He went first to Venice, but a disagreement with the rabbis Meïr Padua and his son Judah Katzenellenbogen caused him to leave the city and in the same year to take up his residence at Prague (1561).
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It was probably this decision which brought upon him the opposition of the above-mentioned Venetian rabbis, though he was connected with them, for Ashkenazi's son was Katzenellenbogen's son-in-law.
"Stephen Báthory, who was king of Poland, died in 1586, and the Poles were divided between wishing to be ruled by the Zamoyski family and the Zborowski family. Polish law at that time stated that if electors could not agree upon a king, an outsider should be appointed "rex pro tempore" (temporary king). Radziwill proposed that Saul Wahl Katzenellenbogen be appointed temporary king, and Wahl was elected to shouts of "Long live King Saul!"