Editing Judah Loew ben Bezalel (section)

===Early life===
[[File:Prague_Praha_2014_Holmstad_Den_gammelnye_synagogen.JPG|thumb|The [[Old New Synagogue|Old New Synagogue, Prague]] where he officiated]]
[[File:Loew-rabin-tombstone.jpg|thumb|Loew's tombstone in the [[Old Jewish Cemetery (Prague)|Old Jewish Cemetery, Prague]]]]
Loew was probably born in [[Poznań]], [[Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569)|Poland]],<ref name="HaariShebechamaiPrag">{{cite book | author = ד"ר א. הכהן עובדיה Dr Avraham Hacohen Ovadia (Gotsdiner) | title = Ha'ari Shebechachmai Prague | year = 2001 | pages = 138 | publisher = [[:he:מוסד הרב קוק|Mosad Harav Kook]] | location = [[Jerusalem]], [[Israel]] | language = he | oclc = 145439809 | url = http://www.mosadharavkook.com/store/item2.php?id=97 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090529085218/http://www.mosadharavkook.com/store/item2.php?id=97 | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2009-05-29 }}</ref>—though Perels<ref name="megilasYuchsin">{{cite book | author = Meir Perels | title = Megilas Yuchsin | year =1718| location=[[Prague]] | oclc=122864700}}</ref> lists the birth town mistakenly<ref name="HaariShebechamaiPrag"/> as [[Worms, Germany|Worms]] in the [[Holy Roman Empire]]—to Rabbi Bezalel (Loew), whose family originated from the [[History of the Jews in Germany|Rhenish town]] of [[Worms, Germany|Worms]]. Perels claimed that his grandfather Chajim of Worms was the grandson of [[Judah Leib the Elder]] and thus a claimant to the [[Davidic line]], through [[Sherira Gaon]].<ref name="megilasYuchsin" /> However, modern scholars such as [[Otto Muneles]] have challenged this.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Muneles|first=Otto|title=Der Alte jüdische Friedhof in Prag|year=1955}}</ref> Prior to the publication of Perels’ genealogy in 1853, traditions existed of the Maharal’s descent from the House of David, not through Yehudah Leib the Elder or Hai Gaon, but through Rashi and his ancestor Yokhanan the Sandlar (died 140 C.E.).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Englard|first=Rabbi Shlomo|title=Questions in Rabbinic Genealogy, Avotaynu, Volume XII, Number 1|year=1996}}</ref>Loew's birth year is uncertain, with different sources listing 1512,<ref>{{Cite web |title=2 - Lubavitcher Rabbi's Memoirs - Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (page 242 of 318) |url=https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=15614&st=&pgnum=242 |access-date=2024-11-27 |website=www.hebrewbooks.org}}</ref><ref name="megilasYuchsin"/> 1520<ref name="Grun">{{cite book | author = Nathan Grün | title = Der hohe Rabbi Löw und sein Sagenkreis | year =1885| publisher =Verlag von Jakob B. Brandeis | location=[[Prague]]| language=de | oclc=19037024| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_HqLGQAACAAJ}}</ref> and 1526.<ref name="HaariShebechamaiPrag"/><ref name="Jeřábek">{{cite book | author = Luboš Jeřábek | title = Der alte Prager Judenfriedhof | year =1903| publisher =Kunstverlag B. Koci | location=[[Prague]]| language=de | oclc=1810845| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eBY8AAAAMAAJ}}</ref> His uncle [[Jakob ben Chajim]] was ''Reichsrabbiner'' ("Rabbi of the Empire") of the [[Holy Roman Empire]], and his older brother Chaim of Friedberg was a famous rabbinical scholar and Rabbi of Worms and Friedberg.

Sources in the Lubavitch tradition<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schneerson |first=Yosef Yitzchok |title=Memoirs of the Lubavitcher Rabbi| volume =2 |year=1960 |url=https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=15614&st=&pgnum=212 |archive-date=}}</ref> say that at the age of 12, Loew went to yeshivahs in Poland and studied under Rabbi [[Jacob Pollak|Yaakov Pollak]]. After Pollak left Poland, Loew spent 2 years wandering from place to place and then went onto the yeshivah of Rabbi Yitzchak Clover/Wormz, himself a student of Pollak. He learnt together in yeshivah with the [[Maharshal]] who was 17, 2 years his elder. He learnt together with the Maharshal and [[Moshe Isserlis|Rema]] for a further 3 years. Rav Yitzchok Clover was in fact the grandfather of the Maharshal. The Maharshal left Poland and the Maharal remained and studied with the Rema for 2 more years. Maharal was 18 years his senior. He spent 20 years studying before he married.

It is not known however who he learnt nistar from as he mentions his rabbis, who are unknown to posterity, only once in his sefarim.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Shabbos hagodol drosha}}</ref> It was common in yeshivas in Poland however to learn nigleh and nistar together<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schneerson |first=Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok |title=Memoirs of the lubavitcher rabbi}}</ref>