Photos by Hannah Rappoport
Our last day started with a delicious breakfast featuring our chaperones exercising their innovation skills to make us french toast, stretch the lives of our fruits and vegetables, and nourish us in Prague.
After finishing our breakfast, we headed out for a tour of the old Jewish city of Prague. Walking through the gorgeous streets, pausing to see the oldest main square in Prague, we got to see the astronomical clock from the year 1410. Rabbi Segal gave us the history of it, specifying that the king blinded the engineer of it so that no one could replicate the fantastic creation it was. He also mentioned what the different rings and hands represent - twilight, daylight, Jewish time (not an hour late, a time determined by the sun), zodiacs, moon phase, as well as a traditional 24-hour clock.
Our Czech guide Menashe gave us some of the history of Prague. It used to be called the Czech Kingdom before becoming a part of the Austrian empire until after WW1 when it became part of the Czechoslovakia Republic before becoming part of the Czech Republic. We noticed the old buildings damaged by WW2 and marveled at a preserved tower from the 1200s, which featured several architectural periods on its floors. We saw the execution site of 21 Protestant leaders and a statue commemorating them. After our impromptu history lessons and many photoshoots, our group stopped at the currency exchange to fund our souvenir shopping.
We continued to tour the city, learning about the Jewish history of the town. We visited the Meisels Shul, named after its founder. It is now a museum of the history of Jewish people in Prague, featuring exhibitions of Jewish artifacts dating back as far as the 300s! Especially interesting to me was a ring from the 3rd to 5th century and original manuscripts, including the certificate of the Maharal’s purchase of his home. After spending time appreciating the rich history of our people in this city, we continued.
We visited the Alt Nei (Oldest New) Shul in Europe, also known as the Maharal Shul. Despite our best efforts in saying ‘good morning’ and ‘surprise‘ in all of our newly acquired languages, we failed to rouse the Golem resting in the attic. We also noticed the Jewish clock from the 15th century positioned on top of what was the Jewish Town Hall. We learned of the history of the shul, how it was built to resemble a church, and how it has structures used for tax collection. Rabbi Segal then spoke of the candle regulations, specific to the ceremony occurring at the time. We noticed the destruction of some walls; proof of the pogroms that hit the area. We continued to the Pinkas Shul, now a holocaust memorial with the names of all the Czech Jews that fell victim to the nazis. Of the 120,000 Jews, only 40,000 escaped or went through camps and survived. The entire synagogue acts as a gravestone for these 80,000 murdered individuals, with Hebrew letters spelling out the words generally found on gravestones. Upstairs, there were harrowing paintings done by children of their reality during the German occupation. Outside was an exhibition detailing the 80,000 journeys with no return.
We interrupted our visiting of the shuls as we joined the throngs of tourists in visiting the ancient cemetery, pausing to speak of the great people resting there, including Rabbi Avigdor Kara, from the last of the Rishonim, Rabbi Mordechai Meisels, the Maharal and his wife Perel, and the Kli Yakar. We then visited the ancient Chevra Kedisha building, now a museum depicting the Jewish rituals and artifacts.
After shopping for Jewish Tshachkes, we reached the most crucial part of the day: Trdlniks (pronounce turtlenecks, Ice cream-filled churros)! After this delicious lunch, we crossed the de'moated' moat to a virtual reality to find the Golem. We encountered him and helped bring him to life. After our VR experience, we got a few hours to tour the picturesque streets (aka wind-tunnels) and purchase souvenirs. Our trip concluded with a delicious dinner in a kosher dairy restaurant - thank you Rabbi Peikes.
Not wanting the sightseeing to end, we added in one last trip to the 700-year-old Charles Bridge. We again marveled at the gorgeous river and the absolutely fascinating castle. Once there, our guide Menashe shared the history of the bridge. It was the only access point to the other side of Prague for hundreds of years before other bridges were built. We crossed the bridge to see an interesting statue featuring a cross with Hebrew letters. We learned the horrifying story of it, and all sight-seen out, we headed back to the hotel to pack and stay up all night in preparation for our flight home tomorrow.
I want to express the greatest thank you to Rabbi Peikes, who put his life on hold to prepare and fund this trip for us, to Kim Hydorn, for taking care of the details and of us, to Dina, for being our friend and making sure we were fed, to Debra, Mrs. Lederman, and Mrs. Ertel, for shouldering the burden of this trip with Rabbi, and to Rabbi Segal, for sharing his vast knowledge with us.
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