "The Hidden in the language of the Revealed". That is, the Maharal couched kabbalistic ideas in non-kabbalistic language. As a mark of his devotion to the ways of the Maharal, Rabbi Hutner bestowed the name of the Maharal's key work the Gur Aryeh upon a branch of the yeshiva he headed when he established its kollel (a yeshiva for post-graduate Talmud scholars) which then became a division of the Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin in New York during the 1950s, known as Kollel Gur Aryeh. Both of these institutions, and the graduates they produce, continue to emphasize the serious teachings of the Maharal. Rabbi Hutner in turn also maintained that Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808–1888) (Germany, 19th century) must also have been influenced by the Maharal's ideas basing his seemingly rationalistic Weltanschauung on the more abstract and abstruse teachings of the hard-to-understand Jewish Kabbalah.

Rabbi Judah Loew was not a champion of the open study of Kabbalah as such, and none of his works are in any way openly devoted to it. Instead, what they attempt to do is to make the ideas of the Kabbalah (which he held to be the most deeply true of all the Torah) accessible to the average educated reader, by presenting them in a rigorously philosophical form, couched in terms that are accessible to the public. According to R. Loew, only the greatest of Torah scholars are able to perceive the full intent of the Kabbalistic works in their complex entirety. Therefore, although kabbalistic doctrine permeates his writings, it is always presented in a rational and philosophic form. His main kabbalistic influences appear to have been the Zohar, Sefer Yetzirah, and traditions of the Chassidei Ashkenaz, as Lurianic Kabbalah had not by that time reached Europe.

Faced with the Aristotelian interpretation of Talmudic Aggadot by Azariah di Rossi, he was indignant at what he termed the trivialization of the Sages' deep wisdom. In his work B'er HaGolah he vigorously disproves all of di Rossi's theses, sternly upholding the subtly allegorical nature of Aggadah and demonstrating its independence from (and superiority to) the superficial observations of natural science. At the same time he was entirely in favor of scientific research, so long as the researcher did not use his observations as permission to contradict the final authority of divine revelation. His constant thesis is that the Talmudic, Midrashic, and Aggadic teachings refer always to matters far beyond the competence of natural science.

[edit] DescendantsAmong his many descendants were Schneur Zalman of Liadi, founder of Chabad Hasidism. Through him, he is the ancestor of many prominent later Jewish individuals, including Menachem Mendel Schneerson, seventh Rebbe of Lubavitch, and Yehudi Menuhin, the famous violinist. Maharal is also the ancestor of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov.

[edit] Legend of the golemMain article: Golem

The Maharal is the subject of a legend concerning the creation of a golem, a creature which he made out of clay to defend the Jews of the Prague Ghetto from antisemitic attacks, particularly blood libels. He is said to have used mystical powers based on the esoteric knowledge of how God created Adam.[8] The general view of historians and critics is that the legend is a German literary invention of the early 19th century. It has been repeated and adapted many times since.

[edit] WorksGur Aryeh ("Young Lion", see above), a supercommentary on Rashi's Pentateuch commentary

Netivoth Olam ("Pathways of the World"), a work of ethics

Tif'ereth Yisrael ("The Glory of Israel"), philosophical exposition on the Torah, intended for the holiday of Shavuot

Gevuroth Hashem ("God's Might[y Acts]"), for the holiday of Passover

Netzach Yisrael ("The Eternity of Israel"; Netzach "eternity", has the same root as the word for victory), on Tisha B'Av (an annual day of mourning about the destruction of the Temples and the Jewish exile) and the final deliverance

Ner Mitzvah ("The Candle of the Commandment"), on Hanukkah

Or Chadash ("A New Light"), on Purim

Derech Chaim ("Way of Life"), a commentary on the Mishnah tractate Avoth

Be'er ha-Golah ("The Well of the Diaspora"), an explanatory work on the Talmudic and Midrashic Aggadah, mainly responding to interpretations by the Italian scholar Azariah di Rossi (min ha-Adumim)

Chiddushei Aggadot ("Novellae on the Aggada", the narrative portions of the Talmud), discovered in the 20th century

Derashot (collected "Sermons")

Divrei Negidim ("Words of Rectors"), a commentary on the Seder of Pesach, published by a descendant

Chiddushei al Ha-Shas, a commentary on Talmud, recently published for the first time from a manuscript by Machon Yerushalyim on Bava Metzia, others may be forthcoming.

