<HTML>Some fundamental points in teaching Maharal to myself and others:
1) Maharal is not a commentary on Aggada a la Maharsha. He is rather an
attempt to conceptualize themes underlying the Aggadic material.
2) He is working with a limited number of concepts that he has inherited
from the idiom of medieval philosophy. This, and the inherent difficulty
of the ideas, creates a lack of clarity.
3) In any particular case it is worth asking: Is Maharal's analysis
purely conceptual or does he address questions of literary structure and
imagery.
The previous points all have parallels to Talmud study a la R. Hayyim. (On
lomdut & mahashava see my forthcoming "Polyphonic Diversity and Military
Music" in a book edited by Yaakov Elman and me on the Brisker derekh, the
chapter to be published first in Tradition).
To translate Maharal into more contemporary terms I would also recommend
R. Hutner's Pahad Yitzhak.</HTML>
