{"id":66288,"date":"2019-09-26T04:57:42","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T08:57:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=66288"},"modified":"2019-09-15T16:10:56","modified_gmt":"2019-09-15T20:10:56","slug":"maharal-quote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2019\/09\/maharal-quote.html","title":{"rendered":"A Quote from the Maharal of Prague"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Carl Pace shared a favorite quote from the Maharal of Prague that I wanted to share here on the blog:<\/p>\n

<\/a>\"\"It is wrong for those who love research and knowledge to dismiss any position that opposes their faith, especially if the opponent is not intending to provoke or vex but only to express his own belief. Even if his words are antithetical to their own beliefs and their religion, they should not say, \u201cStop speaking, shut your mouth,\u201d for if that were to happen there would be no clarification of religious matters.<\/p>\n

For whoever acts in such a way as to shut someone\u2019s mouth and prevent him from speaking demonstrates the weakness of his faith, as we have said. Th is is the opposite of what some people think, namely, that suppressing the freedom to speak about religious matters reveals the strength and power of one\u2019s religion.It is not so, for suppressing the speech of a religious opponent is nothing but a sign of weakness in religion.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The quote is from Marc Saperstein and Jacob Rader Marcus\u2019\u00a0Jews in Christian Europe<\/em><\/a>, pp.448-49. It is Saperstein\u2019s translation of a passage from Judah ben Loew\u2019s 1598 work Be\u2019er ha-Golah.<\/p>\n

This was in response to my sharing the following article on Facebook:<\/p>\n

Why ask big questions in Introduction to Judaism?<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n