Judah Loew ben Bezalel

The great wizard-rabbi of Prague, a notable Talmudic scholar and mystic who worked in that city in the late 1500s. (See his entry at Wikipedia for more details about the public and religious aspects of his life.) Also known as the Maharal: the word is a Hebrew-language acronym (MaHaRaL) for "Our teacher, Rabbi Loew."

Judah Loew had a tremendous reputation as a teacher and thinker among nonwizardly people in Czechoslovakia and far beyond. But in wizardly circles he was best known for the creation of the Great Golem of Prague, a construct which he built to protect the Jews of Prague's Ghetto from persecution by ignorant people of the city.

Numerous other stories were circulated even in non-wizardly circles about Rabbi Judah's magical doings in Prague and elsewhere. One describes how he discovered an evil sorcerer had worked a spell to cause local Jews to die of the plague: Rabbi Judah turned the sorcerer's spell back on him, and the sorcerer burst into flame and died as a result. Another story tells how the Rabbi built a magical palace to which he could invite a local king to dinner. A third tells of how Loew summoned the great Patriarchs for the edification of the Emperor, who desired to be taught about the Kabbalah.

(See also: Inhabition, Inanimate object, Lifewords, Famous_Wizards,_Sol_III_/_Earth)