Judah Leib the Elder (
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
: יהודה לייב הזקן died 1539) was a 16th-century
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
* Czech, ...
rabbi based in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
, who is of great genealogical significance due to his alleged descent from
King David.
Ancestor of Judah Loew ben Bezalel
The earliest mention of Judah Leib in rabbinic literature can be found in "Megilat Hayukhsin''"'' (1727) by Meir Perels of Prague, who claimed that Judah Leib the Elder died in 1439 and was the paternal grandfather of Chajim of Worms, who in part was the father of
Jakob ben Chajim (died 1574) and the grandfather of
Judah Loew ben Bezalel
Judah Loew ben Bezalel (; between 1512 and 1526 – 17 September 1609), also known as Rabbi Loew ( Löw, Loewe, Löwe or Levai), the Maharal of Prague (), or simply the Maharal (the Hebrew acronym of "''Moreinu ha-Rav Loew''", 'Our Teacher, Rabbi ...
(1526-1609).
The 20th-century historian
Otto Muneles challenged Perels' earlier claims after discovering the grave of Judah Leib the Elder in the
Old Jewish Cemetery of Prague, in which Judah Leib's death is recorded as accruing in 1539. Muneles goes on to state that because both Judah Leib the Elder and his alleged great-great-grandson Judah Loew ben Bezalel share the same personal name, Judah Loew could not have been descended from Judah Leib the Elder because Ashkenazi Jewish naming practice forbids the naming of a child after a living ancestor. Shlomo Englard commented that the most probable reason for Perels death date of 1439 was due to a mistranscription of the grave of Judah Leib the Elder. Judah Leib the Elder is a central figure to
Chabad messianism as
Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Menachem Mendel Schneerson (Modern Hebrew: מנחם מענדל שניאורסון; old-fashioned spelling: מנחם מענדל שניאורסאהן; April 5, 1902 OS – June 12, 1994; AM 11 Nissan 5662 – 3 Tammuz 5754), known to man ...
was a descendant of Judah Loew ben Bezalel. Because the
Jewish Messiah
The Messiah in Judaism () is a savior and liberator figure in Jewish eschatology, who is believed to be the future redeemer of the Jewish people. The concept of messianism originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible a messiah is a king or ...
has to be a member of the
Davidic line, Chabad rabbis have used Perels claim to prove why Menachem Mendel Schneerson is the Messiah.
Ancestry of Judah Leib the Elder
According to his grave, Judah Leib descended from a prominent
Geonic
''Geonim'' ( he, גאונים; ; also transliterated Gaonim, singular Gaon) were the presidents of the two great Babylonian Talmudic Academies of Sura and Pumbedita, in the Abbasid Caliphate, and were the generally accepted spiritual leaders o ...
line.
Several scholars such as Moshe Yair Weinstok and Yaakov Leib Shapira argued that this Geonic line could be paternally traced back to Yosef, the eldest son of
Hai Gaon
Hai ben Sherira (Hebrew: האי/י בר שרירא) better known as Hai Gaon (Hebrew: האי/י גאון, חאיי גאון), was a medieval Jewish theologian, rabbi and scholar who served as Gaon (Hebrew), Gaon of the Talmudic Academies in Babylo ...
(939-1038) who was a legitimate descendant of the Davidic
Exliarchs. However, Englard is very sceptical of these claims stating "''there are those who added (on their own authority) that his
udah Leib the Elderlineage goes back to Reb Hai Gaon the son of
Sherira Gaon
Sherira bar Hanina (Hebrew: שרירא בר חנינא) more commonly known as Sherira Gaon (Hebrew: שרירא גאון; c. 906-c. 1006) was the gaon of the Academy of Pumbeditha. He was one of the most prominent Geonim of his period, and the ...
. Great doubt should be cast upon this."'' Similar dubious genealogical claims have been made relating to the ancestry of Judah Leib the Elder back to
Samuel ibn Naghrillah (993-1056), also of the
Davidic line. Meir Perles also claims that Judah Leib's sister was the mother of
Avigdor Kara who died in 1439. His early 19th-century descendant Arieh Leib Kara claimed that Judah Leib the Elder was descended from the
Tannaim
''Tannaim'' ( Amoraic Hebrew: תנאים , singular , ''Tanna'' "repeaters", "teachers") were the rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah, from approximately 10–220 CE. The period of the ''Tannaim'', also referred to as the Mis ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Judah Leib the Elder
Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidim
Schneersohn family
16th-century Bohemian rabbis
1539 deaths
Year of birth unknown
Rabbis from Prague
Davidic line