September 17th, 2013

So, despite the lack of posting this past week I did actually do things with my life!  It was our last week of intensive czech so there was much studying to be done but there was still time to do a few fun things.  A friend and I decided to go to the Jewish part of town and go on the tour of the buildings there.  Sadly in most of the buildings you were not allowed to take pictures so there is not much to see.  Our first stop was Pinkasova synagoga, where on the walls the names of the 80,000 Jews who lost their lives during the holocaust.  It was one of the most beautiful and sad things I have ever seen.  We got to see the artwork of children who were alive during the holocaust and the pictures they had drawn depicting their lives during this time.  After that we got to go through the Old Jewish Cemetery where all of the Jews were buried during the time when the Jews were contained in the ghetto.  The graves are so close together because it was the only place for them to be buried.  After that we had to opportunity to visit five synagogues in the area, all of them were beautiful but sadly there were very few pictures taken.  It is an amazing area of town and with my classes I'm taking I will be spending much more time there.

"The present building is the work of the Horowitz family. In 1535 Aaron Meshullam Horowitz had it built between his house "U Erbů" and the site of the Old Jewish Cemetery. After the Second World War, the synagogue was turned into a Memorial to the Jews of Bohemia and Moravia murdered by the Nazis. On its walls are inscribed the names of the Jewish victims, their personal data, and the names of the communities to which they belonged. In 1968, however, the Memorial had to be closed because ground water had penetrated the building´s foundations, thus endangering the structure. During work on the underground waterproofing of the building, a discovery was made of vaulted spaces with an ancient well and ritual bath. The Communist regime deliberately held up renovation work and the inscriptions were removed. Not until 1990 was it possible to complete the building alterations. Finally, in 1992-1994, the 80,000 names of the Jewish victims of Bohemia and Moravia were rewritten on its walls."

(Pinkasova synagoga)

(Pinkasova synagoga)

"It is not clear when exactly the cemetery was founded. This has been the subject of discussion of many scholars. Some claim that the cemetery is over 1000 years older than the accepted date, which is the first half of the 15th century. The oldest grave belongs to the Prague rabbi and poet Avigdor Kara from 1439. It was founded by the king Ottokar II of Bohemia.[citation needed] According to halakhah, Jews must not destroy Jewish graves and in particular it is not allowed to remove the tombstone. This meant that when the cemetery ran out of space and purchasing extra land was impossible, more layers of soil were placed on the existing graves, the old tombstones taken out and placed upon the new layer of soil. This explains why the tombstones in the cemetery are placed so closely to each other. This resulted in the cemetery having 12 layers of graves. However, it has been estimated that there are approximately 12,000 tombstones presently visible, and there may be as many as 100,000 burials in all."

(Old Jewish Cemetery)

(Old Jewish Cemetery)

(Old Jewish Cemetery)

(Old Jewish Cemetery)

(Old Jewish Cemetery)

(Old Jewish Cemetery)

(Old Jewish Cemetery)

(Old Jewish Cemetery)

(Old Jewish Cemetery)

(Old Jewish Cemetery)

(Old Jewish Cemetery)

(Old Jewish Cemetery)

"The Spanish Synagogue in Prague is known as the most beautiful synagogue in Europe. Set in the heart of the Jewish Quarter (Josefov), it is certainly a stunning sight. The Spanish Synagogue was built in 1868 on the site of the oldest Prague Jewish house of prayer ("the Old Shul").Under Nazi and Communist rule the Spanish Synagogue was neglected, fell into a sorry state, and was eventually closed. But in the latter part of the 20th century the Jewish Museum took control, and began work on the restoration of the synagogue. The Spanish Synagogue finally re-opened on the 130th anniversary of its establishment."

(Spanish Synagogue)