Caroline Glick Explains………How Netanyahu Turned Oct. 7 Into a Stunning Geopolitical Victory

 

 

 Caroline Glick delivered a powerful speech at our fourth annual Pulse of Israel conference at the Begin Center in Jerusalem, explaining what she sees as one of the most overlooked stories of this war: how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu transformed Israel’s darkest moment into an extraordinary geopolitical opportunity.  

We had originally invited Prime Minister Netanyahu himself to address our conference. He was scheduled to participate, but at the last minute was unable to make it. Instead, he asked his close adviser Caroline Glick to speak in his place, and she delivered a message everyone needs to hear. 

 After the Simchat Torah, October 7th massacre, Israel appeared more vulnerable than at almost any moment in its modern history. Hamas attacked from Gaza, Hezbollah opened another front from Lebanon, Iran and its proxies threatened Israel across the region from multiple fronts, and enormous international pressure mounted on Israel to stop the war without any semblance of victory or even deterrence. 

 Yet Netanyahu ensured that Israel fought back. Glick explains the strategy behind Netanyahu’s leadership and how Israel gradually transformed the strategic reality of the Middle East, degrading Hamas, delivering devastating blows to Hezbollah, confronting Iran directly, and demonstrating that the Jewish state would no longer simply absorb attacks from Iran’s ring of fire. 

 But her message goes beyond military achievements. She explained Netanyahu’s secret behind the strategy that led Israel to fight the war while withstanding the tremendous international pressure - the economy. For decades, Israel repeatedly won on the battlefield only to surrender strategic achievements under diplomatic pressure. 

The lesson of this war is different: military victories must be translated into lasting geopolitical victories, that are only attainable with a strong economy. Whether you support Netanyahu or criticize him, Caroline Glick’s analysis of Netanyahu’s policies, what has happened since October 7th, and where Israel goes from here, is essential viewing. 

 Am Yisrael Chai!

OK, Now This is Cute!

Canadian Resistance Army - Lake Ontario (Official Music Video)

Preparation & Inspiration For The Yomim Noraim {Yeshiva Kinor Dovid - Harmony}

 

הספר שלו יותר חשוב מהאחיעזר שלי!": הסיפור המצמרר של הגר"ש אלתר – והמפגש עם מנהיג הדור הגרמ"ה הירש

 

Rebbetzen Tziporah

Dear friends,

This is the last letter I’ll be sending from Eretz Yisrael. The next one will be from the USA!

Rosh Hashanah is coming, and we all know the language of the day: Who will live and who will not? Obviously, we all want to be written into the Book of Life. But what does it really mean to choose life? To make it more complicated, the Machzor tells you, “Each man’s hand signs.” This means that Hashem is in partnership with you. You write the script together with Him.

THE WHERE, WHEN, AND CHARACTER IN THE BOOK YOU ARE WRITING

The Sfas Emes speaks about three dimensions of life: Olam, Shanah, and Nefesh – place, time, and soul.

Olam – where we are.

I am in Eretz Yisrael. You can be here too, wherever you are.

Eretz Yisrael is called Eretz HaChaim, the Land of Life.

When I first came here years ago, I remember stepping off the plane and thinking, “It’s just earth.” And then I came to Yerushalayim, and somehow I understood that it wasn't. You live with the drama of Hashem’s intervention daily. You would have seen it on October 7, when a flow of tragedy, disasters, and open miracles were there wherever you looked, and on October 8, when we saw how the capacity to feel the bond that makes us a nation was in every breath you took.

And wherever we are, we can do that. We can choose to live within the awareness that Hashem is present in our lives. Rebbe Nachman used to say, “Wherever I’m going, I’m going to Eretz Yisrael.” He surely knew that if the train said Minsk, the last stop wasn’t Tel Aviv, but he made Eretz Yisrael his inner home, and so can you.

Shanah – the time we are given.

