Židovská obec v Praze

New Jewish Cemetery

JanTuma — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 08:36:25 +0000

The New Jewish Cemetery was established in 1890 (5650), when the Old Jewish Cemetery in today’s Fibichova street ceased to serve its purpose. The cemetery belongs among protected monuments. It is the only Jewish cemetery in Prague today, where burials of the deceased of Jewish religion continue to take place. A new cemetery database, according to which it is possible to locate people buried in single graves as well as to print out a detailed plan of gravesites, is accessible since 2005. The cemetery was intended for approximately 100 000 graves, which corresponds to about one century of functioning. On its area of more than 10 hectares, more than 10 times that of the Old Jewish cemetery in Josefov, around 25 000 deceased are buried. A ceremonial hall with a dignified room for prayers, a house for purification (tahara), administrative and auxiliary buildings, as well as the protective wall around the cemetery were built in prevailing style of its time – Neo-Renaissance. The ceremonial hall was designed by the architect Bedřich Münzberger. The cemetery was, from the beginning, duly divided into burial fields, in which graves were gradually placed. A walk along the cemetery thus becomes also a survey of individual styles of tombs and gravestones, as they followed in time, from Neo-Gothic, Neo-Reneissance and Prague and Viennese Art Nouveau, through Classicism, Purism and Constructivism to the present. Burials continue to take place in the cemetery till today. Many artistically valuable tombstones were designed by prominent Czech architects and sculptors – Jan Kotěra, Josef Zasch, Josef Fanta, Čeněk Vosmík and others. In the middle of the cemetery, by the main alley, a burial field has been dedicated to officials of Jewish religious communities and other important personalities, while at a site near the cemetery gate, the graves of eminent Rabbis (for example, Dr. Nathan Ehrenfeld or Dr. Gustav Sicher) are located. The Patria ship memorial, the monument of the extinct community of Dolní Královice in the shape of an ordinary boulder and the 1926 Memorial of World War I victims, an a oblong block embedded in two rectangular pedestals, stand by the cemetery entrance as well. Lavish family tombs, such as those of the two important entrepreneur families, the Petscheks and the Waldes’s, were built along the eastern cemetery wall. Two relief busts that decorate the Waldes tomb are the last work of Josef Václav Myslbek. Two structures at the cemetery attract the most attention. The 1985 Memorial of Czechoslovak Jews who perished in the Shoah and the Resistance, a composition of concave stone ellipses at the center of which the Star of David glares, is the work of the sculptor Zdeněk Vodička and the architect Vladimír Stehlík. The other often visited site is the grave of the writer Franz Kafka and his parents , whose names and data are inscribed on the front face of the gravestone (number 21 – 14 – 21), shaped as a hexagonal crystal, the work of the architect Leopold Ehrmann. The memorial tablet of Max Brod, Kafka’s friend and an important promoter of his work buried in Israel, is placed on the opposing wall. The well-known writer Ota Pavel rests in the cemetery as well, the poet Jiri Orten is buried in the urn grove. Although Jewish tradition forbids cremation of the dead, the cemetery has obtained a special permission to run the urn grove. People from mixed marriages in particular have used this possibility. The operation of the cemetery including maintenance is funded from the JCP budget with contributions of other organizations.

