Prague - A brief Jewish history
We visited Prague in 2001, long before I began to keep trip diaries and long before I even knew the word BLOG! It also was before the days of digital pictures.
When I decided to include this trip in our blog, I went back and scanned all my pics from Prague and re-created my trip from the pictures. As such, while our itinerary is intact, the days are not necessarily in order. I have also used Wikipedia for some of the historical data that I normally would be including in my trip diary.
As far as our kosher experience, I am sure that things have changed in Prague in the past decade. When we went, there was one meat restaurant, King Solomon's, there was a small counter next door in a non kosher bakery that carried breads approved by the Rabbi, and there was a small kosher list of kosher items in the supermarket supplied by the community. There was a small kosher store but it was primarily for the residents of Prague; not for tourists.
Shabbat meals could be eaten at King Solomon's or at Chabad; we opted for one meal at Chabad and one meal from food that we had brought (vacuum packed and frozen) from Toronto. Not sure of the current status; if you are visiting, you will have to update today's reality.
We arrived in the midst of a battle between the existing traditional community and the newly arrived Chabad group. We had heard later that the battle heated up even more; again, not sure of the current status.
There were a number of groups giving tours of the Jewish Museum, Terezinstadt, Carlsbad, and general areas of Jewish interest. Some were Orthodox, some were parve and there was one affiliated with the reform/liberal Jewish community. We reserved a few day trips with Wittman tours as they had been highly recommended; today, I would look at Trip Advisor before choosing the guide. You will definitely need a guide for some of the sights that you will see.
So with that intro...here is Prague....
Prague, nicknamed the Golden City, is the capital of the Czech republic. Before the Shoah, and for many centuries, it was one of the most important Jewish centers in Europe. Jews have lived in Prague since 970 C.E. By the end of the 11th century, a Jewish community had been fully established.
Towards the end of the 16th century, the Jewish Mayor, Mordechai Maisel, became the Minister of Finance and a very wealthy man. His money helped develop the ghetto.
One of the famous Jewish scholars and educators of the time was Rabbi Yehuda Loew (1525-1609), also known as the Maharal. Rabbi Loew published more than 50 seforim, still studied today, and became the center of legends, as the mystical miracle worker who created the Golem.
One of the famous Jewish scholars and educators of the time was Rabbi Yehuda Loew (1525-1609), also known as the Maharal. Rabbi Loew published more than 50 seforim, still studied today, and became the center of legends, as the mystical miracle worker who created the Golem.
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| Statue of the Maharal in the streets of Prague |
This is an excerpt from a 2009 New York Times article about the Golem:
The Golem, according to Czech legend, was fashioned from clay and brought to life by a rabbi to protect Prague’s 16th-century ghetto from persecution, and is said to be called forth in times of crisis. True to form, he is once again experiencing a revival and, in this commercial age, has spawned a one-monster industry.
There are Golem hotels; Golem door-making companies; Golem clay figurines (made in China); a recent musical starring a dancing Golem; and a Czech strongman called the Golem who bends iron bars with his teeth. The Golem has also infiltrated Czech cuisine: the menu at the non-kosher restaurant called the Golem features a “rabbi’s pocket of beef tenderloin” and a $7 “crisis special” of roast pork and potatoes that would surely have rattled the venerable Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the Golem’s supposed maker.
Even the first lady, Michelle Obama, paid her respects, when she visited Rabbi Loew’s grave last month and, following Jewish tradition, placed a prayer on a piece of paper and put it near his tombstone.
According to one version of Prague’s Golem legend, the city’s Jews, under the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, were being attacked, falsely accused of using the blood of Christians to perform their rituals. To protect the community, Rabbi Loew built the Golem out of clay from the banks of the Vltava River.
He used his knowledge of kabbalah to make it come alive, inscribing the Hebrew word emet, or truth, on the creature’s forehead. The Golem, whom he called Josef and who was known as Yossele, patrolled the ghetto; it is said he could make himself invisible and summon spirits from the dead.
Eventually, the Golem is said to have gone on a murderous rampage — out of unrequited love, some explain. Fearing that he could fall into the wrong hands, Rabbi Loew smeared clay on the Golem’s forehead, turning emet into met, the Hebrew word for death, and put him to rest in the attic of the Old-New Synagogue.
Though a quintessentially Jewish tale, the saga of the Golem, popularized here in a 1950s fairy tale film, has long been regarded as a Czech legend.
