Josefov is the traditionally Jewish quarter in the Czech capital Prague. It used to be the Jewish quarter of Prague. Due to this phenomenon, Josefov is often represented by the flag of Prague's Jewish community. This flag consists of a yellow Star of David on a red background. Josefov is located in the Prague 1 city district, just north of the Old Town.
History:
The first Jews probably settled in Prague around the 10th century. In the year 1096, the first pogrom against the Jews took place and the Jews present in Prague were placed in a walled ghetto. In 1262, Ottokar II of Bohemia introduced a Statuta Judaeorum, which gave the Jewish quarter some form of self-government. In 1389, a violent pogrom resulted in the slaughter of more than 3,000 Jews. Towards the end of the 16th century, the Jewish community was changing. It became a thriving municipality because of the mayor Mordecai Meisel, who became minister of finance. His wealth ensured the development of the ghetto. During this time, the legend of the Golem was created by Rabbi Löw.
In 1850 the district was renamed Josefstadt after Emperor Joseph II. The latter person had ensured the emancipation of the Jews. Two years earlier, Jews had been allowed to live outside of Josefov, reducing the population. Only the Orthodox and poor Jews continued to live in Josefov. Between 1893 and 1913, large parts of Josefov were destroyed because of an initiative to lay out the city in the same way as Paris. All that remained were six synagogues, the old cemetery and the old Jewish town hall.
In the early 21st century, Josefov consists largely of buildings from the early 20th century, making it difficult to determine what the district looked like when more than 18,000 people lived there. According to statistics, the district had a population of 1,816 in 2006.
Josefov was also largely preserved in the Second World War. Hitler wanted to keep Josefov as a memento of the won battle.
Sights:
The Jewish Museum.
Franz Kafka's birthplace.
The High Synagogue (Vysoká synagoga), 16th-century synagogue.
The Old-New Synagogue (Staronová synagoga), 13th-century synagogue in Gothic style.
The Maisel Synagogue (Maiselova synagoga), 16th-century synagogue.
Spanish synagogue. The Moorish architecture of the Spanish synagogue has a special appeal.
Jerusalem Synagogue.
Klausen synagogue.
Pinkas Synagogue.
The Jewish Town Hall (Židovská radnice), rococo building.
Old Jewish Cemetery (Starý židovský hřbitov), 15th to 18th century cemetery. The oldest Jewish cemetery in Europe.
Ottokar II of Bohemia
Ottokar II Přemysl (?, 1232 - Dürnkrut (Lower Austria), 26 August 1278) was king of Bohemia from 1253 to 1278 in succession to his father.
He was a younger son of King Wenceslaus I (†1253) and Cunigonde of Hohenstaufen (†1248). He built a large empire in Central Europe through legacies (Carinthia, Krain and Styria) and conquests (Austria, Silesia and Slovakia), but finally lost against Emperor Rudolf I and lost most of his territories towards the end of his life.
Rabbi Low:
Yehudah ben Betsalel Löw, also known as the Maharal of Prague (c. 1512-1525 – Prague, August 22, 1609) was a Czech rabbi, Talmudic and Torah scholar, and philosopher.
The acronym Maharal stands for Morénu Ha-Raw Löw, which means "Our Teacher Rabbi Löw." The vowels in Maharal have no meaning. The rabbi would have been a close acquaintance of Emperor Rudolf II. This emperor was very interested in the rabbi's knowledge of alchemy. He was the chief rabbi of Moravia, Posen and Prague.
He has several publications to his credit, including an in-depth explanation on the Torah. This statement is called Goer Arjee and is a statement on the famous Torah statement of Rashi.
A Dutchman Max Kohnstamm said about Maharal: "He maintains that the 'competitive element' in our life is indispensable, but that if it is not compensated by the love of one's neighbour, it can only lead to ruin. Cain was not worse than Abel; they both tried, back to back, to divide the world. But if one gets the sky and the other the earth, they die together. The Maharal of Prague also says: The other is the denial of your own being. It is part of human nature to want to rule over everything. To think is to rule, to know is to rule. So everyone else takes away a piece of that freedom. And at the same time, human existence only begins at the moment when you place that other gives."
According to legend, Rabbi Löw and two synagogue officials once created a Golem, an animated figure made of clay, to act as a protector of the Jews. Rabbi Löw passed away at the age of well over eighty. He found his final resting place at the Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague.
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