The Old-New Synagogue post

JanTuma — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 08:13:02 +0000

The Old-New Synagogue is the oldest site of Prague’s Jewish Town and the oldest extant synagogue in Europe. It has been the main synagogue of the Prague Jewish community for more than 700 years. Built in the last third of the thirteenth century by stone-masons from the royal workshop who were working on the nearby Convent of St. Agnes, it is testimony to the important status of the then Jewish community of Prague. Originally called the New or Great Shul, it was not until the establishment of other synagogues in the late 16th century that it came to be known as the Old-New (Altneuschul). Legend has it, however, that its foundation stones were brought by angels from the destroyed Temple of Jerusalem “on condition” (Heb. Al-tenai) of their return upon restoration of the Temple. The Old-New Synagogue enjoyed tremendous respect in Prague’s Jewish Town and in Jewish communities abroad. It also became enveloped in numerous legends and tales. According to one legend, the synagogue was protected against fire in the ghetto by the wings of angels transformed into doves, which is why it has remained miraculously intact to this day. Another legend has it that the attic of the synagogue is home to the remains of the Golem, the artificial creature made of clay that was animated by the Rabbi Loew in order to protect the Prague community. The Old-New Synagogue is the oldest surviving synagogue with a medieval double-nave. It is a rectangular structure with a large saddle roof and Gothic gables, the thick outer walls of which are supported by buttresses. The main building is surrounded on three sides by low annexes which serve as a vestibule and women’s sections; the latter are connected to the main hall only by narrow apertures in the walls, which enable women to hear the services. In accordance with tradition and as a sign of humility, the floor level of the hall and main nave is several degrees below the surrounding terrain. Two early Baroque money boxes in the vestibule were used for collecting Jewish taxes from the entire kingdom. The interior of the Old-New Synagogue is arched by six bays of five-ribbed vaulting on two large octagonal pillars. The twelve narrow pointed windows correspond in number to the tribes of Israel. The stone brackets and shaft capitals feature sculptural ornamentation of plant motifs, dominated by vine-leaf motifs. Of greatest artistic value is the decoration of the tympanum above the Torah ark and the vault keystones. Due to the similarity of the stone ornamentation to that of other early Gothic buildings in Bohemia, the foundation of the synagogue can be dated back to around 1270. In the centre of the main hall is a raised platform (bimah or almemar) which is separated from the surrounding space by a late-Gothic grille. The Torah scrolls are kept in the holy ark (aron ha-kodesh) in the eastern wall of the synagogue, facing Jerusalem. The ark is covered by an embroidered curtain (parokhet) and valance (kapporet), which are adorned with symbols that recall the Temple of Jerusalem. In front of the ark hangs the “eternal light” (ner tamid), and to the right is the cantor’s desk (amud), from which he leads the service. To this day, the Old-New Synagogue has retained the original seating arrangement around the perimiter of the main hall, which corresponds to the usual layout in other synagogues of its time. Recently uncovered frames of the niches, which were once used for the storage of prayer books and requisites, can be seen in the perimeter walls. The main room is lit by numerous bronze chandeliers, dating from the 16th to the 18th centuries, and brass reflectors hung on the walls. The interior decoration of the Old-New Synagogue is complemented by a high banner, which symbolizes the important status of the Prague Jewish community. In use since the late 15th century, it was restored to its present form by Emperor Charles VI in 1716. The centre of the banner features the six-pointed Star of David with a Jewish hat, which was the official symbol of the Prague Jewish community from the 15th century onwards. The text of the Jewish faith, Shemah Yisroel, is inscribed along the edges of the flag. The Old-New Synagogue was always the main synagogue of Prague’s Jewish community. Rabbis who were active here in the 16th century included Eliezer Ashkenazi, Mordecai ben Abraham Jaffe, Judah ben Bezalel (the great Rabbi Loew) and his most important pupil Jom Tov Lipmannn Heller, who was known for his outstanding commentaries on the Mishnah. Among the later rabbis who were active here were Ezekiel Landau, a great authority on traditional rabbinic learning, and Solomon Judah Leib Rapoport, a prominent representative of the Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah).

Welcome to Synagogue.cz

JanTuma — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 08:24:31 +0000

Permanent exhibition at Jerusalem Synagogue

The new exhibition, “The Jewish Community of Prague from 1945 to the Present Day”, presents the hitherto unknown post-war history of the Jewish Community of Prague, using unique photographs and documents and documentary films. It captures key moments in the existence of the Jewish Community of Prague from the end of the Second World War to the present day.The exhibition is organized by the Jewish Community of Prague with funding from Prague City Hall and the Jewish Community of Prague Foundation.

The permanent exhibition “Jewish Monuments and their Reconstruction after 1989″ presents visitors with photograpic, graphic and audiovisual resources documenting the course of restoration and reconstruction of Jewish monuments administered by the Jewish Community Prague.

Synagogues

JanTuma — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 21:42:00 +0000

Jewish Synagogues

Cemeteries

JanTuma — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 21:30:10 +0000

About Jewish Cemeteries

Other Sights

JanTuma — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 21:28:39 +0000

Other Jewish Sights