Such is the pull of the Golem that Prague's Chief Rabbi Sidon said he received dozens of requests each year for visits to the Golem’s attic lair — requests he politely declined. During World War II, it was rumored that Nazi soldiers broke into the synagogue, and Rabbi Loew’s Golem ripped them apart, limb by limb.
“We say the Golem is in the attic, up there,” Rabbi Sidon said. “But I have never gone there. I say that if the Golem was put there 400 years ago, then today he is dirt and dust and can’t do anything to disturb anyone.”
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| Map of Josefov - The Jewish Quarter of Prague |
In the early 18th century, more Jews lived in Prague than anywhere else in world. In 1708, Jews accounted for one-quarter of Prague’s population. In 1850 the quarter was renamed "Josefstadt" (Joseph's City) after Joseph II, the Roman Emperor who emancipated Jews with the Toleration Edict of 1781.
Most of the quarter was demolished between 1893 and 1913 as part of an initiative to model the city after Paris. What was left were only six synagogues, the old cemetery, and the Old Jewish Town Hall (now all part of the Jewish Museum of Prague).
The Nazi occupation could have been expected to complete the demolition of the old ghetto. However the area was preserved in order to provide a site for a planned "exotic museum of an extinct race". This meant that the Nazis gathered Jewish artifacts from all over central Europe for display in Josefov. Hence, it is one center of Europe that has remained almost intact after the horrors of Nazi Germany, and is so well preserved, that it has emerged as a favorite tourist spot for Jews and non Jews alike.
Fran and I arrived in Prague after a one stop flight from Toronto connecting in Rome. It was raining when we had arrived and we had booked a shared taxi that took us from the airport to the center of town. We had rented a lovely apartment 5 minutes walk from the heart of the Jewish Quarter, but we first had to go to the rental office to sign the agreement and pick up the key.
Prague's Jewish Quarter, Josefov, looks like many of the old sections of large European cities; narrow streets with older buildings that have been very well maintained over the years. Because of the enormous tourist trade, many apartments in this area have been turned into vacation rentals where people like us rent a fully furnished and equipped apartment. With our requirements for kosher food, having an apartment with a full kitchen beats staying in a hotel. Many of the apartments have been modernized and they are certainly a cheaper option than a typical quality downtown hotel.
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| From the balcony in our apartment |
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| Outside our apartment |
Early the next morning I went to the Altneu Shul for Shacharit. The oldest working synagogue in Europe, it was built in the 13th Century as the New Synagogue but with the rapid Jewish growth of Prague, there was a need for many more synagogues and it soon became known as the Old - New or AltNeu Shul. There is another reason for its name which I will explain below.
The synagogue is famous by its stories about the Golem, created by The Maharal, and legend has it that the Golem is still resting upstairs in the attic of the shul. One can see the locked door leading to the attic; however, no one goes up to look.
At shul, there was a minyan and at the end of davening I introduced myself to the rabbi and asked if I could take some pictures. He said that if we tour the shul with a group as most do, we would not be allowed to take any photos, but if we come to davening in the morning that rule would not apply. I resolved to come back to shul the next morning with my camera.
After breakfast we headed out for a walk about town. Prague is an amazingly easy city to tour. There is much to see in the downtown area near the Jewish Quarter and everything is walkable. Many of the streets have been designated as pedestrian streets.
Here is a view of one of the main streets in town Wilsonova Street which is a very wide thoroughfare with the National Museum visible in the distance.
Along the way from our apartment to Wilsonova, we walked thru a number of pedestrian malls lined on both sides with touristy handcraft shoppes featuring many souvenirs made from wood and Czech crystal glassware.
The same street viewed from the balcony of the National Museum (above) and the beautiful stairway inside the Museum.
As this was our day to walk the city, we made our way over to the river and saw the famous Prague Castle, just on the other side of the Charles Bridge.
The Charles Bridge is a famous historic pedestrian bridge that crosses the Vltava River. Construction began in 1357 during the rule of Charles IV and was finished in the 15th century. Until 1841, it was the oly means of crossing the river connecting the Castle and the Old Town.
The bridge is 621 meters long and 10 meters wide protected by three bridge towers; 2 on the castle side and 1 on the Old Town side.
Try to visit the bridge before it gets really busy. It looks wonderful on an early spring morning, which is where the inability to sleep because of jetlag becomes a blessing:-)
As well, it is worthwhile returning at night to see the bridge all lit up. During the day the bridge is busy with tourists and souvenir vendors; they usually leave by mid afternoon.
One of the very strange statues on the bridge is the famous statue of Jesus surrounded by Hebrew phrases.
