Vida, our guide from Guide-By-Locals, met us at the hotel for a walking tour of historically important locations, with an emphasis on the Jewish community. Vida, is Jewish, lives in Prague, is married to a neurosurgeon whose practice is in Germany, has one son, has written a book, and runs a children’s theatre school. As a way to describe the dynamic nature of national borders in this part of Europe, she “was born in Austria, grew up in Czechoslovakia, was married in Poland, and lived in Ukraine – without ever leaving her home!”
Grand buildings, everywhere. A wealthy resident gifted identical buildings to his daughters for their wedding present
Pinkas Synagogue
Prayer hall converted to a memorial to Czech Jewish victims of Nazi concentration camps
The list goes on……too many lives lost
We walked a short distance to the Pinkas Synagogue, founded in 1479, which is the second oldest surviving synagogue in the city. It is managed by the Jewish Museum of Prague as a memorial to the almost 78,000 Bohemian and Moravian (Czech) Jewish victims of the Nazi concentration camps – almost all passing through the camp in Terezin, which we will visit tomorrow. Their names are written on the walls of the synagogue. The names are grouped by their birth communities, and included both their birth and death dates. The main prayer hall was rebuilt in the 1990’s, with the bimah (the altar in Orthodox Jewish synagogues from which the Torah is read) in the center of the floor. The original seating around the bimah for more than 400 men is gone, replaced by a railed walkway that affords an up close view of names written on the walls.
Drawings made by children of the concentration camps
The upper floor holds a collection of drawings and paintings made by some of the 8,000 children, under the age of 15, who passed through Terezin, on their way to the Auschwitz death camp. Less than 250 survived. The art was inspired by the painter Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, who encouraged the children to “draw what you see” as a way to deal with their gut-wrenching ghetto experience. To make certain the art would survive her own death at Auschwitz in 1944, Friedl buried a suitcase filled with the drawings, hoping the art would be found and tell the story of what happened to future generations.
The second floor also holds the women’s gallery, added in the 18th century, to separate the women from the men praying in the main hall. Roselie and Barbara kindly asked Mel and me to get out of THEIR gallery. Without argument, the two of us returned to the main hall and the security of the men-only space.
Oldest Jewish cemetery in Prague
Leaving the synagogue, we walked through the adjacent Jewish cemetery. More than 100,000 Jews were buried here, in as many as 12 layers, in the 15th through 18th centuries. The governmental laws of the day required all Jews to be buried within the Ghetto, while Jewish law requires bodies to be buried rather than cremated. We saw several headstones dated back to the 1600’s. In the 1800’s, the size of the cemetery was reduced to make room for a new building. Remains were moved to other synagogue cemeteries.
Old-New Synagogue
Just a block away, we visited the Old-New Synagogue, built in the 13th century, it is the center of Prague’s Jewish community. With the exception of the Nazi occupation years, 1942-1945, services have been held and are continuing to be held on a daily basis. Later, an annex was built to accommodate the women who could see and hear into the main prayer hall through narrow windows.
Bimah of the Old-New Synagogue
The synagogue is also host to a legendary monster – Golem. The story is that this monster, made of clay, was created by Rabbi ben Bezalei in the 16th century, to defend the Jews and help them through hard times. This human-like monster could be brought to life by stuffing a piece of paper, containing secret symbols, into his mouth. The story goes on that Golem became increasing violent and had to be put back to ‘sleep’ by a Rabbi Lowa. Golem’s remains are in the attic of the synagogue, and could be brought back to life as needed. We walked to the back of the Synagogue and saw an entry door into the attic. A ladder of rebar would allow someone to reach the door. Rumor is that individuals who have climbed up the ladder and entered the door were never seen again!
Stairs leading to Golem’s attic in back of Old-New Synagogue
Please enter….if you dare!
Making our way to our final destinations, the Spanish Synagogue, Vida guided us past a bronze memorial statue honoring Franz Kafka, a novelist and native son of Prague,. The statue is of an empty suit, with Kafka perched on its shoulders. Vida claimed, that he was in love with her. Really? Lets see… Kafka died in 1924… that would make Vida more than 120 years old. Perhaps Vida’s hubris at the expense of her tourist group? As a noted 20th century novelist, Kafka’s fictional book The Metamorphosis was on the required reading list in one of my classes – I bought it, but never finished it.
Vida’s boyfriend – Kafka
Before arriving at the Spanish Synagogue, we stopped at the Maisel Synagogue with its exhibition of Jewish history in Czechoslovakia. Security remains vigilant, as casually dressed guards patrolled the street and entrance.
Spanish Synagogue
Beautiful altar area of Spanish Synagogue
Beautiful detailed artwork
It was clear that the Spanish Synagogue is Vida’s favorite. Her son will marry an Argentine woman, here, this fall. In addition to a civil ceremony, she reserved this synagogue for the Jewish wedding ceremony. In fact, she took several calls on her phone, to deal with details of the wedding. She even arranged for high, bar-type chairs for the guests, so they could see the wedding couple behind the railing. After leaving the main hall, we passed through the exhibition of the history of the synagogue. Vida received another call, and abruptly announced that the tour was over. She had to return home to see her husband before he left for his practice in Germany. Dêkuji. Ahoj!
A late lunch in Old Town
You can just feel the lard exuding from every part of the dish
Somewhat disoriented as to where we were in the city, we could see Tyn Church’s steeples and made our way towards that landmark. Right off the Old Town square we discovered a garden restaurant with an international menu. Wonderful Czech dishes including the mandatory ingredient – lard. All new tastes and smells. Another fun day!
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