The Jewish Quarter- The Golden Age

A recent report indicates that anti-Semitic incidents in Czechia reached their highest level in the past year with over an 8% increase over the prior year. We had a wonderful visit to the Jewish Quarter without incidence but as posted on Friday at Services, we saw increase security everywhere we went.

This morning, we walked around Old Town getting an overview of the Jewish Quarter, seeing the Jewish Town Hall with the Hebrew clock that runs counterclockwise (right to left like Hebrew), Ceremonial Funeral Hall, and few of the Synagogues that we will visit tomorrow. Today, we went into the Maisel and Pinkas Synagogues and visited the Old Jewish Cemetery.

Jews were in this area from the 9th century and although by the 12th century there was already a large Jewish settlement, it was in the walled off ghetto area, attempting to keep Jews separate. In the 13th century the Old-New Synagogue was built, but by the 14th century Jews had been expelled from Morovia and Bohemia (the Czech Republic). Finally the Jews returned and by the 16th century Prague had the largest Jewish population in Europe with many members of the Community in the money lending business. In 1781 the Emperor Josef II took down the walls and ended discrimination against Jews here. Many of the medieval buildings were eventually replaced with modern more affluent buildings but the old Synagogues remained with a Community population of over 55,000 Jews which grew to over 90,000. Sadly, only 10,000 survived the Holocaust with about 7,000 currently living in Prague.

We visited the Maisel Synagogue built in the 16th century, established by the Maisel family who invested heavily in the Jewish Community during the growing Golden Age here. The building now provides an interesting history of Jews in Bohemia. Our photos show some of the items we have not seen in Jewish life in the US (i.e., the symbols of the Jewish Butchers and Cobblers Guilds). There was a useful interactive map that shows the changes in the Jewish Community over time after the pogroms, expulsions and fires that destroyed and rebuilt the Community. Many traditional Jewish objects and Torah mantels, havdalah sets, yads, etc are displayed in the showcases. Rare Rabbi transcripts (1570's) and books are also displayed. There is display on Jewish mysticism and the stories of the Golem. This Synagogue also became the “storage facility” for many Jewish objects in addition to Torah Scrolls during the Nazi time. [See the interesting discovery in our June 2025 trip blog to London and the Westminster Synagogue and Memorial Scrolls.]

There were many stories about artifacts here. For example, the Torah ark curtain you see me with is Velvet, silk, appliqué, embroidered with river pearls and Bohemian garnets, refurbished in 1767. In 1664, Maisel's estate won a long-time legal dispute over property that had been confiscated by the state in 1601. More than 30 years later, the curtain and mantle were paid for by private donors to buy back from the owners for the Synagogue. Then during the Nazi period it disappeared again and was finally obtained after fighting for it after the war.Read more