Judah Loew ben Bezalel
Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel | |
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יהודה ליווא בן בצלאל | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | 1512 |
| Died | 17 September 1609 (age 97) |
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| Signature | |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Judaism |
| Buried | Old Jewish Cemetery, Prague |
Judah Loew ben Bezalel (Hebrew: יהודה ליווא בן בצלאל; 1512 – 17 September 1609), also known as Rabbi Loew (alt. Löw, Loewe, Löwe or Levai), the Maharal of Prague (Hebrew: מהר״ל מפראג), or simply the Maharal (the Hebrew acronym of "Moreinu ha-Rav Loew", 'Our Teacher, Rabbi Loew'), was an important Talmudic scholar, Jewish mystic, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who, for most of his life, served as a leading rabbi in the cities of Mikulov in Moravia and Prague in Bohemia.
Loew wrote on Jewish philosophy and Jewish mysticism. His work Gur Aryeh al HaTorah is a supercommentary on Rashi's Torah commentary. He is also the subject of a later legend that he created the Golem of Prague, an animate being fashioned from clay.