Various other works, such as his responsa and works on the Jewish Sabbath and the holidays of Sukkot, Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, have not been preserved.

His works on the holidays bear titles that were inspired by the Biblical verse in I Chronicles 29:11: "Yours, O Lord, are the greatness, and the might, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and on the earth [is Yours]; Yours is the kingdom and [You are He] Who is exalted over everything as the Leader." The book of "greatness" (gedula) on the Sabbath was not preserved, but the book of "power" (gevurah) is Gevurath Hashem, the book of glory is Tif'ereth Yisrael, and the book of "eternity" or "victory" (netzach) is Netzach Yisrael.

[edit] CommemorationIn April 1997 Czech Republic and Israel issued a joint set of stamps, one of which featured the tombstone of Loew.[9][10][11] In May 2009 the Czech Post issued a stamp commemorating the 400th anniversary of Loew’s death.[12] In June 2009 the Czech Mint issued a commemorative coin marking the same milestone.[13]

[edit] See alsoAndré Neher

Kerem Maharal, a moshav in northern Israel name in his honour

[edit] Notes and references^ Bohemia, as a Catholic country, adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1584. On the Julian calendar it was 7 September. His gravestone, as quoted by Gal Ed, Megilas Yuchsin and others, gives his date of death as Thursday 18 Elul 5369.

^ a b c ?"? ?. ???? ?????? Dr Avraham Hacohen Ovadia (Gotsdiner) (2001) (in Hebrew). Ha'ari Shebechachmai Prague. Jerusalem, Israel: Mosad Harav Kook. pp. 138. OCLC 145439809. http://www.mosadharavkook.com/store/item2.php?id=97.

^ a b Meir Perels (1718). Megilas Yuchsin. Prague. OCLC 122864700.

^ Nathan Grün (1885) (in German). Der hohe Rabbi Löw und sein Sagenkreis. Prague: Verlag von Jakob B. Brandeis. OCLC 19037024. http://books.google.com/books?id=_HqLGQAACAAJ.

^ Luboš Jerábek (1903) (in German). Der alte Prager Judenfriedhof. Prague: Kunstverlag B. Koci. OCLC 1810845. http://books.google.com/books?id=eBY8AAAAMAAJ.

^ See The Maharal of Prague's Descent from King David, by Chaim Freedman, published in Avotaynu Vol 22 No 1, Spring 2006

^ YIVO Encyclopedia - Yehudah Leib ben Betsalel.

^ Bilefsky, Dan (May 11, 2009). "Hard Times Give New Life to Prague’s Golem". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/world/europe/11golem.html?hp=&pagewanted=print. Retrieved 2009-05-11. "The Golem, according to Czech legend, was fashioned from clay and brought to life by a rabbi to protect Prague’s 16th-century ghetto from persecution, and is said to be called forth in times of crisis. True to form, he is once again experiencing a revival and, in this commercial age, has spawned a one-monster industry."

^ 1997 Prague Jewish Monuments - Czech Joint Issue

^ Jewish Monuments in Prague Joint Isuue, israelphilately.org.il

^ Stamps: April ’97: The Altneuschul Synagogue, The Tombstone of Rabbi Judah Loew

^ Rabbi Judah Loew, Ceská pošta

^ 2009 Czech 200Kr Silver Proof "Judah Loew"

[edit] Articles and booksByron L. Sherwin, Mystical Theology and Social Dissent: The Life and Works of Judah Loew of Prague (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1982)

Rivka Schatz, "Maharal's Conception of Law- Antithesis to Natural Law" Jewish Law Annual Vol. VI.

Rivka Schatz, "Existence and Eschatology in the Teachings of the Maharal" Immanuel 14 (Spring 1982) 66-97; Immanuel 15 (Winter 1982-3) 62-72.

Moshe Zuriel "Numbers: Their meaning and Symbolism According to Maharal" [Hebrew] HaMaayan 18:3 (1978) 14-23; 18:4 (1978) 30-41, reprinted in Sefer Ozrot Gedolei Yisroel (Jerusalem:2000) volume 1, pp. 204–228.

Martin Buber, "The Beginning of the National Idea" On Zion: The History of an Idea. (New York, Schocken Books, 1973).