Rosh Hashanah is the head of the year. Hashem gave it the energy that lets you look at places in your life that are hard to find. It is a time when things are not yet clear, when so much is hidden. And perhaps that is exactly what we are being asked to do: to look inward and ask, How do I want to live this coming year?

And then there is Nefesh — who you really are.

We are so much more than our jobs, our bodies, our accomplishments, or even the things we are struggling with. Deep inside each of us is a part that wants to do good, to connect, to give, to become something greater.

That is the voice of Yaakov.

When we hear the shofar, perhaps we can listen for that voice – the voice that reminds us who we really are beneath all the noise.

You don't have to become someone else this Rosh Hashanah. You don't have to transform your whole life overnight. The nefesh of a Jew is different from anyone else's – it's awakened specifically by the shofar. The shofar isn't going to awaken anyone else's nefesh the same way. So – in the time you're living in now, there's a self in you that can be awakened. Awakened to what?

Here's something I find interesting: when you hear the shofar, the voice you're really hearing is Yaakov's voice. The Torah tells us that when Yaakov came into Yitzchak dressed as Eisav, Yitzchak said, "Hakol kol Yaakov, v'hayadayim yedei Eisav" – the voice is the voice of Yaakov, but the hands are the hands of Eisav. The voice is us – what's "the voice"? The voice is your ability to take your thoughts and your inner reality and bring them out. That's how the shofar will speak to you.

Some of you will already be able to hear the shofar this way; if not, try – in your mind – to make a commitment that when you actually hear it, you'll hear the voice of Yaakov within it.

We have our desire to do good – everyone wants to do good – and we have our desire to achieve things of meaning. These are the higher parts of who we are, and that's analogous to Yaakov's voice. But they can pull against each other: the drive to give is, by its nature, outward and expressive; the drive toward self-discipline pulls the other way. When you can hold both at once – that's the voice of Yaakov: it contains both.

I don't know your life the way you do – try to hear the voice of Yaakov within yourself. And remember: all the feelings that say, "I reject this, I don't want this" – that's not the true self. The true self is what we've been speaking about.

Breath and the Two Pipes

When you breathe in air, it echoes the breath Hashem breathed into Adam – the nishmat chaim, the breath of life. You have two pipes in your neck: one is the esophagus, where food goes down; the other is the windpipe, where air goes. These two pipes are analogous to the two drives in a person, because each person is a whole world. Your "food" side wants more, wants to experience, wants to taste – and that can be good or not. But your "windpipe" side is only good – and that part, the part that's only good, can transform the other and put it to use for the good.

Part of Rosh Hashanah is that Hashem determines what you'll have – physically, materially, and in terms of time. There should be an inner commitment, when you hear the voice of the shofar: yes, yes – this can work for me.

One of the released hostages stood under his chuppah and said to Hashem: "You were always with me – You were with me when it was cold at night, You were with me when I was afraid, You are with me every moment." And he made a resolution: "I don't feel worthy to stand here under my own chuppah – but I'm going to light my candles anyway." Others there wanted to say the same.

So when you read this letter, you don't have to get up and become him – you have to be you. But try to hear the voice; you'll hear it soon, from the shofar.

Just listen.

Listen for that deeper voice inside you, and let it tell you: Yes. This is who I am. This is how I want to live.

May Hashem give all of us a year of life – not only life in the physical sense, but a year of real, meaningful, connected life.

With lots of love,
Tziporah

The Jerusalem Moat—In Five Minutes

 

Pre-Emptive Scare About a "Storm"

Baruch Hashem, it turned into a Bracha, giving us cooler weather going into our lingering summer and early Autumn temperatures.

However, the "Storm" we should be thinking about is Rosh HaShana, both the First and Second Days....... leading into the coming Ten Days.

Reb Neuberger: NITZAVIM-VAYEILECH

PROTECTION FROM ABOVE 

If you have lived in Israel over the past few years, you have heard the loud buzzing sound which comes from your phone warning of an impending missile attack. It is jarring, ominous and goes right to the solar plexus.

