Table Of ContentRabbinic Theology and Jewish
Intellectual History
Rabbi Loew (the Maharal) of Prague remains one of the most influential and
prolific Jewish thinkers of his time. Widely considered one of the fathers of
Hassidic thought and a harbinger of modern Jewish philosophy, his life and
work have retained their influence and remain prevalent today.
Adopting a multidisciplinary approach, this book ranges from an analysis
of the historical background to Maharal’s thought, to examining the rele-
vance of this thought in the Modern Era, before addressing the popular cul-
tural and folkloristic reception of Maharal’s impact upon modern Western
culture. This book presents a new understanding offamiliar material andwill
be an invaluable asset to students and scholars of modern and early-modern
Jewish history and intellectual thought.
Meir Seidler is senior lecturer in the Department of Jewish Studies at the
Ariel University in Samaria, Israel. His childhood in Prague acquainted him
withthefolkloresurroundingtheMaharal,whilehispositioninacademiahas
enabled him to upgrade a childhood memory to an academic endeavour.
Routledge Jewish Studies Series
Series Editor: Oliver Leaman, University of Kentucky
Studies, which are interpreted to cover the disciplines of history, sociology,
anthropology, culture, politics, philosophy, theology, religion, as they relate to
Jewish affairs. The remit includes texts which have as their primary focus
issues, ideas, personalities and events of relevance to Jews, Jewish life and the
concepts which have characterized Jewish culture both in the past and today.
The series is interested in receiving appropriate scripts or proposals.
Medieval Jewish Philosophy Philosophy of the Talmud
An Introduction Hyam Maccoby
Dan Cohn-Sherbok
From Synagogue to Church: the
Facing the Other Traditional Design
The Ethics of Emmanuel Levinas Its Beginning, its Definition, its End
Edited by Seán Hand John Wilkinson
Moses Maimonides Hidden Philosophy of Hannah
Oliver Leaman Arendt
Margaret Betz Hull
A User’s Guide to Franz
Rosenzweig’s Star of Redemption Deconstructing the Bible
Norbert M. Samuelson Abraham ibn Ezra’s Introduction to
the Torah
On Liberty
Irene Lancaster
Jewish Philosophical Perspectives
Edited by Daniel H. Frank ImageoftheBlackinJewishCulture
A Historyof the Other
Referring to God
Abraham Melamed
Jewish and Christian Philosophical
and Theological Perspectives From Falashas to Ethiopian Jews
Edited by Paul Helm Daniel Summerfield
Judaism, Philosophy, Culture Philosophy in a Time of Crisis
Selected Studies by E. I. J. Don Isaac Abravanel: Defenderof
Rosenthal the Faith
Erwin Rosenthal Seymour Feldman
Jews, Muslims and Mass media The Jewish-chinese Nexus
Mediating the ‘Other’ A Meeting of Civilizations
Edited by Tudor Parfitt with Yulia Edited by M. Avrum Ehrlich
Egorova
German-jewish Popular Culture
Jews of Ethiopia Before the Holocaust
The Birth of an Elite Kafka’s Kitsch
Edited by Emanuela Trevisan Semi David Brenner
and Tudor Parfitt
The Jews as a Chosen People
Tradition and Transformation
Art in Zion
S. Leyla Gürkan
The Genesis of National Art in
Jewish Palestine
Philosophy and Rabbinic Culture
Dalia Manor
Jewish Interpretation and
ControversyinMedievalLanguedoc
Hebrew Language and Jewish
Gregg Stern
Thought
David Patterson Jewish Blood
Reality and Metaphor in History,
Contemporary Jewish
Religion and Culture
Philosophy
Edited by Mitchell B. Hart
An Introduction
Irene Kajon Jewish Education and History
Continuity, Crisis and Change
Antisemitism and Modernity
Moshe Aberbach; Edited and
Innovation and Continuity
translated by David Aberbach
Hyam Maccoby
Jews and Judaism in Modern China
Jews and India
M. Avrum Ehrlich
History, Image, Perceptions
Yulia Egorova Political Theologies in the Holy
Land
