Maharal Of Prague
Rabbi Yehudah Loew ben Bezalel ( in 1512 - in 1609 ), said "Our teacher, Rabbi Loew (Loew Morenou HaRav), abbreviated Maharal (name by which he is best known) is one of the largest Aharonim.
Born in 1512 in Posen , it is time rabbi Nikolsburg. He asks several times for the post of Chief Rabbi of Prague , but that is elected "in 1606 at the age of 80 years! He died almost a century old, surrounded by a legend of miraculous rabbi. His tomb is at the Jewish Cemetery in Prague.
He was versed in both the major texts of Judaism in the secular sciences, especially mathematics. He had close ties with the astronomer Tycho Brahe , whose pupil, David Ganz, was his assistant. It was following the discovery of it he expressed the famous formula, that in no case the Torah and science can not be in conflict, since their area is not the same.
There was also a great defender of rabbinic literature allegorical, the Midrash , particularly in his book Beer hagola, translated into French under the title The wells of Exile is known for giving a comprehensive understanding of the Haggadah (Part "history" of the Talmud). Most commentators prefer not to disclose this part of "hidden" from the Talmud. Simplified way we can explain that his method is to transcribe the words of the Haggadah as a "concept". These are not the "words of wisdom" but "wise words" he said.
Summary |
Le Golem
His name has been associated with the legend of the Golem , famous in Jewish culture of Eastern Europe, clay humanoid creature that moves if he affixes the ineffable name of God. According to some, it would have been created by the Maharal to protect against the Jews of the ghetto too many pogroms or, as others, following the urgings of his friend Mordecai Meisel , very sorrow for not having children.
What is sure now is that the two main sources of this story are false (sources: researchers Museum in Prague). But the legend is associated with the history of the city, petty golem memory "are legion.
Sixty years later, history was revived and popularized by Yudl Rosenberg. One finds echoes in the tales of the Brothers Grimm , and less directly in the Frankenstein of Mary Shelley or the Fantasia of Walt Disney (The Sorcerer's Apprentice).
Reforms significant
The Maharal has revolutionized the teaching and study in yeshivas (Talmudic institutes) with an emphasis on learning about texts: Torah first Mishna then, and after only Gemara , to understand each serving the previous one. He also insists on the state of mind necessary for the study must be unselfish. His approach is more than the original method of learning found in the Talmud (Sources: tiferet israel c. 56, Netiv HaTorah Arye gur). This method will be found in many great thinkers such as Rabbi Samson Rephael Hirsh. Whether a practical point of view or methodical is characterized by clarity and integrity. He undertook a huge work in defense of the oral Torah, especially in Beer Hagola to go to their former merits.
Works
- Hagola Beer ("The Well of exile," referring to Bereshit 26:15 ) diaspora we have lost the values essential to understanding the processes of our sages in the Gemara , the Maharal account therefore be addressed.
- Gvourot Hashem ("The High-facts of the Lord"), Treaty on the Exodus from Egypt
- Gur Aryeh ("Young Lion", referring to Bereshit 49:9 ), commentary entirely based on Rashi of Troyes
- Tiferet Israel ("The Splendor of Israel") deals with the giving of the Torah
- Ner Mitzvah ("the torch of commendable") commentary on certain passages in the Book of Daniel and the Feast of Hanukkah (translated and annotated by Benjamin Gross )
- Gold H'adach ("new light") comment on the Book of Esther and the Feast of Purim
- Derech H'am ("The Way of Life") comment on the Treaty Mishnaic Pirke Avot (Ethics of the Fathers)
- Netzach Israel ("The Eternity of Israel") Treaty on the Jewish people historiosophy
- H'idouch Agadot ("comment on the Haggadah ") comment on the passages of exegesis hermeneutics speaks the Gemara
- Netivot Olam ("the paths of ancient times") Treaty on Jewish ethics, and the improvement of moral qualities
Bibliography
- Andre Neher : The Well of The Exile, dialectic theology of the Maharal of Prague, Albin Michel, 1962
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