My wife and I are currently in the U. S. Recently, we were sitting and talking when suddenly that same sound came out of our phone. But wait! Are we in Israel or America? What is going on?

On the phone was a notice: “Imminent Threat Alert: Tornado warning!”

My friends, wherever we are, we are surrounded by danger!

What is the Torah’s guidance?

“All the nations surround me. In the Name of Hashem I cut them down!” (Tehillim 118)

This is the Torah’s prescription: “B’shaim Hashem.” Everything we think, say and do has to be “b’shaim Hashem.” This will protect us and this is all we need to protect us.

At bedtime, we say a series of powerful tefillos designed to invoke protection at night. “B’shaim Hashem … In the Name of Hashem, G-d of Israel, may Michael be at my right, Gavriel at my left, Uriel before me and Raphael behind me.” We ask Hashem to send Malachim to protect us from four sides.

But what about protection from above? What about “al roshi?”

When it comes to dangers from above, only the Shechina Itself can protect us. Just as the blessing of rain comes down directly from Hashem, it appears that only Hashem can rescue us from dangers which rain down from the sky, whether the danger is a tornado or a hostile missile.

Rosh Hashanah is a few days away. This year and next year – for two years in a row! – Rosh Hashanah will fall on Shabbos. We have mentioned previously what this means. When Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos, we lack the benefit of the shofar. This is extremely important, even frightening. We have discussed how, historically, a Rosh Hashanah which falls on Shabbos has preceded a year which is either catastrophic or triumphant. 

To give two examples: the Rosh Hashanah before October 7, 2023 fell out on Shabbos! But also, the Rosh Hashanah before Am Yisroel entered the Holy Land in the days of Yehoshua fell out on Shabbos. It all seems to depend on how we keep Shabbos, because adherence to hilchos Shabbos is what prevents us from blowing shofar.

For the next two years, there will be enormous pressure to daven with full hearts to Hashem to save us, pressure to honor and keep Shabbos in the deepest way, because our entire future apparently depends on the seriousness of our commitment to Shabbos.

Since we have no shofar, we must become our own shofaros and cry out with broken hearts from the depths of our being to Hashem to save us and to save the world which He created.

“Guardian of Israel, protect the remnant of Israel. Do not let us be destroyed, those who proclaim ‘Shema Yisroel!’” (Tachanun)

It seems clear that the next two years will be climactic in the history of the world. We are nearing the Seventh Millenium, which the Torah tells us will be the Millenium of Shabbos, when the entire world will be enveloped in the sanctity of Shabbos. In Mitzraim, the Geula came early because Hashem saw that His Children were about to be swallowed up in the darkness which was taking over the entire world. Now, as darkness descends once again on mankind, we need to cry out like a shofar in broken tones of anguish and beg that Hashem will shine upon us the Great Light which will illuminate the days of Redemption.

“I raise my eyes to the mountains. From where will my help come? My help is from Hashem, Maker of Heaven and Earth.” (Tehillim 121)

“The voice of my beloved: Behold it came suddenly, leaping over mountains, skipping over hills….” (Shir ha Shirim)

“May the light of the moon be like the light of the sun and the light of the seven days of creation …. And may the words be fulfilled: they shall seek Hashem, their G-d and Dovid, their King. Amen!” (Kiddush Levana)

May we be worthy of the Complete Redemption soon in our days!

 

Tornado Warning

 

GLOSSARY

Al roshi: from Above

B’shaim Hashem: In the Name of G-d

Geula: Redemption

Malachim: angels

Mitzraim: Ancient Egypt

Yehoshua: Joshua

Don't Let Go! | Rabbi Yisroel Besser

 

Overcoming Materialism For the New Year & Rosh Hashana that Falls on Shabbos

 

Falsehood in Selichos & Tefilla

 

The "Maharal MiPrague" Elul 18

 

Rav Yehuda Lowy zt"l

הרב יהודה בן בצלאל לאווי זצ"ל

            Maharal MiPrague

Father's Name: Betzalel Lowy

 Elul 18, 5369 / 1609
          

The Maharal was born in Pozna, Poland in the year 5272 (1511) to a distinguished family of talmidei chachamim originating from Vermiza (Worms). He was the youngest of four sons (see below).

