Prague – Old Jewish Area

JEWISH PRAGUE

On Friday May 15^th we were guided around the Jewish area of Prague by a delightful young lady called Katerina who told us so much about the history of each place that I wish I could remember all of it.

Our first stop was the Pinkas Synagogue, established in 1535 by the Horowitz family. It is no longer used as a house of prayer, but was turned into a memorial to the 77,297 Jewish victims of the Nazis from Bohemia and Moravia. Interestingly, this was done by the communists during the mid to late 1950s. The walls inside the building are covered with the names of the victims with dates of birth and

death (when death date is unknown, the date taken is that of departure by train to the death camps.) Seeing so many names, I had to close off my emotions or I’d be overwhelmed by the awful events. On the end wall of the main hall, are lists of all the camps where prisoners were held until they were sent to the gas chambers, mainly to Auschwitz.

As the Jews were confined to their ghettos, in areas frequently flooded, the synagogue has been under a metre or more of water several times and had to be repaired each time, most recently in 2002. I hadn’t realized that because of a ruling in the Old Testament, one must step down into a synagogue, so of course the chance of flooding is greater. I wonder did Jesus change this rule for Christians?

Prague’s Old Jewish Cemetery was our next stop. A fascinating place, with headstones sticking out of the ground, at odd angles and from a vast array of depths. It has been built up with fresh layers of soil so that now the ground level is about two metres above the earlier level of surrounding walls. Moving the hallowed graves is not allowed so the number of bodies buried here from its beginning in the 15^th century is not known. It is not a large area, nothing like our modern cemeteries, but a mature tree that has pushed its way through five or six gravestones, gives some indication of the age and jumble of this place. As we walked around, Katerina pointed out symbols on the stones to show the family name or position in society – a lion, fish, jug etc. Dark stones are the oldest, marble being used more recently although the last gravestone is from 1787.

Next to the cemetery is the building of the Funeral Brotherhood, which is sort of like a funeral parlor in that the members (who must be distinguished members of the Jewish community) do all that is necessary for the burial – preparing the body, making the robe, organising the ceremony and the wake, etc because the body should be buried within 24 hours and the family can’t manage all of that so quickly.

 

 

Then we walked to the Old-New Synagogue, so called because in the 16^th century other new ones were built. This synagogue is from the late 13^th century and was designed at least partly by Christian architects –

 

looking up at the Gothic arches, where the structure requires a cross, we saw an extra arm because the Jewish elders couldn’t allow a Christian style of cross. The building is still used for services and women still have to remain apart, looking only through small windows in the rear wall.

Jews were able to conduct their religious ceremonies and live free from attack by Christians, some of the time, with protection by the king, but they had to pay a large annual sum.Two big vaults were used to store and protect this money. At other times Christians did attack, the worst occasion being during the pogrom of 1389.

 

In the same complex is the Jewish Parliament, sort of like a shire council for the leaders of the Jewish community to govern their affairs. Attached to the parliament, is another synagogue, not open to the public.

Our last stop was the Spanish Synagogue, built in the 19^th century using Moorish architecture and decoration. It’s not like any of the other synagogues and although the women are still separated they sit upstairs,

looking down, not kept out of sight. There is also an organ, unusual in an institution where the human male voice is generally the only instrument used to lead the people in prayer. Pews are placed in front of what looks like an altar which is raised and where the Torah is kept. The whole of the interior is decorated with patterns and colours in the style of an Islamic mosque.

I found the whole setup intriguing. It’s like a separate country with its own rules, run within the city of Prague. Generally, the Jews were only allowed to stay and to work within their ghettos, but as they were the financiers for the whole of Europe for many centuries, they were needed by the rulers as well as the major businesses. It seems that the clever leaders kept peace with their Jewish communities, tolerating their differences and independence, and everyone prospered during those periods.