The Maharal of Prague philosopher, mystic, protector of the Jews & maybe creator of legendary golem

Moharainu Harav Yehuda Leow (Ben Betzalel) – Maharal of Prague Born 1512 (or 1522) in Posen, passed in 1609, 18 Elul He studied by Maharshal – according to Chabad He married Perel, daughter of Shmelke The Rich, a prominent citizen of Prague. He had six daughters & one son, his most celebrated student is the Tosfos Yom Tov, Channaya Yom Tov Lippa Heller. First, he was the Chief Rabbi of Nikolsberg in 1553 & then of all of Moravia. He moved to Prague in 1573 & was involved in writing & publishing many books, the first of which was Gur Aryeh, on Rashi in 1578. He wrote in defense of Rashi who put Chazal front & center, one could even call it the philosophy of the Chazal, with Rashi as an arbitrator of how to translate Chazal into a viable Torah commentary to be taken seriously by Jews of all ages & not treated like a second-class citizen; not by Christians & certainly not by other Jews (Lehavdil). A couple examples: 1. Bereisheet – why the Torah started from Bereisheet & not with the first Mitzva 2. Ki Tavo - arguing with the RA’M Rabbi Eliyahu Mizrachi about a field that is given over in entirety to BiIkurim. At the time he wrote, Antisemitism was widespread. For example, in Moravia Jews could not live in royal cities and church-led antisemitism was an issue. Like Rashi who defended Jews against Christians and their form of Jewish outreach, the Maharal defended Chazal. He also had to defend Chazal from Jewish critics - like Azarya de Rossi