His father was Rav Betzalel (of Worms) ben Rav Chaim ben Rav Betzalel, descendants of Rav Yehuda Levai HaZakein, the elder of Prague, who hailed from a family of good pedigree. Their lineage traced back to Bustenai ben Chaninai of Bavel and to Dovid HaMelech.

THE BRACHAH FOR HIS BIRTH

The Megillas Yuchsin (p.19) relates that Rav Betzalel of Worms, the father of the Maharal, had two brothers, Rav Yaakov and Rav Tzvi Helman, who were sent to study under the Maharshal, Rav Shlomo Luria (1510-1573). When Rav Betzalel complained to his father, Rav Chaim, why he alone was not also sent off to study in Poland his father responded that for his shimush – the service and the care he took of him – he would be blessed with four luminaries: The Maharal of Prague; Rav Chaim, Av Beis Din Friedberg and author of Sefer HaChaim and Iggeres HaTiyul (6 Sivan); Rav Sinai, Av Beis Din Nikolsburg and chief rabbi of Mehren (5 Elul); and Rav Shimshon, Av Beis Din Kremnitz.

RABBINICAL POSTS AND THE FOUNDING OF THE KLOIZ IN PRAGUE

The Megillas Yuchsin (p.21, in the footnotes from Tzemach Dovid by his talmid Rav Dovid Ganz) relates that the Maharal was Rav and Av Beis Din of Mehren (Moravia) for approximately twenty years. Following his time there, he founded a yeshivah in Prague, along with his famed kloiz, for a period of “eleven years and four years.” There is speculation as to what “and four years” is referring to. It could be an allusion to his departure from Prague, as he returned to Poznan (Posen, Poland) to assume the post of Av Beis Din and Rosh Yeshivah on 4 Iyar 5352 (1592) and ultimately returned to Prague, where he passed away at a ripe old age of over seventy years.

From his published derashos we know that the Maharal delivered the derashos “Derush L’Shabbos Shuvah” in Prague in 5344, and “Al HaTorah V’Hamitzvos” in Pozna in Sivan, 5352.

DERECH HA’LIMUD

The Maharal was a strong proponent of the derech ha’limud as it was in earlier times of Chazal, and went to great lengths to reinstate this path of learning, especially the study of mishnayos and chazarah, the practice of constant reviewing and revising.

He had a major influence on many talmidim and disciples. Prominent among them, Rav Yom Tov Lipman Heller authored his magnum opus, the commentary Tosafos Yom Tov on Mishnayos while under the tutelage of his mentor and master the Maharal to study the Mishnah. As Rav Heller testifies in the introduction:

“The Maharal toiled and taught Torah, and especially Gemara, in yeshivah to the masses as is well publicized. Afterwards, he demanded of us to seize the study of Mishnah until we established groups to study daily chapters of mishnayos and review them over and over again. This was a Divine revelation to introduce this like a law that cannot be repealed. Not only here in Prague, where the Maharal’s influence and opinion is law, but holy communities and kehillos far and wide accepted upon themselves [this method of study] to teach Bnei Yisrael. . . Greater is the power of our great master and teacher [the Maharal] than that of the holy master and teacher [Rav Yehuda HaNasi, author of the Mishnah] . . . because of all this [that each generation understands less without commentary]. 

For this very reason, when we accepted upon ourselves to fulfill the will and word of our master, Tiferes Yisrael, our mentor and teacher Rav Loewe, to teach and study the Mishnah in Klal Yisrael, the manner and way of study was not the same as in previous generations, without any explanations or reasons given for these laws. Rather, the Mishnah was learned together with a commentary and explanation . . . 

