A History of the Jews in Prague

In the 1970s, schoolchildren in Czechoslovakia were taught that as far back as the year 965, an itinerant Arab merchant recorded the existence of the city of Prague to the outside world. Two things were left out of the lesson. First, the merchant, Ibrahim ibn Jakub, was an Arabian Jew. Second, ibn Jakub recorded the existence not only of the city itself, but also of Jewish merchants in Prague markets. From this we know that Jews had a part in Prague city life from its earliest origins. According to one legend, when Prague's Founding Mother Libuse prophesied the establishment of the city, she had a vision that her descendants would encounter a nation from a faraway country, with a religion different from their own. Only if this nation was received in peace would Prague be blessed with prosperity. Sure enough, when the settlement around the Castle District was established, the Czechs welcomed the Jews to settle just below it. There is some truth to the legend: There used to be a Jewish settlement in the Ujezd district of Mala Strana, comfortably located in the shadow of the Castle. In fact, between the tenth and twelfth centuries, Jewish settlements sprang up around all the major markets and trade routes of Prague: near the Castle, beneath the twelfthcentury Castle at Vysehrad, and in the area of today's "Jewish Town." From the thirteenth century, there was even a Jewish cemetery in the New Town (Nove Mesto). Far from being confined to a single space, it is clear that at least in their early history, the Jews of Prague were free to settle in all the main districts of Prague. Eventually, of course, the Jewish settlement in the Old Town gained ascendancy over the others. In another legend, it is said that the Jewish Town became the single Jewish settlement in Prague out of the twisted machinations of the First Crusade of 1096. The story has it that the Crusaders destroyed the Jewish settlements in Mala Strana and Vysehrad, but left the third settlement untouched. Apparently they feared that fires from the Jewish buildings would leap over and burn down the precious churches of the Old Town. In fact, although the Vysehrad settlement probably was destroyed during the pogroms of 1096, a settlement in Mala Strana continued into the twelfth century. Eventually, this settlement succumbed to the dominance of the Jewish Community located in the Old Town. Even the "Jewish Town" in the Old Town did not begin as a single entity but evolved in three districts. One settlement, possibly the oldest, centered around the twelfth-century Altschul, on the spot where the Spanish Synagogue stands today. Some contend that the Altschul settlement was home to Byzantine Jews who practiced the Sephardic rite. Another settlement arose by the banks of the river, where the Pinchas Synagogue was later built. This settlement stretched into the general area of today's Siroka Street, and was the commercial core of the Jewish Town. Finally, Jews settled the area around the Altneuschul and completed the tripartite Jewish settlement in the Old Town. Meanwhile, King Vaclav I created the Old Town as an official entity in the 1230s, including the Jewish Quarter within its walls. The Old Town became the main trade center of Prague, attracting merchants and craftsmen from throughout the region. The growth of the urban center was mirrored in the Jewish Town. By the end of the thirteenth century, the settlements by the Altneuschul and the later Pinchas Synagogue fused together, separated from the Altschul Community by Christian homes. The district of the Altschul eventually evolved into a mini-ghetto, since it was severed from the main area of the Jewish Town. A series of rules were later promulgated regarding the times and conditions Jews were permitted to pass from the large settlement to the smaller one. Within the larger area of the Jewish Town, it was the district of the Altneuschul that soon assumed chief importance as the spiritual, cultural, economic, and administrative center of the Jews. The earliest stars in the constellation of Prague Jewish scholars appeared at this time. In the beginning of the thirteenth century, the Jewish Community was headed by Abraham ben Azriel, whose well-known work is Arugat Ha''Bosem ("The Garden Bed of Spices"). His pupil was Isaac ben Moses (c. 1180-1250), who passed his time in the Rhineland but always came back to Prague. He was known as the Or Zaru'ah ("The Sown Light") after the title of his most famous work, a commentary on the Talmud. From the writings of these men, which occasionally lapsed into Czech (written in Hebrew letters) to explain complicated concepts, we know that from at least the thirteenth century the Jews of Bohemia conversed in a Slavonic language.