(MaHaRa’L of Prague). Tiphereth Yisrael [philosophy]

LOEWE, JUDAH BEN BEZALEL

Daniel Zanetti

Venice

(1599)

FIRST EDITION. Title within historiated woodcut architectural-form arch

Vinograd, Venice 884; Adams J-412

BN WROTE THIS (DELETED - USE FOR FUTURE??) The great Maharal of Prague (whose statue by a non-Jewish sculptor may be viewed in a public square in Prague) devoted a series of theological works to the cycle of the Jewish year. Thus, we have Gevuroth Hashem on Passover, Tiph’ereth Yisrael on Shavu’oth (Pentecost), Netzach Yisrael on the Fast of the Ninth of Av; Ner Mitzvah on Chanukah, and ‘Or Chadash on Purim. Whether Maharal ever got around to penning works to the remaining holidays of New Year, the Day of Atonement, and Sukkoth (Tabernacles), is not known. In any event, no such manuscripts survive. The works of Maharal were a staple of the spiritual diet of the Polish school of chassidism of Pshyskha-Kotzk-Sochaczew. “Shem mi-Shmuel” by R. Samuel Bornstein, second-generation Rebbe of Sochaczew, is replete with references to Maharal. Closer to our own day, Rabbis A. I. Kook, E.E. Dessler, and especially Isaac Hutner, author “Pachad Yitzhak,” made extensive use of Maharal, to whose in-depth theology they are all heavily indebted. In academic circles, “Etudes Maharaliennes” were initiated by the late Prof. André Neher at the University of Strasbourg. Neher, together with his graduate students, Theodore Dreyfus and Benno Gross, produced academic editions of Maharal - in French translation