Judah Loew ben Bezalel of Prague

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Judah Loew ben Bezalel of Prague ( Der Hohe Rabbi Loew, known as Maharal mi-Prag, c.1529–1609). Jewish leader and legal expert. Judah Loew served as Chief Rabbi in Posen and Prague. He was the outstanding leader of his day, renowned for his piety, who produced highly influential works on ethics, philosophy, and homiletics. He was an early advocate of the view that ‘the state’ is an unnatural compromise, which will wither away when the true conditions of human freedom are realized. He regarded Israel's vocation to be the proleptic representation of the harmony which will, eventually, be the world's final condition. There has been a revival of interest in his work in the 20th cent., but the well-known legend that he was creator of the Prague golem is unfounded.

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Judah Loew ben Bezalel of Prague

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