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The Pinkas Synagogue in Prague - Holocaust Memorial
by Shlomo Gurevich*
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The Pinkas synagogue was evidently built on the location
of an old 15th century synagogue, after the synagogue in the German town of
Regensburg had been destroyed, many of its Jewish population slaughtered and
the famous rabbi R. Shlomo Molcho arrested in Regensburg by Emperor Charles
V, who turned him over to the inquisition of Mantua which burned him at the
stake in 1532. Built in the late Gothic style, many design and interior
details bore a resemblance to the Pinkas shul in Regensburg. All the more so
since R. Molcho's tallith and kaftan were stored there. Such was R. Aharon
Meshulam's response to the calamities which befell the Regensburg Jews - to
build a larger and more splendid synagogue. It was not a simple task to
obtain permission from the authorities to build a synagogue, but Aharon
Meshulam, being one of the leaders of the Prague Jewish community, had
access to the Burggrave of Prague, Lev of Rozmital and King of Bohemia,
Ludvik, who earlier, in 1525, had issued an order granting various
privileges to Aharon Mesulam and all his family. The latter also succeeded
in finding a good architect, one of the masters of famous Rejt who built a
wing of Hradchany Castle, now known as the Ludvik Palace, as well as the Lev
of Rozmital's new palace at Blatna.
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The deeds of Aharon Meshulam on behalf of Prague's Jewish community found
are enshrined in the inscription on a memorial tablet in the Pinkas
sinagogue:
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A man of the House of Levi has passed, and his name was
Aharon Meshulam, and he ascended the stairway of the bounteous spirit,
following the steps of his Fathers - Princes and Leaders - and he built this
synagogue, a splendid monument. And his wife, lady Nechama, the daughter of
Rabbi Menachem of blessed memory, was a helpmate and companion to him for
the memory of the soul. In the year (5)295 (of the Jewish calendar, i.e.
1535) he began the work, and it was finished in honor of G-d, may He reign
supreme, and in honor of the Torah. Here is the holy community of Prague
crowned. The eyes of G-d are on it, it is remembered and guarded. - Aharon
Meshulam, a son of Rabbi Yishayahu Ha-Levi of blessed memory, called Zalman
Horowitz.
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Though the family synagogue of the Horowitzes, it served
not only them: among the names of the congregation's members in various
periods one can find R. Shlomo Ephraim ben Aharon of Leczyca, the author of
"Keli Yaqar", MaHaRaL of Prague, R. Israel ben Kalman Brandeis, R. Yakov ben
Yona Teumim, and others.
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During the German occupation of World War II the Nazis
planned to make the synagogue and the adjacent Old Jewish Cemetery part of a
postwar "Exotic Museum of an Extinct Race". After the war it was repaired
and restored, and now it is one of the pearls of the Old Jewish Quarter in
Prague. The names of 77,297 Czech Jews who perished in the Holocaust have
been inscribed on its walls.
*The above is an extraction from the internet
version of a book written and published by
Shlomo Gurevich which is now
available in
English as well as in
Russian language:
"Gurevich, Gurovich, Gurvich, Gorvich, Gurvitz, Horowitz and others. History
of A Great Family" (Haifa, 1999, ISBN 965-222-971-7) |
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