Netivot ‘olam (Eternal Paths)

Judah Loew

1595

Chapter 14

We read in Proverbs:

If you make your ear attentive to wisdom

And your mind open to discernment;

If you call to understanding

And cry aloud to discernment,

If you seek it as you do silver

And search for it as for treasures.

Then you will understand the fear of the Lord

And attain knowledge of God.

For the Lord grants wisdom;

Knowledge and…

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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.

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Early Modern Rabbis and Intellectuals on the Move

1500–1750

Carrying books and knowledge, itinerant rabbis and scholars traveled between communities, facilitating cultural exchange.

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Early Modern Jewish Languages

1500–1750

As Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews migrated eastward, Yiddish and Ladino emerged as distinct languages. Both languages developed literary traditions, as print became more widespread.