The Maharal

Written By Yaacov Dovid Shulman Narrated By Hillel Kapnick The Maharal                                                The very name of the Maharal of Prague inspires deep reverence, yet unfortunately, one of the first associations that comes to mind is the unsubstantiated legend of the golem, the clay body that the Maharal reputedly formed into a living being by Kabbalistic means. Whether or not there is any credence to that story, the fame and impact of the Maharal on his own generation and on all future generations surely rests on a more solid foundation. The Maharal of Prague was a towering giant in Torah and Kabbalah and a fearless leader of European Jewry during the sixteenth century. His seminal works have served as guideposts on the highways of Jewish thought for hundreds of years. In communal affairs, the Maharal guided the affairs of some of the most prominent Jewish communities in Central Europe, sometimes in an official rabbinic capacity, sometimes as a private citizen.