Otto Dov Kulka, "The Historical Background of the National and Educational Teachings of the Maharal of Prague" [Hebrew] Zion 50 (1985) 277-320.

Benjamin Gross, Netzah Yisrael (Tel Aviv: Devir, 1974)

Mordechai Breuer, "The Maharal of Prague's Disputation with Christians: A Reappraisal of Be'er Ha-Golah" in Tarbiz (1986) 253-260

Adlerstein Y. Be'er Hagolah: The Classic Defense of Rabbinic Judaism Through the Profundity of the Aggadah. New York, NY: Mesorah Publications, 2000. ISBN 1-57819-463-6.

Aharon Kleinberger, The Educational Theory of the Maharal of Prague [Hebrew] (Magnes: 1962).

Andre Neher, Jewish Thought and the Scientific Revolution: David Gans (1541–1613) and his times (Oxford-New York: Littman Library, 1986)

Neher, Faust et le Maharal de Prague: le Mythe et le Reel (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1987);

Neher, Le Puits de l'Exil: la Theologie Dialectique du Maharal de Prague (Paris: A. Michel, 1996)

Neher, Mishnato shel ha-Maharal mi-Prague, Re?uven Mass,c2003.

Gross, Benjamin, Yehi Or (Re?uven Mass, 1995).

Gross, Benjamin, Netsah Yisra?el Tel Aviv : Devir, 1974.

Eliyahu Yaakov Deutsch, Shabbos Insights Of The Maharal Jerusalem: Targum, 2009.

[edit] External links[edit] ArticlesMaharal Conference Prague, 18-20 Elul 5769 / 7-9 September 2009, organized by Jewish Community of Prague maharal.name

Short biography of The Maharal of Prague chabad.org

Gregor Brand: Löw, Juda (Yehuda, Jehudah, Yudah, Judah) ben Bezalel (auch Löwe, Löb, Livia, Liwa etc., Akronym: "MaHaRaL"). In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Bd. 29, , Sp. 858–877. (German)

Rabbi Judah Loew, The Maharal of Prague

The Seder Plate of the Maharal from The Maharal Haggadah by Shlomo Mallin

The Maharal and Golem
The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late 16th century rabbi of Prague, also known as the Maharal, who reportedly "created a golem out of clay from the banks of the Vltava River and brought it to life through rituals and Hebrew incantations to defend the Prague ghetto from anti-Semitic attacks" and pogroms.[16][17] Depending on the version of the legend, the Jews in Prague were to be either expelled or killed under the rule of Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor. The Golem was called Josef and was known as Yossele. It was said that he could make himself invisible and summon spirits from the dead.[17] Rabbi Loew deactivated the Golem on Friday evenings by removing the shem before the Sabbath (Saturday) began,[6] so as to let it rest on Sabbath.[6]

One Friday evening Rabbi Loew forgot to remove the shem, and feared that the Golem would desecrate the Sabbath.[6] A different story tells of a golem that fell in love, and when rejected, became the violent monster seen in most accounts. Some versions have the golem eventually going on a murderous rampage.[17] The rabbi then managed to pull the shem from his mouth and immobilize him[6] in front of the synagogue, whereupon the golem fell in pieces.[6] The Golem's body was stored in the attic genizah of the Old New Synagogue,[17] where it would be restored to life again if needed.[18]

According to legend, the body of Rabbi Loew's Golem still lies in the synagogue's attic.[6][17] When the attic was renovated in 1883, no evidence of the Golem was found.[19] Some versions of the tale state that the Golem was stolen from the genizah and entombed in a graveyard in Prague's Žižkov district, where the Žižkov Television Tower now stands. A recent legend tells of a Nazi agent ascending to the synagogue attic during World War II and trying to stab the Golem, but he died instead.[20] The attic is not open to the general public.[21]

Some Orthodox Jews believe that the Maharal did actually create a golem. The evidence for this belief has been analyzed from an Orthodox Jewish perspective by Shnayer Z. Leiman

Talmudist, Kabbalist, chief rabbi of Prague. Popularly known as the "MaHaRaL", the abbreviation of "Moreinu Harav Rabbi Loew" ("Our teacher Rabbi Loew"). Rabbi Judah Loew is linked to the legend of the Golem.