This is what I meant when I stated earlier that the power and strength of our master and teacher’s [the Maharal’s] words are stronger than [Rav Yehuda HaNasi, author of the Mishnah] those of the holy rebbe – Rabbeinu HaKadosh. This is because the study of Mishnah according to the way of our master and teacher [the Maharal] is done with a commentary and explanations, and this is now considered as if you are engaged in studying the Gemara together with the Mishnah . . . and I attached myself to one of these study groups. . .”

Afterwards, Rav Yom Tov Lipman describes in great detail all the difficulties he had when studying the Mishnah that led him to author the Tosafos Yom Tov, all thanks to the influence of his rebbe and mentor, the Maharal (from the Introduction to Tosafos Yom Tov on the Mishnah).

Similarly, Rav Shlomo Ephraim Luntschitz (1550-1619) writes: “I returned [to the old ways] and saw the great benefit from studying mishnayos, which the gaon Rav Loewe, of our kehilla of Prague, established and founded in all of the shuls and batei knesset to study one chapter each day with chavrusas after davening” (Amudei Sheish, Mosad Amud HaTorah).

The Maharal bewailed and bemoaned again and again what he felt was the major failure of his generation in Torah study: the lack of study of Mishnah and the failure to do chazarah and review.

Two examples of his lament are translated below:

STUDYING MISHNAH AND REVIEWING YOUR STUDIES

“We need to analyze the way of learning in this generation . . . and the truth is that – and believe me that I do not say these things because I hold myself to be worthy of rebuking others . . . I too am guilty of the same faults, as I started out studying just like them and that is why I realized my great shortcomings with which I find fault with myself – none of us reviews their learning in order to fulfill his studies, and they fail to review neither the mikrah, nor the Mishnah, nor the Talmud. . . we fail to worry about the statement of Chazal (Sanhedrin 99a) regarding the pasuk (Bamidbar 15:31): “He shamed and disparaged the word of G-d.” 

Rabbi Nosson said this refers to whoever fails to pay attention to the Mishnah . . . Rabbi Yehoshua ben Karcha said this refers to whoever fails to review his studies; he is compared to someone who sows seed and fails to reap . . . The reason why one who fails to review his studies is compared to someone who sows and plants seed and fails to reap is because when a seed is planted in the ground, it is nullified and absorbed therein. 

Similarly, the words of Torah that we receive are absorbed in the body and are therefore not spiritual and intellectually divested from the material, because man possesses a body and receives and absorbs it. When he reviews his studies, has completely divested the gross physical material form from his learning. This can be compared to someone who reaps the grain cutting it from the ground; this process is separating the wheat from the ground (Derech HaChaim, Avos 6:6).

THE MAHARAL’S PROMISE

“Whosoever separates himself from this false path [of pilpul] and turns himself and others together with him towards the true, straightforward path, regarding him it was said (Yirmiyahu 15:19): “If you bring an honorable person from a glutton, you will be like My own mouth,” and the Torah shall shield and protect him in this world and the next.” (Derech HaChaim Avos 6:6)

BATTLE AGAINST YAYIN NESECH

During the Maharal’s tenure as Rav in Mehrin (Moravia), he fought strongly against one of the major issues of his day: the consumption of non-kosher wine, known as yayin nesech. In his sefer Gevuros Hashem, as well as in his drashah on Torah and mitzvos, he cautions against this practice again and again.

