Creator Bio
Judah Loew
1520–1609
Known as the Maharal of Prague, Judah Loew ben Bezalel spent twenty years as rabbi in Moravia, moving in 1573 to the Bohemian capital, where he established an institution of advanced rabbinic learning, the “Kloyz.” After a brief period as rabbi in Poznań, his likely birthplace, he returned to Prague and served as its rabbi from the late 1590s until his death. Judah Loew proposed educational reform emphasizing students’ structured progression to gradually more complex texts and opposed casuistry (pilpul) in Talmud study. After his death, he came to be viewed as the legendary creator of a Golem, a creature animated from clay, and as spiritual father of some Hasidic circles.
Entries in the Posen Library by This Creator
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Gevurot ha-shem (Mighty Acts of the Lord): On Passover
And we may remove the [Seder] table, so that the young child should express wonder at why we are removing the table; for surely it would be appropriate to eat now that we are already leaning…
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Ner mitsvah (Light of the Commandment): On Hanukkah
And this, too, must be said, that the main reason for establishing the days of Hanukkah is because they [the Jews] were victorious over the Greeks. However, it did not appear that the victory was…
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Netivot ‘olam (Eternal Paths)
We read in Proverbs:If you make your ear attentive to wisdomAnd your mind open to discernment;If you call to understandingAnd cry aloud to discernment,If you seek it as you do silverAnd…
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Netsaḥ Yisra’el (The Strength of Israel)
It has been clarified for you that the survival of Israel in their state of exile depends on their unity and their connection with each other, and their separation from the idolatrous nations. It is…
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Tif’eret Yisra’el (The Beauty of Israel)
Since animals do not use these faculties [strength, speed, or cunning] for the purpose of [gaining] their livelihood, this shows that that which a man does with the strength of his body, and the sweat…
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Gur aryeh (The Lion’s Whelp): On Rashi’s Commentary on the Pentateuch
“R. Isaac said, etc.” In Genesis Rabbah it says: “Even though there is not a single superfluous narrative in the Torah—not even ‘the sister of Lotan was Timna’”—for it says in Sanhedrin Chapter ḥelek…
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Derekh ha-ḥayim (The Way of Life)
Avot 5:6: Ten things were created on the eve of the Sabbath at twilight: The mouth of the earth, the mouth of the well, the mouth of [Balaam’s] ass, the rainbow, the manna, the rod, the shamir-worm…
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Be’er ha-golah (The Well of the Exile)
The sixth well contains mighty waters, ascending ever higher and prevailing, covering hills and mountain peaks, and turning into a stream breaking forth and flowing on all sides—a…