Here is the story as to how this statue came to be.
In 1696, the Prague authorities accused a local Jewish leader, Elias Backoffen, of blasphemy. As his punishment he was ordered to raise the funds for purchasing of gold-plated Hebrew letters, placed around the head of the statue, spelling out "Holy, Holy, Holy, the Lord of Hosts," words from the Prophet Isaiah and part of our Kedusha.
The inscription was a symbolic humiliation and degradation of Prague Jews, forcing them to pay for a set of golden letters referring to God and hung around the neck of the statue of Christ.
And there they have hung ever since. In 2000, some local Jews requested that signs be erected near the statue, explaining to passersby the history behind the letters, and pointing out that when Jews recite the same words they are not referring to Jesus.
The Mayor of Prague and local Catholic Church leaders agreed, and offered to foot the bill.
But today the signs with the explanations have disappeared. Alongside the statue there is a Dixieland band, playing New Orleans classics, but in Czech. Another group nearby plays soft Czech folk songs, and hustlers try to sell "art" to the tourists.
The golden letters are still there. Except that the "Vav" in the middle of the four letter Holy Name of Hashem has disappeared, despite the constant surveillance of the bridge; someone managed to remove the "Vav" from the set of letters. So the golden letters now read, "Holy Holy Holy YHH of Hosts", which essentially renders the inscription to be Hebrew gibberish.
As we walked around the city, we were amazed by the number of churches. Thinking that this was a very religious city, we were surprised to learn that the Communists had been very successful and that most of the people of Prague and the Czech Republic were now atheists or agnostics. The large churches with their amazing acoustics are now used for concerts; all over Prague there are ticket sellers who are hawking tickets for a vast array of chamber music, symphony orchestra or operatic concerts that are taking place at various times of the day.
We took advantage of the opportunity and went to an evening concert in one of the non church venues along the bank of the river.
With wide boulevards and architecturally designed streets built to resemble Paris, you see some very interesting buildings.
We ventured over the bridge to the Castle and took a tour of the impressive grounds and buildings.
Close by was the Mucha Museum, opened in 1998, and we went for a brief tour of the famous artist's works.
Alfons Maria Mucha (24 July 1860 – 14 July 1939), often known in English and French as Alphonse Mucha, was a Czech Art Nouveau painter and decorative artist, known best for his distinct style. He produced many paintings, illustrations, advertisements, postcards, and designs. He spent most of his creative years in Paris drawing luminaries like actress Sarah Bernhardt; his influence can still be seen throughout his home country.
Our Day in the Jewish Museum
The next morning I went back to shul, this time armed with my camera. I took a number of pictures of the shul, both inside and outside; including the chained off chair of the Maharal.
Completed in 1270 The Old - New Shul was one of Prague's first gothic buildings. Originally called the New Synagogue when it was built, it eventually became known as the Old New or Alt Neu Shul when newer ones were built. According to legend angels brought stones from Jerusalem to build the shul; they are there today to protect the shul and eventually will transport the stones of the shul to help rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. Therefore the name Alt - Neu from the Hebrew "Al Tenai" - literally "on condition"; the shul's stones are used on condition that they will eventually find their way back to Jerusalem!
It has been in continuous use since it was built other than the Nazi occupation years of 1941 to 1945.
On the walls of the shul were large Hebrew letters that formed "mysterious" acronyms. I tried to figure out what they meant and while I was successful on a number of them, had to resort to asking the Rabbi to explain those that I could not figure out.
Da Lifnei (Mi)Atem Omdim - Know before who you stand
Painted in the year Ki Bachar HaShem B'Tzion L'Moshav - For G-d has chosen Zion, He has desired it for His seat
Sur Meirah V'Aseh Tov - Shun evil and do good (l) and Ach Tov L'Yisrael Selah - And so He will be good until forever for eternity (r)
In the year HaShem Echad U'Shmo Echad - The Lord is One and His name One
Also on the wall hung a list of rules and regulations for the shuls in Prague as decreed by the Maharal. These rules included the order of priority for those who would want an aliyah as well as specific aliyot; the need for all shuls in Prague to wait till this shul began a tefillah before they could begin (try to enforce that in today's world :-); only those married could get aliyot on Shabbat and the need to have people who are regular worshippers at this shul to lead the services on the holidays and High Holidays.
Around the perimeter of the shul were narrow slots which were the connection between the men's area of the shul and the women's section. Not sure this would fly in today's world!
