Rabi Löw | Prague City Line

Rabi Löw – rabbi who constructed the Prague Golem

Jehuda ben Becalel, more likely known as Rabi Löw or by his Hebrew acronym MaHaRaL belongs to very important representatives of Prague Judaism. Not only did he become a very significant rabbi but according to a legend also the constructor of the legendary Prague Golem. Let´s discover more about him now.

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Birth and studies
Rabi Löw was most probably born in German Worms. However, historical sources declare that his birthplace was Poland. Rabbi was born into a very important rabbinic family. According to the extant sources the family had ancestors from Prague. He grew up together with his three brothers whose names were Chajim, Sinaj and Samson. However the historical records are not consistent where Rabbi Löw had studied. Based on certain sources he studied in Poland and Germany, but according to some other records he self-studied with help of books. At any rate he was very talented and education played a very crucial role in his life.

Rabi Löw´s activities
In 1553 the twenty-eight years old Rabi Löw became the chief Moravian provincial rabbi in Mikulov where he was working for long twenty years. Then in 1573 he left Moravia for the city of Prague which he declared his new place of work. Beside Rabbi Löw´s theological activities we also need to mention his pedagogic activities. By all accounts he was sort of a Jewish national teacher. In Prague he held an office of rector in the so-called Klausum which was a private rabbinic academy. He also modified the rules followed by the burial society. He was active here until 1584 when he left to Poland. However, he returned to the capital after a four year break.

He met the Emperor Rudolph II. in Prague in 1592. They both were interested in the science, arts, astrology and alchemy, therefore their meetings were more frequent. After finishing his activities in Prague he left to Poland again and he became the chief rabbi in Poznan. Shortly afterwards rabbi Löw came back to Prague to hold the office of the chief rabbi. Finally, he stayed in Prague until his death in 1609. Rabbi Löw was buried in the old Jewish Cemetery in Prague. His grave is still being visited by people who believe that rabbi will help make their dreams come true. So during your walk in the old Jewish Cemetery you can notice the tiny papers fixed by little stones.

Rabbi Löw had written seventeen books during his life, all of them were published in printed form. As mentioned above, rabbi Löw was very interested in astrology and astronomy. Due to his interest he met the genius of that period Tycho de Brahe and other remarkable personalities.