Theme of the stamp
The Jewish rabbi and scholar Judah Loew ben Bezalel (c. 1525-1609), also known as Rabbi Löwe or as the Maharal of Prague (MaHaRaL is the Hebrew acronym of Morenu Ha-Rav Loew, "Our Teacher the Rabbi Loew" or also Morenu Ha-gadol Rabbi Loew, "Our (Great) Teacher Rabbi Loew") is a significant historical person.
He served in the position of leading land rabbi in Mikulov and later in Prague. He founded and led a talmudic school (yeshiva) in the Prague Jewish Ghetto and set up the regulations for the chevra kadisha (burial society). An established authority and expert in the Torah and the Jewish religion, he is compared to J. A. Komenský not only for his opinions as a teacher. His interest in alchemy was the likely reason for his audience (16.2.1592) with the Emperor Rudolf II. The life of the Rabbi Loew is covered with numerous stories and legends, the best known of which is the legend of the Prague Golem. Nevertheless, Golem is mentioned in none of the seventeen printed publications of the Rabbi.
The legend first appeared at the turn of the 19th century. Although it was only a part of his life that he spent in Prague, the Rabbi Loew, or the Maharal of Prague in Jewish literature, is buried at the Old Jewish Cemetery there.
Method of printing
multicoloured offset