After breakfast, we began our tour of the Jewish Museum of Prague.
Unlike most museums in cities around the world, this museum is not centered in one building; rather it encompasses all the sights of Jewish interest in the entire quarter; a number of shuls, holocausts memorials and the famous ancient cemetery where the Maharal is buried.
In addition to the Altneu Shul, the shuls that we visited were the High Synagogue with its famous Hebrew Lettered clock that moves counterclockwise;
Included in the Museum is the old cemetery of Prague.
The Old Cemetery was established in the 15th century. The oldest tombstone is that of scholar and poet Avigdor Karo, dated 1439. Burials took place from then till 1787. There are some 12000 headstones, but more than 100,000 people are buried there as the tombs are stacked one on top of the other once the community ran out of space and there was no other burial plot given to the community by the authorities. The most famous person there is the Maharal of Prague.
The next morning, we met outside the Intercontinental Hotel and joined up with a group of people for a guided tour of the Terezinstadt Concentration Camp. It was established by the SS during WWII in the fortress and garrison city of Terezin (German name Theresienstadt), located in what is now the Czech Republic.
This was our first visit to a Nazi Death camp and the visit left us shaken and trembling from the horrors that human beings are capable of performing. Yemach Shemom V'Zichrom!!!
Terezin was a "model" camp. It was used by the Nazis to dupe the Red Cross and other international bodies into believing that they were treating their prisoners humanely. Hence, it looked neat; lawns were manicured and well kept and the prisoners were forced to put on a show whenever international visitors appeared.
The camp and crematoria was in this little town and believe it or not, people live here almost as though nothing happened!
Sign outside the crematorium says "God gives; God takes away; woe that there are those who are gone and no replacement for them is found."
The Sfas Emes (The Gerrer rebbe) offers an alternative and novel interpretation: "Woe that there are those who are gone and the reason for their death is not fathomed by those who remain alive." (Sfas Emes)
In the town of Terezin after the war, people were living in a home that was the barracks of some of the prisoners. When they went to remodel the home and stripped the paint on the wall, they found the hidden shul of Terezin.
A plaque from the Embassy of Israel.
The famous phrase.
This looks like a beautiful bathroom; in fact it was never connected to water and was used only to show the Red cross that the Nazis were providing the very best for their prisoners and victims.
The next day we hired a private guide who drove us to the spa and resort towns of Carlesbad and Marienbad.
It is a beautiful and colorful town and has been used over the years as the location for a number of film-shoots, including the 2006 films Last Holiday and box-office hit Casino Royale, both of which used the city's Grandhotel Pupp in different guises.
On the way back to Prague and our last night there, we stopped in the town of Pilsen, where the famous Pilsener Beer was created. But we stopped in the town not because of the beer, but rather because there is a huge shul; one of the largest in the world, seating about 3000 people. Kind of strange as there are only 70 Jews left in Pilsen!
The brochure of the shul:
A little about the shul from Wikipedia:
The Great Synagogue in Pilsen, is the second largest in Europe.
A Viennese architect called Fleischer drew up the original plans for the synagogue in Gothic style with granite buttresses and twin 65-meter towers. The cornerstone was laid on December 2, 1888 and that was about as far as it got. City councillors rejected the plan in a clear case of tower envy as they felt that the grand erection would compete with the nearby Cathedral which would no longer be the tallest building in Pilsen.
Here is the comparison showing the original design and the revised lower design that eventually became the Pilsen Synagogue.
Emmanuel Klotz put forward a new design in 1890 retaining the original ground plan and hence the cornerstone, but lowering the towers by 20m and creating the distinctive look combining Romantic and neo Renaissance styles covered with Oriental decorations and a giant Magen David The design was quickly approved and master builder Rudolf Štech completed work in 1893 for the bargain price of 162,138 guilders. At the time the Jewish community in Plzeň numbered some 2,000. The mixture of styles is truly bewildering; from the onion domes of a Russian orthodox church, to the Arabic style ceiling, to the distinctly Indian looking Aron Kodesh.
A massive shul....I stood on the bimah and sang Kol Nidrei...the acoustics were amazing! The experience was scary...At one time this amazing beautiful enormous shul was full for a kol nidrei...now even on Yom Kippur it is empty!
