PRAGUE (AFP-EJP) — Israel’s chief rabbi, Yona Metzger, as well as several rabbis from various European countries, attended Thursday the opening ceremony of a new Talmudic school dedicated to famous Rabbi Judah Liva ben Betsalel, better known under the name of the Maharal of Prague, one of the greatest Jewish scholar.
"The purpose of the Maharal Institute would be to familiarize the public, Jews and non-Jews, with the writings, the ideas, the work of Maharal," Rabbi Manis Barash, said at the opening in old Prague.
Barash, who is from New York, established twelve years ago the Chabad Lubavitch movement in Prague.
According to Czech Jewish leader Tomas Jelinek, one of the organizers of Thursday’s inauguration, the Talmudic institute plans to educate 10 future rabbis coming from Israel and Brazil, introducing them to the Talmud, Jewish law, ethics and mysticism as well as to Loew’s writings.
 Tombstone of Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel (1525–1609) in Prague’s old town Jewish cemetery.
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It is the first Talmudic school in Prague after a 300 hundred years break.
