The Jewish Quarter

I hope that we all know the horrors of the Shoah, but visits to places like the Jewish Quarter in Prague is a reminder that Jews have been targets of hate for centuries. What are the root causes of that othering? 

The first documented pogram of Prague Jews was in 1096, and it wasn’t long after that Jews settled within a walled area referred to as the Jewish ghetto. Not until 1848 could they live in other areas and outside of the city; before that, there were reportedly up to 18,000 humans living in a relatively small area. Most of the buildings in the quarter were demolished in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

There are some buildings that remain. There are several synagogues in the Jewish Quarter, one dating back to the 13th century (and supposedly built on the ruins of a previous synagogue). It’s called the Old-New Synagogue. 

The Old-New Synagogue

Another one, the Pinkus Synagogue, has names and birth/death dates of almost 80,000 Bohemian and Moravian Jews who were murdered by the Nazis. Recordings of the reading of the names is heard as you walk through room after room after room. 

These photos are not mine. Somehow it felt too disrespectful to take pictures. 

Another place that we visited was the Old Jewish Cemetery. It is among the oldest Jewish burial grounds in the world. The first known burial there was in the 1400s and the last was in the late 1700s. There are more than 12,000 tombstones there but over 100,000 bodies, according to many estimates. Because the Jews were given only this area in which to bury their dead, they brought in dirt to create up to ten layers in some parts of the cemetery. There were some expansions of the cemetery, but it's clear that the hilly parts are where the layers are.

I don't know if these headstones sank or if they were partially buried when more dirt was brought into the cemetery. 

Dan wrote about the concert at the church. The musicians were all outstanding, and the acoustics in that building were gorgeous. As we were leaving, we went past the square, where the lights of the market and the tree were sparkling and lovely. And the church in the photo below happens to be where our friend Alice's grandparents were married. 

Dinner for me was garlic soup, which is a chicken broth *loaded* with garlic some potatoes. (Not a first-date food, as our friend, Barbara, would say.) Also on the menu was this:

Now, look. I don't pretend to speak Czech. It's an incredibly beautiful and difficult language for this native Southerner. But no matter how this translated, it's gonna be a hard no on that particular dish. Děkuji anyway!