The synagogue was used without interruption until the Nazi occupation, and the Jewish community that retook possession of the synagogue at the end of hostilities had been decimated by the Shoah. The synagogue was used as a storage facility during the war and was thereby spared from destruction. The last regular service was held in 1973, and then the synagogue was closed down and allowed to fall into disrepair under communist rule. Restoration was undertaken from 1995-98, and the synagogue was reopened on February 11, 1998 at a cost of 63 million Kc. The building is now put to good use with the central hall used for concerts from such legends as Joseph Malowany, Peter Dvorský, or Karel Gott, while the walls play host to temporary photographic exhibitions of various worthy-causes. The synagogue is still used for worship, but only in what was formerly the winter prayer room. The present number of Pilsner Jews is a little over 70.
The wonderful stained glass windows of the shul:
Here is the story as to how this statue came to be.
In 1696, the Prague authorities accused a local Jewish leader, Elias Backoffen, of blasphemy. As his punishment he was ordered to raise the funds for purchasing of gold-plated Hebrew letters, placed around the head of the statue, spelling out "Holy, Holy, Holy, the Lord of Hosts," words from the Prophet Isaiah and part of our Kedusha.
The inscription was a symbolic humiliation and degradation of Prague Jews, forcing them to pay for a set of golden letters referring to God and hung around the neck of the statue of Christ.
And there they have hung ever since. In 2000, some local Jews requested that signs be erected near the statue, explaining to passersby the history behind the letters, and pointing out that when Jews recite the same words they are not referring to Jesus.
The Mayor of Prague and local Catholic Church leaders agreed, and offered to foot the bill.
But today the signs with the explanations have disappeared. Alongside the statue there is a Dixieland band, playing New Orleans classics, but in Czech. Another group nearby plays soft Czech folk songs, and hustlers try to sell "art" to the tourists.
The golden letters are still there. Except that the "Vav" in the middle of the four letter Holy Name of Hashem has disappeared, despite the constant surveillance of the bridge; someone managed to remove the "Vav" from the set of letters. So the golden letters now read, "Holy Holy Holy YHH of Hosts", which essentially renders the inscription to be Hebrew gibberish.
As we walked around the city, we were amazed by the number of churches. Thinking that this was a very religious city, we were surprised to learn that the Communists had been very successful and that most of the people of Prague and the Czech Republic were now atheists or agnostics. The large churches with their amazing acoustics are now used for concerts; all over Prague there are ticket sellers who are hawking tickets for a vast array of chamber music, symphony orchestra or operatic concerts that are taking place at various times of the day.
We took advantage of the opportunity and went to an evening concert in one of the non church venues along the bank of the river.
With wide boulevards and architecturally designed streets built to resemble Paris, you see some very interesting buildings.
We ventured over the bridge to the Castle and took a tour of the impressive grounds and buildings.
After a very busy day, we headed back into town to the large city square.
The Old Town Square is one of two main squares in town; the other is the Wenceslas Square just 5 minutes away. With its ancient buildings, this is one of the most beautiful squares in all of Europe, dating back to the 12th century.
One of the most notable sights in the square is the famous Astronomical Clock also known as Orloj.
The clock dates back to 1410 when it was originally built by Mikuláš of Kadan and Jan Šindel, who later became a professor at Charles University in Prague.
Every hour, hundreds of visitors gather to watch the performance of the clock.
The three main components include the astronomical dial representing the position of the Sun and Moon in the sky, “The Walk of the Apostles” which is a clockwork hourly show of figures of the Apostles and other moving sculptures, and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months.Every hour, hundreds of visitors gather to watch the performance of the clock.
The Astronomical Clock stopped working several times in the centuries after 1552, which required constant repairing.
One story mentions how the council purposely gouged out the original clock maker’s eyes in order to prevent him from making a similar clock for another country.
Soon afterwards, he died while touching the clock, at which point the clock stopped working and remained broken for a number of years. In the 17th century moving statues were added, and figures of the Apostles were also added after major repair in 1865-1866.
Alfons Maria Mucha (24 July 1860 – 14 July 1939), often known in English and French as Alphonse Mucha, was a Czech Art Nouveau painter and decorative artist, known best for his distinct style. He produced many paintings, illustrations, advertisements, postcards, and designs. He spent most of his creative years in Paris drawing luminaries like actress Sarah Bernhardt; his influence can still be seen throughout his home country.
Our Day in the Jewish Museum
The next morning I went back to shul, this time armed with my camera. I took a number of pictures of the shul, both inside and outside; including the chained off chair of the Maharal.
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| Outside the Altneu Maharal Shul |
It has been in continuous use since it was built other than the Nazi occupation years of 1941 to 1945.
