Shmuel (Grandson of the Maharal)
Rabbi Shmuel (? – 6 Shevat 5415 (1655)) was the grandson of the Maharal of Prague.
Life edit
Rabbi Shmuel was born to Rabbi Betzalel Charif, son of the Maharal of Prague.
Shmuel was gifted with artistic talents — for drawing and for handcraft, especially fine work in various metals — though alongside this he had little appetite for formal study.
At the age of sixteen, while learning in his father's yeshiva, he wrote a Torah scroll on parchment measuring approximately 12 cm in length and less than 8 cm in width. The script was clear and halachically valid, though a magnifying glass was generally needed to read it.
Shmuel worked on this project for three years, outside his regular yeshiva schedule. He fashioned for the scroll miniature atzei chaim (Torah rollers) and a yad (pointer) of exquisite craftsmanship, engraving several verses upon them. He also cast a kesser (crown) and constructed an aron kodesh (Torah ark) within a large marble stone, upon which he carved images of the Beis HaMikdash (Temple in Jerusalem).
Upon completing the work, Rabbi Shmuel presented it as a gift to his grandfather the Maharal, who was greatly delighted and took much pleasure in it.
Marriage edit
At the age of nineteen, his father arranged his match with the daughter of a prominent Jewish leader and renowned philanthropist in Germany by the name of Rabbi Mordechai Salzheim. The wedding took place in Prague, at the home of the groom's grandfather, the Maharal, who was then eighty-three years old.
In the year 5361 (1601), following the death of the head of the Prague community, Rabbi Mordechai Meisel, Rabbi Shmuel was appointed in his place.
In the year 5380 (1620), his father Rabbi Betzalel passed away in Klein, and Rabbi Shmuel moved to Prague. In Klein he had earned his livelihood through trade in gold, silver, and diamonds — particularly through the setting of precious stones and the artistic crafting of jewelry. In Prague he continued in this work, and also engaged in engraving designs on metals of various kinds, through which he accumulated considerable wealth.
Rabbi Shmuel, as head of the community, was a man of great means. Each year he contributed to the community fund an amount equal to the combined contributions of all other members of the community, and with half of his income he would cover the tax assessments of the community's poor, who would otherwise have been liable for three separate levies: the government tax, the city tax, and the communal tax. His reputation for generosity spread far and wide. Beyond his open-handed charity throughout Prague — supporting every communal institution and assisting individuals with generous gifts, both publicly and privately — he sent large sums to sustain the yeshivos in Poland and Germany, and supported the yeshiva of Rabbi Eliyahu Baal Shem of Worms with great liberality. When Rabbi Eliyahu relocated his yeshiva to Grodno, Chelm, and Lublin — then among the most celebrated centers of Torah learning — Rabbi Shmuel supported him from his own funds, for he had heard from his grandfather the Maharal of Prague that from the yeshivos of Rabbi Eliyahu Baal Shem, and from his students and their students, light would go forth to Israel.
Passing edit
The Maharal of Prague had reserved three burial plots in the cemetery: one for himself, one for his wife, and one for his only son Rabbi Betzalel. Since Rabbi Betzalel had died in Klein, however, the Maharal designated the third plot for his grandson Rabbi Shmuel. When Rabbi Shmuel reached the age of seventy-nine, he reminded the officers of the chevra kadisha (burial society) that the third plot was reserved for him.
As it turned out, however, so many wished to be buried near the Maharal that there was no room remaining. Rabbi Shmuel went to his grandfather's grave and invoked the promise that he would be buried beside him. And indeed, when Rabbi Shmuel passed away in the year 5415 (1655), the plot in question expanded on its own, and Rabbi Shmuel was buried at his grandfather's side.
Family edit
- His son: Rabbi Yehuda Leib.
Further Reading edit
- Sefer HaZikronos, part 2, chapters 86 and 91
- Likkutei Dibburim, vol. 3, likkut 32