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Systematic work on ethics, the second part of Derekh Hayyim. The work is most often quoted by Rabbis in homiles for its numerous insights into religion and its proper observance. In Ch. 9 the Maharal states "Pronouncing the words of the Torah alone is not the desired goal. The main goal of learning Torah is understanding what is learnt, and it is normally impossible to fully understand any part of the Torah." A concept still in need of digestion by modern Jewry.
R. Judah b. Bezalel Loew (known as Der Hohe Rabbi Loew and Ma-Ha-Ra-L mi-Prag; c. 1525–1609), rabbi, talmudist, moralist, and mathematician. R. Judah Loew was the scion of a noble family which hailed from Worms. His father, R. Bezalel b. Hayyim, was brother-in-law of R. Isaac Klauber of Posen, the grandfather of R. Solomon Luria. R. Judah Loew's older brother, R. Hayyim b. Bezalel, and his two younger brothers, Sinai and Samson, were also scholars of repute. (According to one tradition, however, Judah was the youngest son.) His teachers are unknown. From 1553 to 1573 he was Landesrabbiner of Moravia in Mikulov (Nikolsburg) after which he went to Prague. There he founded a yeshivah called Die Klaus, organized circles for the study of the Mishnah, to which he attached great importance, and regulated the statutes of the hevra kaddisha, founded in 1564. He remained in Prague until 1584, and from then until 1588 served as rabbi in Moravia (according to others, in Posen), eventually returning to Prague. On the third of Adar 5352 (Feb. 16, 1592) he was granted an interview by Emperor Rudolph II, but it is not known what its purpose was. There seems little basis for the belief that it was due to their common interest in alchemy. Shortly afterward he left Prague for Posen, where he became chief rabbi, and several years later again returned to Prague, becoming its chief rabbi and remaining there until his death.
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