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Seeing the Old Jewish Cemetery,

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Today we visited a synagogue in Prague’s Jewish Quarter that was turned into a memorial that had over 80,000 names of Jews that died in the Holocaust from within Prague. While under communist rule the names were first white washed and painted over so then the painters had to rewrite, by hand, all of the 80,000 names on to the walls.

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What I found significant was the yellow hat in the Jewish museum. It really speaks the to the mindset of Czech Jews at the time to take a symbol of discrimination, humiliation, and turn it into something that they were proud of. Putting the yellow hat in the center of the Star of David in the New Old Synagogue’s flag.

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Seeing the Old Jewish Cemetery ,next to the synagogue, was very interesting because you could see the tradition and culture the Jews would carry out on a loved one. Over 100,000

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Today we visited the Prague's Jewish quarter and we visited a synagogue that that had all the names of Jews of Prague who died during The Holocaust.

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Today within the Jewish Quarter, we learned how in the cemetery over 100,000 people were buried beneath 16 layers of soil. The people were buried layer above layer because in was forbidden to move a dead corpse because it showed signs of disrespect. On the tombs placed above the graves, symbols were found that represented the lives the people lived. In the picture below you see a man holding palm tree. This symbol represents how the man buried beneath this tomb died without having children and the palm in his hand showed how he never grew up to be the adult he once aspired to be. The cemetery holds numerous symbols that tell short stories about the people buried here, which shows people are trying to remember the ones lost by using a symbol to represent their lives.

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Today we visited a Synagogue that was dedicated to the Jews of Prague. Over 80,000 jews from Prague lost their lives in the Holocaust. All the names of these people were written on the walls throughout the building. All the names written on the walls lived such great lives and had them taken from them too early.

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Today we visited four different synagogues all with their own individual history and stories. The first one we visited, known as the Old New Synogogue. In the middle of the main room, a flag was hanging and on it was the Star of David with a hat in the middle. Mr. B explained to us how The Jews used to be required to wear this hat when they would go out, as a way to identify themselves — similar to the stars with j’s on them that the Nazis forced Jewish people to wear — however despite being forced to wear these hats, The Jews turned it into a symbol for themselves and began to associate it with their culture more and more.

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This morning we walked to the Jewish quarter of Prague, where the Old New Synagogue was built in 1270. In the synagogue’s main hall Mr. Barmore explained to us the history of the Star of David as a symbol of the Jewish Community, how such a place of worship was constructed without cement or a foundation, the life of a Hasidic Jew, and he told us an old Jewish myth that came out of Prague. The myth was that a rabbi and his two best students had created a golem (a minion without the ability to speakout of mud from a riverbank who’d chase away a pogrom and eventually do chores for the rabbi and his family. When the golem became a burden because he did not serve the rabbi’s family well, the rabbi and his two best students turned him back into a pile of dirt, which is now said to exist in the attic of the synagogue, and to never be seen by any human being at the risk of their life. From this myth we ask questions such as, “what quality of life was the golem given?” and “what constitutes human life?”.

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Today we visited the old new synagogue. It is the oldest synagogue in Europe and had a special story behind it. Supposedly a Rabbi from the synagogue created a golem. It wasn’t used to scare off crusaders and written on its forehead was emet. It was used after that to perform other tasks but did not know when to stop. Legend is that it was reversed and the mud used to make the golem is in the synagogue’s attic.

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Today we went to the old Jewish Cemetery in Prague where all the Jews were buried while they were confined in the ghettos. Normally Jewish people believe death is like a disease and want to keep it away from them at all times, but since they weren’t allowed to leave their section of the city they were forced to bury their people right next to their Synagogue. They were forced to bury 100,000 Jews in a small area that could only fit about 12,000 tombstones. They were forced to layer the bodies on top of each other, some being 12 layers deep.

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At the Pinkas Synagogue, almost every wall was covered with the names of the victims of the Holocaust.  80,000 names of victims from Bohemia and Moravia were handpainted in the rooms. What struck me the most was the drawings that were hung up in one room. Children during the Holocaust created drawings from
their point of view. It was painful to see these tragic events from their eyes. This artwork is one of the only ways we could possibly know what it was like the be a child during this time.

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Today, Mr. Barmore informed us that before being deported to concentration camps, a lot of Jewish families left their valuable possessions behind, expecting that they would be able to retrieve them after the war was over. The possessions, kept in the Maisel Synagogue, were insured and labeled, each item identified with the family it belonged to. Almost all of these families perished during the Holocaust and now, their vast array of personal belongings remain forever memorialized in the synagogue. For me, the beautiful, unclaimed menorahs that lined the ceiling of the synagogue served as a physical representation of lives lost. Not only that, but looking at the books, tapestries, pictures, and scrolls present in the synagogues made me reflect on the obvious richness and fullfillment present in the lives of every single family who left something behind. To think that so many people died, outlived by their possessions, is truly heartbreaking.

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This is the inside of one of the first synagogues of Prague and likely all of Europe. It is called the Old New Synagogue. After being constructed in the 13th century, the Jews were allowed to attend shul and live in Prague because they paid taxes to the king. The Jews were literate and were granted permission by the king to live and worship in Prague because the king knew the Jews would be a source of income for the kingdom and that new trade opportunities would arise.

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Today in the Jewish Quarter, we visited The Old-New Synagogue where Mr. B explained how hopeful the Hicidic Jews were during these tough times they were facing. During these times the Jews were being sent away far from their homes, and they believed it was due to their past sins. So in order to return back home, they made it their mission to follow every Jewish law as written. Hearing the hopefulness these men, women, and children during one of the worlds most traumatizing time periods shows the true colors behind the event. The Jewish community would wait days and days for something that will not come true. Eventually as time went on, it was realized that the trade market was failing and if they wanted to save it they needed the help of the Jewish people. This began the negotiation period where the Jews would only agree to help if they were given a synagogue; a place to pray and worship in peace. This synagogue to them was the only symbol of hope these people were given and it gave them the strength to push through.

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Today we went to the Jewish Museum-Ceremonial Hall and got to see 80,000 names of victims of the Holocaust. In addition to walls and walls filled with names, there was a room that contained art of children. This fascinated me the most and took my breath away to see such powerful images rendered in a simple yet direct way. I think that these pieces serve as a memorial to the children because as long as the drawings are around we are able to go back and see inside their mind in the horrible situation they were in and how it impacted them.

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The Jewish people took much pride in their religious work. When it came to constructing synagogues, they feel that If the Christians can make exquisite churches, so can they. Something I never knew though, was just how difficult it was to actually build them, especially when they are quite grand in size. I knew that there were obviously no power tools, nor cranes, but I did not know they did not have cement to bond the stones. Instead it was all a balancing act in the shape of an arc, with two supporting beams on each side. The extreme lengths it took for building places of worship emphasize the importance of the religion, and how precious it meant to those who followed it.