From Hilchos Yayin Nesech V’Issuro, published at the end of Gevuros Hashem:

“Even though the prohibition [against drinking non-kosher wine known as stam yenam] is rabbinic in origin, the rabbis were extremely strict regarding this; more strict even than other Torah prohibitions, since they forbade us to even derive any benefit from such wine, a stricture that demonstrates the severity and gravity of the prohibition. Yet some people are so brazen that they even willfully transgress by making Kiddush and Havdalah using such forbidden wine. Others add even worse criminal behavior by drinking such wine and using it for the Four Cups on Pesach at the Passover Seder! . . . The main reason the rabbis decreed a prohibition on yayin nesech (Shabbos 17b) is to prevent intermarriage and assimilation . . . this is the elevated stature and purpose of being a Jewish nation separated from the gentiles and not to be like them . . . This was primarily realized by our redemption from Egypt, and he who takes gentile wine and uses it for the four cups at the Seder is actively erasing the difference between Yisrael and the gentiles, because the four cups correspond to the four expressions of redemption.”

MI SHEBERACH

Among the enactments against stam yenam and yayin nesech, the Maharal instituted the recitation of the Mi Sheberach prayers for those who did not drink the non-kosher wines. He also instituted a Mi Sheberach prayer for those who safeguard their mouths and refrain from talking in shul as well as a Yehi Ratzon prayer against informers. The Tosafos Yom Tov was a disciple and talmid of the Maharal, and many clearly see his rebbe’s influence in the Tosafos Yom Tov’s famed Mi Sheberach prayer, also for those who refrain from talking in shul.

COMMUNAL WORK AND HIS MEETING WITH THE EMPEROR

From more than one source we know that the Maharal met with Roman Emperor Rudolph II, but the reason for the meeting and the matters under discussion remain a mystery to this day. Some speculate that the Emperor was fascinated with Kabbalah and that they discussed Jewish mysticism and philosophy.

The Megillas Yuchsin relates (ibid) that he met with Emperor Rudolph on Sunday, 3 Adar, he was well received and that they discussed secret matters. This story is also related by the Chida in Shem HaGedolim: “I received a tradition from an Ashkenazi rabbi that the Maharal did awesome things based on what was revealed to him from heaven. Thus it came about that he spoke with the Emperor privately for about half an hour. He showed great respect towards the Maharal, as it says in Tzemach Dovid.”

HIS SEFARIM

The Maharal was a prolific writer, author and publisher for his time. He was perhaps the first in Ashkenazi lands to publish a super/meta-commentary on Rashi’s commentary to the Torah, named Gur Aryeh.

Gur Aryeh (www.HebrewBooks.org/42841 thru 42848 in 8 volumes) was groundbreaking, and was followed by the Maharal’s other famous works on Jewish philosophy:
Gevuros Hashem on Pesach (www.HebrewBooks.org/44296),
Tiferes Yisrael on Matan Torah and Shavuos (www.HebrewBooks.org/42865 -42867 in 3 volumes),
Netzach Yisrael on Tisha B’Av (www.HebrewBooks.org/44279 / www.HebrewBooks.org/42854 -42855 2 volumes).
According to his introduction to Gevuros Hashem, the Maharal planned to author three more volumes: HaGedula on Creation, Hod on Sukkos, and Shamayim V’Aretz on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but it is unclear if he actually completed these works, changed his mind, simply never published the manuscripts or that they were lost.

The Maharal also published:

Ohr Chadash on Purim (www.HebrewBooks.org/44288) and
Ner Mitzvah (www.HebrewBooks.org/14191) on Chanukah, and
a series of Drashos (www.HebrewBooks.org/44708 , www.HebrewBooks.org/31781 , www.HebrewBooks.org/31791 , www.HebrewBooks.org/3868 , www.HebrewBooks.org/14198 )
and Chiddushim on Aggados HaShas (www.HebrewBooks.org/14194 www.HebrewBooks.org/14192 , www.HebrewBooks.org/14199 , www.HebrewBooks.org/14201 in 4 volumes)
Derech Chaim on Avos (www.HebrewBooks.org/42835 -42839 in 5 volumes),
Be’er HaGola (www.HebrewBooks.org/11506). In Chapter 6, the Maharal severely criticizes the approach of Azariah Dei Rossi (Min HaAdumim) in his work Me’or Einayim. The Maharal writes that he initially rejoiced to receive a new sefer that contained chiddushim like a groom rejoices over his bride. But once he he read it, “Woe to the eyes that saw such things, and woe to the ears that heard such things, cursed be the day that such things were said by a person who failed to understand the words of Chazal on even smaller matters; all the more so large matters, especially deep matters. How could he not fear to speak against Chazal? He spoke about them as if they were people of this generation, as if they were his own fellows. 