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| View of the shul with its famous attic and the Jewish Community Center and the High Synagogue with its Hebrew clock next door. |
In the 16th Century, the Maharal, reportedly created a golem to defend the Prague ghetto from anti-semetic attacks. Depending on the version of the legend, the Jews in Prague were to be either expelled or killed under the rule of Rudolf II. To protect the Jewish community, the rabbi constructed the Golem out of clay from the banks of the river, and brought it to life through rituals and Hebrew incantations. The Golem was called Josef and was known as Yossele. It was said that he could make himself invisible and summon spirits from the dead. The only care required of the Golem was that he can't be alive on the day of Sabbath (Saturday). Rabbi Loew deactivated the Golem on Friday evenings by removing the shem before the Sabbath began, so as to let it rest on Sabbath. One Friday evening Rabbi Loew forgot to remove the shem, and feared that the Golem would desecrate the Sabbath.
The rabbi then managed to pull the shem from his mouth and immobilize him in front of the synagogue, whereupon the golem fell in pieces. The Golem's body was stored in the attic of the Altneu Shul where it would be restored to life again if needed. According to legend, the body of Rabbi Loew's Golem still lies in the synagogue's attic. The attic is not open to the general public.
Some strictly orthodox Jews believe that the Maharal did actually create a golem. The last Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, wrote that his father-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, told him that he saw the remains of the Golem in the attic of Alt-Neu Shul.
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| Chair and lecturn of the Maharal. |
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| Inside the shul - Note the flag and the Magen David with the yellow Swedish Star
In 1354, King Charles iv of Bohemia prescribed for the Jews of Prague a red flag with both David's shield and Solomon's Seal.
In the first Siddur, printed in Prague in 1512, a large Magen David appears on the cover. The inscription is a passuk from the Torah: "Each man beneath his flag according to the house of their fathers…".
In 1592, Mordechai Maizel was allowed to affix "a flag of King David, similar to that located on the Main Synagogue" on his synagogue in Prague. In 1648, the Jews of Prague were again allowed a flag, in acknowledgment of their part in defending the city against the Swedes in the Battle of Prague. On a red background was a yellow Shield of David, in the center of which was a Swedish star; that flag hangs today in the center of the Altneu Shul. |
On the walls of the shul were large Hebrew letters that formed "mysterious" acronyms. I tried to figure out what they meant and while I was successful on a number of them, had to resort to asking the Rabbi to explain those that I could not figure out.
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| Shviti HaShem LeNegdi Tamid - I put G-d in front of me always (r) and |
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| Gadol HaOneh Amen Yoter Min HaMevarach - Greater is he who answers 'Amen' than he who makes the blessing |
Painted in the year Ki Bachar HaShem B'Tzion L'Moshav - For G-d has chosen Zion, He has desired it for His seat
Sur Meirah V'Aseh Tov - Shun evil and do good (l) and Ach Tov L'Yisrael Selah - And so He will be good until forever for eternity (r)
In the year HaShem Echad U'Shmo Echad - The Lord is One and His name One
Also on the wall hung a list of rules and regulations for the shuls in Prague as decreed by the Maharal. These rules included the order of priority for those who would want an aliyah as well as specific aliyot; the need for all shuls in Prague to wait till this shul began a tefillah before they could begin (try to enforce that in today's world :-); only those married could get aliyot on Shabbat and the need to have people who are regular worshippers at this shul to lead the services on the holidays and High Holidays.
Around the perimeter of the shul were narrow slots which were the connection between the men's area of the shul and the women's section. Not sure this would fly in today's world!
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| Note the narrow slots for the women to see |
After breakfast, we began our tour of the Jewish Museum of Prague.
Unlike most museums in cities around the world, this museum is not centered in one building; rather it encompasses all the sights of Jewish interest in the entire quarter; a number of shuls, holocausts memorials and the famous ancient cemetery where the Maharal is buried.
In addition to the Altneu Shul, the shuls that we visited were the High Synagogue with its famous Hebrew Lettered clock that moves counterclockwise;
the Maisels Shul;
The Spanish Shul with its collection of tefillin from the Nazi era;
and the Pinkus Shul with its list of all the Holocaust Victims on the walls of the shul.
Outside of the Jewish quarter there is another amazing shul called the Jubillee Shul on Jerusalemska Street.
