ר׳ יהודה ליווא בן בצלאל

ר׳ יהודה ליווא בן בצלאל (c.1520–1609), known as המהר״ל מפראג, was a rabbi, communal reformer and one of early modern Judaism’s most original thinkers. Probably born in Poznań to a family with roots in Worms, he served from 1553 to 1573 as Landesrabbiner of Moravia at Nikolsburg, regulating taxation, communal elections, education and limits on luxury. In Prague he founded the Klaus yeshiva, organized Mishnah study and revised the burial society’s statutes. After a period in Poznań, he returned to Prague and eventually became its chief rabbi. In 1592 he received an audience with Emperor Rudolf II; the subject is uncertain, despite later mystical legend. His books joined close rabbinic reading with a comprehensive theology of creation, Torah, exile, redemption and moral character. גור אריה defended and expanded ר׳ שלמה יצחקי’s Torah commentary; דרך חיים, נתיבות עולם, תפארת ישראל, נצח ישראל and באר הגולה became central works of Jewish thought. The famous claim that he created the Prague Golem is a much later literary legend, not a documented episode of his life. He died in Prague and was buried in its Old Jewish Cemetery.