Perel Loew, [Maharal's wife]

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Perel Loew (Schmelkes-Reich), [Maharal's wife]

Hebrew: פרל, אשת המהר"ל
Also Known As: "Maharal's wife", "Perl", "Perla"
Birthdate:
Birthplace: Prague, Czech Republic
Death: May 05, 1610 (77-86)
Old Jewish ghetto at Josefov, Prague, Czech Republic
Place of Burial: Prague, Czech Republic
Immediate Family:

Daughter of Reb Shmuel
Wife of MaHaRaL of Prague - המהר״ל מפראג
Mother of Mordecai, [Maharal son #1]; Sarah Nemec Ashkenazi, [Maharal dau #2); Rabbi Bezalel Charif Loew, [Maharal son #3]; Gitele Brandeis, [Maharal dau. #4]; Rachel Heller-Wallerstein, [Maharal dau. #6] and 4 others

Occupation: The Maharal's wife - full time job! + merchant, Torah scholar, Talmudist scholar, merchant
Managed by: Yigal Burstein
Last Updated:

About Perel Loew, [Maharal's wife]

Not the daughter of Schmelkes, according to recent scholarship. A. Putik and D. Polakovic (2009) 'Judah Loew ben Bezalel, Called Maharal * A study on his genealogy and biography', in P. Demetz (ed) Path of Life. Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel ca. 1525*1609, Academia, Prague, pp29-83. See https://media.geni.com/p13/23/c3/6d/69/5344484c6dc91718/judah_loew_ben_bezalel_called_maharal_original.pdf?hash=5b603d970f2ebbb2c5182eb7aede4a902bf5c44f9ab95710d0bbcb3f3f9036ed.1765958399

Disagreement about the year of birth - 1516 vs. 1528 (according to Judith Nathan's data).

The Maharal's marriage to his wife Pearl has been surrounded by the Loew family chronicler, Meir Perles, with romance. The bride's father, a well known Prague merchant, suffered business reverses shortly after the couple was engaged. Thus he could not meet the terms of the financial arrangements in favor of the young couple, as had been stipulated. Thereupon he offered to cancel the engagement. The Maharal, however, was not interested in financial settlement and he persisted in his love for Pearl. There was a long delay in the wedding, while the bride established herself in a bakery shop in order to help support the family. The marriage finally occurred in 1544. Bride and groom, according to the same chronicler, were then 32 and 28 years old respectively.

Their marriage was a very happy one, and they were blessed with seven children, six daughters and a son. All six daughters married into prominent Prague families. His son, Bezalel, became rabbi in Cologne, Germany, where he headed a rabbinical academy. The Maharal was deeply grieved when this son met an untimely death in 1600. The Maharal's public career took him to many parts of Central and Eastern Europe, but his heart was always in Prague, the home of his wife's family and of his own children.


According to another version, Pearl was the daughter of Rabbi Yitzchak Klober of Worms ?


One biography of Maharal - ויקיגניה - claims that the Maharal was married twice. His first wife was the daughter of Rabbi Abraham Haiut, and Lea & Feigele were daughters of this marriage.

Her profile on Geni is: Daughter, Avraham Chayot

Most other biography versions of Maharal do not mention the first marriage and named Pearl as the mother of all Maharal's children, including Lea and Feigele (see below).

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Perel Loew, [Maharal's wife]'s Timeline

1528
1528
Prague, Czech Republic
1545
1545
Prague, Hlavní město Praha, Prague, Czechia (Czech Republic)
1546
1546
Prague, Hlavní město Praha, Prague, Czechia (Czech Republic)
1547
1547
Prague, Czechoslovakia
1550
1550
Moravia
1554
1554
Prague, Hlavní město Praha, Hlavní město Praha, Czech Republic
1555
1555
Prague, Prague, Hlavní město Praha, Czech Republic
1556
1556
Prague, Prague, Hlavní město Praha, Czech Republic