In 1942, the communities were instructed to send the contents of their synagogues to the Jewish Museum in Prague, and, with a few exceptions, the Torah Scrolls, gold and silver and ritual textiles were sent to Prague, along with thousands of books. Artifacts were shipped to the museum from all the Jewish communities and synagogues in Czechoslovakia. The inventory of the Prague Jewish Museum expanded by fourteen times as a result, and a large number of Jews were put to work by the Germans to sort, catalogue and put into storage all the items that had come from over one hundred congregations. It needed over forty warehouses, many of them deserted Prague synagogues, to store all these treasures.
The Spanish Shul with its collection of tefillin from the Nazi era;
and the Pinkus Shul with its list of all the Holocaust Victims on the walls of the shul.
Outside of the Jewish quarter there is another amazing shul called the Jubillee Shul on Jerusalemska Street.
In 1942, the communities were instructed to send the contents of their synagogues to the Jewish Museum in Prague, and, with a few exceptions, the Torah Scrolls, gold and silver and ritual textiles were sent to Prague, along with thousands of books. Artifacts were shipped to the museum from all the Jewish communities and synagogues in Czechoslovakia. The inventory of the Prague Jewish Museum expanded by fourteen times as a result, and a large number of Jews were put to work by the Germans to sort, catalogue and put into storage all the items that had come from over one hundred congregations. It needed over forty warehouses, many of them deserted Prague synagogues, to store all these treasures.
This vast hoard of Judaica was intended by the Nazis to become their museum to the extinct Jewish race.
After the defeat of Germany, a free and independent Czechoslovakia emerged, but it was a country largely without Jews. Prague which had had a Jewish population of 54,000 in 1940 was reduced to under 8,000 by 1947, and many of these were to leave.
Today the community operates the Museum and the funds that they collect from tours and souvenirs support whatever little Yiddishkeit exists in Prague and a few other cities in the Czech Republic.
The Old Cemetery was established in the 15th century. The oldest tombstone is that of scholar and poet Avigdor Karo, dated 1439. Burials took place from then till 1787. There are some 12000 headstones, but more than 100,000 people are buried there as the tombs are stacked one on top of the other once the community ran out of space and there was no other burial plot given to the community by the authorities. The most famous person there is the Maharal of Prague.
This is a building near the Jewish quarter; note the magen david above the first floor window.
Everywhere we went, we saw decorated cows in Prague; 218 to be exact. Walking, grazing and sometimes lying down, these colorful cows can be found scattered across the landscape by ones, by twos and in small to medium-sized herds.
The CowParade project began in Zurich, Switzerland in 1998 as a local event aimed to increase business and tourism. Due to its success the project was expanded and now Chicago, New York, Sydney, Houston, London and Brussels are just a few of the 18 cities that have played host to the world's largest public art event. Each of the life-sized fiberglass cow sculptures is financed by a corporate or government sponsor and then decorated by selected local artists who have been chosen from hundreds of applicants.
Each cow is decorated according to the artist's creativity; above are just a few of the cows in Prague in 2001.
That evening we took a special tour that was called the "Bubbe Maaseh" tour; a tour guide walked us thru the city and told us tales about the colorful characters of Prague and then told us whether they thought that the story was true or a legend. Very interesting evening.
That evening we took a special tour that was called the "Bubbe Maaseh" tour; a tour guide walked us thru the city and told us tales about the colorful characters of Prague and then told us whether they thought that the story was true or a legend. Very interesting evening.
The next morning, we met outside the Intercontinental Hotel and joined up with a group of people for a guided tour of the Terezinstadt Concentration Camp. It was established by the SS during WWII in the fortress and garrison city of Terezin (German name Theresienstadt), located in what is now the Czech Republic.
This was our first visit to a Nazi Death camp and the visit left us shaken and trembling from the horrors that human beings are capable of performing. Yemach Shemom V'Zichrom!!!
During World War II it served as a Nazi Concentration Camp staffed by German Nazi guards. Tens of thousands of people were murdered there and over 150,000 others (including tens of thousands of children) were held there for months or years, before then being sent to their deaths on rail transports to Treblinka or Auschwitz extermination camps in Poland, as well as to smaller camps elsewhere.
Terezin was a "model" camp. It was used by the Nazis to dupe the Red Cross and other international bodies into believing that they were treating their prisoners humanely. Hence, it looked neat; lawns were manicured and well kept and the prisoners were forced to put on a show whenever international visitors appeared.
The camp and crematoria was in this little town and believe it or not, people live here almost as though nothing happened!
Sign outside the crematorium says "God gives; God takes away; woe that there are those who are gone and no replacement for them is found."
