Easter 2006: Prague - The Jewish Quarter

Happy Easter!

I was hoping to get up early again to walk the secluded streets, but sleep overtook me and it was cloudy when I woke up anyways so my bed was looking pretty good (no matter how uncomfortable it might have been). I headed to the Jewish Quarter.

Jews have lived in the Prague region since the 10th Century. When the Pope declared that Jews and Christians should not live together, Jews had to war yellow badges and their quarter was walled in - which became known as the ghetto. Prague had one of the biggest ghettos in Europe with 11,000 inhabitants.

Being Jew is not a relgiion, but a way of life. Walkign through the different synagogues of the quarter, it became more apparent to me than before how important tradition was to the Jews and how every aspect of their life and their religion had a deeper meadning. Their were 7 Synagogues within the Jewish Quarter that could be visited, with each one having displaying a different part of the history of the Jews in Prague.

One of my favorite aspects of the Museum tour was the Old Jewish Cemetery. It had over 12,000 tombstones dating back to the mid 1400's. With limited space and the belief in the Jewish faith that a body should never be moved once buried, tombs were piled on top of each other. Over time, as the ground settled, the tombs got crooked.
The Jewish word for cemetery means "House of Life". Many people have placed small pebbles on the tombs which symbolize the old days when a rock was placed upon the swand gravesite in the desert to keep the body covered.

After my tour through the Jewish Quarter, I wandered through the crowded streets, shopped in the Easter Markets and got myself some dinner.

A final thought: I was a little disappointed that so many people in Prague spoke English. Half the fun in a foreign city is trying to speak the langague. It was a wonderful trip and I'm so glad that I came over the Easter Holiday.