Such things have never been said until this generation; has such a thing even been said before? . . . Not only does he quote from the works of idolaters rejecting Chazal, but he printed his words to publicize them! His book should be burned like the works of apostates and sorcerers; his work is worse than theirs since he printed this book as it were a sefer. We don’t complain about him directly since he is obviously accustomed to reading non-Jewish books and ideas and they influenced him to make such mistakes. Our complaint rather is to the lack of protest against printing such works. 

Therefore, the proper course of action for people with yiras Shamayim in their midst is to bewail and bemoan the besmirching of the honor and glory of our Torah and Chazal, our sages. Pour out your heart and soul over this. And although I shouldn’t pay attention to this, because foolish, ignorant people might believe his words, I will reply and answer to correct his mistakes . . . Therefore, this book is considered foreign and it is forbidden to read it. Anyone who is a follower of Toras Moshe and believes in the oral and written law should consider this book like chametz on Pesach, forbidden to be seen or possessed. One should never read it or look in it to study, and not even just to peruse . . . 

Hashem knows the truth that I did not write this to shame or disparage anyone; I did so solely for the sake of avenging the honor of the Torah. For the words of the living G-d are like fiery flames, and this person misunderstands them as if they were empty and lacking value. We should wonder that a participant in the covenant of Avraham Avinu who calls himself a Jew should speak in such a manner . . . Hashem save us from people who honor and glorify foreign and strange ways. Amen, Selah.”
Nesivos Olam Mussar and Machshavah in the Aggados Chazal, arranged based on Mishlei (www.HebrewBooks.org/11804 / www.HebrewBooks.org/14202 www.HebrewBooks.org/14209 – 2 volumes)
and Shu”t (www.HebrewBooks.org/14196 ) and
Chiddushim on Shas (www.HebrewBooks.org/14485 )

The Maharal passed away on Chai Elul 5369 (1609) and was laid to rest in the old cemetery in Prague alongside his wife, Pearl.

He left behind one son, Betzalel, a famed son-in-law, Rav Yitzchak Katz, and many talmidim, among them Rav Yom Tov Lipman Heller (6 Elul), author of the Tosafos Yom Tov, who was so influenced by his rebbe’s derech in learning of the Mishnah that he authored his famous commentary, and Rav Dovid Ganz, author of Tzemach Dovid (8 Elul).

HIS LEGACY

Perhaps no other Ashkenazi rav from his generation had so profound an influence on Jewish philosophy, thought, mussar and chassidus as the Maharal through the vast number of sefarim he authored.

Among the Chassidic masters, it was Rav Yisrael Haufstein, the Koznitzer Maggid, who encouraged the study and reprinting of the Maharal’s sefarim. According to Chabad tradition, the Alter Rebbe, Rav Shneur Zalman of Liadi, author of Tanya and founder of Chabad, was not only descended from the Maharal but was so influenced by him that the Tanya is largely based on his teachings. The Maharal’s sefarim were also studied and treasured in Peshischa and Kotzk.

Mussar giants such as the founder Rav Yisrael Salanter, his talmid Rav Simcha Zissel of Kelm, and Rav Yerucham Levovitz of Mir cited and used the Maharal’s teachings in their mussar shmuessen. Other modern-day gedolim such as Rav Kook and Rav Yitzchak Hutner, author of Pachad Yitzchak, also used the Maharal’s teachings to teach Jewish philosophy.