The Sfas Emes (The Gerrer rebbe) offers an alternative and novel interpretation: "Woe that there are those who are gone and the reason for their death is not fathomed by those who remain alive." (Sfas Emes)
In the town of Terezin after the war, people were living in a home that was the barracks of some of the prisoners. When they went to remodel the home and stripped the paint on the wall, they found the hidden shul of Terezin.
A plaque from the Embassy of Israel.
The famous phrase.
This looks like a beautiful bathroom; in fact it was never connected to water and was used only to show the Red cross that the Nazis were providing the very best for their prisoners and victims.
The next day we hired a private guide who drove us to the spa and resort towns of Carlesbad and Marienbad.
Karlovy Vary (English: Carlsbad) is a spa city situated in western Czech Republic, on the confluence of the rivers Ohre and Tepla, approximately 130 km (81 mi) west of Prague (Praha). It is named after King Charles IV who founded the city in 1370. It is historically famous for its hot springs (13 main springs, about 300 smaller springs, and the warm-water Teplá River).
In the 19th century, it became a popular tourist destination, especially known for international celebrities visiting for spa treatment.
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| One of the hot springs; Fran with the guide |
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| Tasting the sulphur water |
When visiting the town, it is customary to buy a small ceramic pitcher and taste the various different waters from the different springs.
It is a beautiful and colorful town and has been used over the years as the location for a number of film-shoots, including the 2006 films Last Holiday and box-office hit Casino Royale, both of which used the city's Grandhotel Pupp in different guises.
On the way back to Prague and our last night there, we stopped in the town of Pilsen, where the famous Pilsener Beer was created. But we stopped in the town not because of the beer, but rather because there is a huge shul; one of the largest in the world, seating about 3000 people. Kind of strange as there are only 70 Jews left in Pilsen!
The brochure of the shul:
A little about the shul from Wikipedia:
The Great Synagogue in Pilsen, is the second largest in Europe.
A Viennese architect called Fleischer drew up the original plans for the synagogue in Gothic style with granite buttresses and twin 65-meter towers. The cornerstone was laid on December 2, 1888 and that was about as far as it got. City councillors rejected the plan in a clear case of tower envy as they felt that the grand erection would compete with the nearby Cathedral which would no longer be the tallest building in Pilsen.
Here is the comparison showing the original design and the revised lower design that eventually became the Pilsen Synagogue.
Emmanuel Klotz put forward a new design in 1890 retaining the original ground plan and hence the cornerstone, but lowering the towers by 20m and creating the distinctive look combining Romantic and neo Renaissance styles covered with Oriental decorations and a giant Magen David The design was quickly approved and master builder Rudolf Štech completed work in 1893 for the bargain price of 162,138 guilders. At the time the Jewish community in Plzeň numbered some 2,000. The mixture of styles is truly bewildering; from the onion domes of a Russian orthodox church, to the Arabic style ceiling, to the distinctly Indian looking Aron Kodesh.
A massive shul....I stood on the bimah and sang Kol Nidrei...the acoustics were amazing! The experience was scary...At one time this amazing beautiful enormous shul was full for a kol nidrei...now even on Yom Kippur it is empty!
The synagogue was used without interruption until the Nazi occupation, and the Jewish community that retook possession of the synagogue at the end of hostilities had been decimated by the Shoah. The synagogue was used as a storage facility during the war and was thereby spared from destruction. The last regular service was held in 1973, and then the synagogue was closed down and allowed to fall into disrepair under communist rule. Restoration was undertaken from 1995-98, and the synagogue was reopened on February 11, 1998 at a cost of 63 million Kc. The building is now put to good use with the central hall used for concerts from such legends as Joseph Malowany, Peter Dvorský, or Karel Gott, while the walls play host to temporary photographic exhibitions of various worthy-causes. The synagogue is still used for worship, but only in what was formerly the winter prayer room. The present number of Pilsner Jews is a little over 70.
The paper kippah that was handed to us as we entered.
My picture of the shul from the street:
We headed back to Prague and ended a very emotional trip that gave us a small feeling of what life was like in pre war Czechoslovakia and how the murdering Nazis had destroyed the vibrant and rich communities that had existed all over that part of Europe. The small Jewish community that remains is really there to service the many tourists that come from all over to spend a few days, as we had, learning about the history and the personalities of pre Nazi Prague and Czechoslovakia. The Nazis actually accomplished what they had set to do with Prague; they turned it into a museum; albeit, not one of an extinct race but of a people that remembers, does not forget and resolves to never again allow something like this to happen.
Am Yisrael Chai!!!!
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| The outside of the Altneu Shul |
