Jewish Quarter

Prague Day 7 - Jewish Quarter

Today we did the Jewish Quarter in the Old Town.  The common tour is a collection of Jewish historical artifacts and Judaica spread out over 4 old synagogues that are now museums, rather than places of worship, the Jewish Cemetary and the Ceremonial Hall that houses a lot of Jewish religious ritual items.  We walked to the Jewish Quarter through Old Town, stopping first at an open air market and then walking back through Old Town Square which was hopping with activity.  There was a jazz band playing in the square so we listened to them for awhile before proceeding on towards the Jewish Quarter.  When we got there we joined throngs of people on the same route as us, which is pretty much the standard route for seeing the Jewish quarter.  We started at Pinkas Synagogue which is now a memorial to the Czech Jews lost in the holocaust.  Despite the hundreds of people crowding into that site, there is an eerie silence as everyone is mute before the reality of what it memorializes.  The synagogue walls are covered with the names of Czech Jews who perished in the concentration camps. They are listed alphabetically, first by village or town, then by last name within that village or town and give the date of birth and the date on which the person was last seen alive.  Apparently Madeleine Albright's grandparents are listed on one of those walls.   On the third floor of the synagogue there is an exhibition of drawings done by children who were interred in the Terezin concentration camp.  In that camp, those prisoners who were not immediately killed were allowed to set up a children's program in the camp, providing them with some modicum of education.  During that program the children were encouraged to draw pictures depicting their experiences of deportation and camp existence and also their hopes for the future.  The pictures are heart rending to say the least and each is accompanied by a picture of the child who drew it with their birth and death dates.  Most of these pictures are done by children who were 7, 8 or 9 years old at the time.Of the 8000 children deported to the Terezin camp, only 242 survived the war. 

After leaving the Pinkas synagogue you enter the old Jewish Cemetery, which was first established in the 15th century and in which Jewish residents of Prague were buried through 1787.  Since the Jews were mostly in their own ghetto for most of their history in Prague, all Jews had to be buried in that cemetery, so the graves are sometimes 10 people deep.  Due to the small area and large number of graves the stones are all tilted and askew and falling over each other, as the ground is very uneven to accommodate the 100,000+ people buried there.  After leaving the cemetery we entered the Ceremonial Hall where there is a fascinating exhibit detailing the activities of the Jewish Burial Societies that were responsible for tending to the sick and dying in the ghetto and for taking care of all burials.  The hall explains in detail the burial and funeral practices of the Jewish ghetto, with lots of artifacts and photographs. 

Then we went into the Klausen Synagogue which contains a lot of religious ritual items pertinent to Jewish life.  There are beautiful torahs, torah covers and spindles and crowns, kiddush cups, seder plates, tools for circumcision, prayer shawls, and lots of other artifacts of Jewish life.  There are old copies of the Torah and Talmud, scrolls with the Book of Esther and other Purim celebration artifacts.  That was a really interesting exhibit and much of the silver bowls, plates, cups, Torah spindles and crowns were beautiful works of silver inlaid with jewels.    Then we went to the Maisel Synagogue which is now the museum that tells the history of Jews in the Czech lands from the 10th century on.  Finally, the Spanish Synagogue caps the experience chronicling the history of Jews in Prague and the Czech lands from the 19th through 20th centuries.  The Spanish Synagogue is billed as the most beautiful synagogue in Europe and that accolade is well deserved.  It is spectacular to behold.  

The Jewish quarter is in a part of the Old Town that is full of absolutely beautiful Art Nouveau buildings that are gorgeous to look at, full of statues and ornate windows and entryways.  Just walking through the neighborhood is a treat in itself.    After viewing all the Jewish Museum sites it was nearly 3:00 so we stopped for a rest and bowl of soup and by that time is was too late to see any more sites, since everything closes by 4:30 this time of year.  So we walked back to the apartment through Old Town Square, where I had my daily ritual dose of hot wine.  This vendor actually disclosed that is was a French cabernet of some sort.   All I know is that it is lovely, particularly on a cold and rainy afternoon.  We came back to the apartment and rested awhile before going to dinner, back to the same place we went last night.  The food there is good, cheap and its very close to our apartment which was appealing given that it was raining pretty steadily so we were not in the mood to wander about outside.

Tomorrow we have another day trip out of town, to Karlovy Vary, near the German border.  Early up and out as the bus picks us up at 8:20 at the apartment!  Included here are a couple of pictures of the Pinkas Synagogue with the walls with names inscribed, a shot from the old Jewish cemetery and one of the Spanish synagogue.  Pictures are not to be taken in most of the Jewish museum sites so a couple of these photos were sneak shots that I managed to slip in when the caretaker types weren't paying attention!