April 8, Evening - April 9: Jewish Life in Prague, Past and Present

Last evening we met Rabbi Ron Hoffberg who has been the Masorti Rabbi in Prague for the past 13 years.  Before that, he was Rabbi in Cranford, New Jersey.  He joined us for dinner at Dinitz restaurant where we enjoyed wonderful homemade chumus and Israeli salads, salmon with a spicy red sauce, followed by chicken tagine with salad, potatoes, and rice.  We learned from Rabbi Hoffberg that there are currently some 1,500 Jews in Prague from a pre-WWII population of over 50,000 in the city.  Many in the city are interested in Judaism, and many have Jewish heritage in their families. He told the story of Peter, a Christian, who came from eastern Bohemia, somehow found his way to the Jewish community of Prague, studied Judaism while balancing a job on the railroad, and eventually discovered that his grandmother and mother were Jewish - despite an intentional effort to keep this information from him.

We began our tour of the Jewish Quarter at the Alt-Neu Shul, the Old-New Synagogue, completed in 1270 and still in use by the Jewish community here.  We were not permitted to take photos inside, so I will search the net for an available interior photo.

The Spanish Synagogue is an Ashkenazi shul with the distinctive, colorful Moorish style of arches and bright colors as you may have seen at Bnai Jeshurun in NYC.  This shul is no longer in use for davening.  There is a museum display of Judaica as well as many concerts held there.  On the facade, we noticed that the representation of the Ten Commandments shows Commandments 1-5 on the Left side in Roman numerals rather than Right-Left as with the Hebrew spelling of the Commandments. 

The Old Jewish Cemetery was also a notable site we visited today.  We find there the graves of the Maharal, Rabbi Loew, a great Rabbi and author of works on Jewish mysticism.  There is the grave of Rabbi Ephraim of Lunshits, the Kli Yakar, a commentary on the Torah.  Once again, photography was not permitted in the Cemetery without a payment of 40 korunas, about $2.  

In addition to Jewish sites today, after a full-morning of touring the classic synagogues, seeing the bronze statue of Franz Kafka, and enjoying coffee while watching the clock tower, we were able to wander through the Old Town Square and to enter the Church in the picture just above.  The striking spires of the Church complement the ornate chapels, art work, wood and metal work inside.

On the way back to the hotel in the afternoon, we stopped by this outdoor market where we found fresh fruit as well as all type of souvenirs.

Tomorrow, we head out of Prague to visit Terezinstadt for the day.