Jewish Mysticism and Magic Israeli Messianism and its Critics
An Anthropological Perspective David Ohana
Maureen Bloom
Collaboration with the Nazis
Maimonides’ Guide to the The Holocaust and After
Perplexed Edited by Roni Stauber
Silence And Salvation
The Global Impact of the Protocols
Donald McCallum
of the Elders of Zion
Muscular Judaism ACentury-Old Myth
The Jewish Body and the Politics of Edited by Esther Webman
Regeneration
The Holocaust and Representations
Todd Samuel Presner
of The Jews
Jewish Cultural Nationalism History and Identity in the Museum
David Aberbach K. Hannah Holtschneider
War and Peace in Jewish Tradition God, Jews and the Media
From the Biblical World to the Religion and Israel’s Media
Present Yoel Cohen
Edited by Yigal Levin and Amnon
Rabbinic theology and Jewish
Shapira
Intellectual History
Jesus among the Jews The Great Rabbi Loewof Prague
Representation and Thought Edited by Meir Seidler
Edited by Neta Stahl
Rabbinic Theology and Jewish
Intellectual History
The Great Rabbi Loew of Prague
Edited by
Meir Seidler
Firstpublished2013
byRoutledge
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©2013MeirSeidlerforselectionandeditorialmatter;individual
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BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
RabbinictheologyandJewishintellectualhistory:thegreatRabbiLoew
ofPrague/editedbyMeirSeidler.
p.cm.--(RoutledgeJewishstudiesseries)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1.JudahLoewbenBezalel,ca.1525-1609--Teachings.2.Rabbis--Czech
Republic--Prague--Biography.3.Prague(CzechRepublic)--Biography.
I.Seidler,Meir.
BM755.J8R332012
296.8033092--dc23
[B]
2012006224
ISBN:978-0-415-50360-0(hbk)
TypesetinTimes
byTaylor&FrancisBooks
This book is dedicated to the beloved memory of my parents,
Ladislaus and Judith Seidler (born Quastler) z”l, who having
escaped the Holocaust spent more than 20 difficult post-World
War II years in Maharal’s Prague in another of its dark periods,
when Communism suppressed every spark of Jewish life there.
Contents
Contributors xi
Acknowledgements xiv
Introduction 1
MEIRSEIDLER
PARTI
Netivot Olam – paths of the world: the historical
background 9
1 An emperor at the Prague Castle: cosmopolitan society, politics and
culture in Bohemia during Rudolf II’s reign 11
JAROSLAVPÁNEK
PARTII
Gur Aryeh – in the Lion’s Den: Maharal’s Weltanschauung 31
2 Between rationalism and mysticism: Maharal’s place in Jewish
thought 33
BINYAMINGROSS
3 The Love of God and the Fear of God in the thought of the
Maharal of Prague 44
JOSEPHELKOUBY
4 Maharal of Prague on time 54
DOVSCHWARTZ
5 Maharal against Azariah de’ Rossi: the other side of
scepticism 65
GIUSEPPEVELTRI
x Contents
6 Atthemethodologicalcrossroad:thedisputewithEliezerAshkenazi 77
ANDRÉNEHER
7 The relationship between Halakha, philosophy and
education in Maharal’s teachings: Maharal’s attitude
towards the Halakhic Kitzur 86
NERIAGUTTEL
8 Sexual restraint and male identity in rabbinic ethics and Maharal’s
further elaborations: applying Foucault’s idea of subjectivation to
Jewish legal and ethical texts 102
DAVIDBIERNOT
PARTIII
Or Chadash – new light: anticipating the birth pangs of
modernity 131
9 Modernity and religion: new explorations in the light of the
‘union of opposites’ 133
AVINOAMROSENAK
10 The Torah and the worldly sciences in the teaching of the
Maharal of Prague and Chabad Chassidism 162
SHIMONCOWEN
11 Maharal and religious coercion 176
MEIRSEIDLER
12 The counter political-theology of Maharal of Prague and the
formation of modern orthodox Judaism 187
DAVIDSOROTZKIN
PARTIV
Derekh HaChayim – the way of life: Maharal, alias Rabbi Loew,
in modern Western Culture 211
13 The Golem of Prague and his ‘master’: from legends to
popular movies 213
KLAUSDAVIDOWICZ
Name Index 221
Subject Index 225
