Visiting Prague

Summary: historical information about the Jewish quarter. The legend of Golem and its importance in the city of Prague.

The legend of the Golem of Prague is extremely connected to the Jewish community who lived in Bohemia over the centuries.
During the 16th century, when Rodolf II ruled Prague, the Jews were suffering constant attacks and living their lives in fear. Consequently an old Jewish man named Rabbi Judah Loew got a special idea to protect his people, he lived a long life, 1513-1609, and defended his people valiantly against their enemies. His followers adored him so much that they called him “The Exalted One.”  In his dreams he received the task in an order that is alphabetical in Hebrew: Make a Golem of clay and you will destroy the entire Jew-baiting company. Nevertheless Rabbi Judah Loew got to understand the real meaning of his dream only after using Zirufim, special Cabbalistic formulas.
Therefore he created the Golem, a giant who according to the Cabala could be made of clay from the banks of the Vltava. To create Golem he needed the four elements so he called two assistants, his son-in-law and his pupil, they would represent the fire and water, Rabbi himself would be the air and Golem the earth.
The name itself comes from Hebrew that literally means “cocoon”, but can also mean “fool”, “silly”, or even “stupid”. Rabbi Judah Loew made a creature out of mud, an inanimate figure and by flowing the instruction of the Cabala and his own special powers the gave life to Golem and called him Josef. To be an even better protector his master gave him a particular necklace. The necklace was made out of deer skin and was adorned with mystic signs. With this adornment Golem became invisible. Because Golem was a hard-working creature, he also managed to help out in Rabbi’s household and in the synagogue. He also helped to save the Jews of Prague from the malicious accusations of blood libel, or the belief that Jews used the blood of a Christian child during Passover. Killed or murdered Christian children would often be planted in Jewish houses for priests to “discover” and incite the masses to their pickaxes and torches, as the masses liked to do. Josef was very similar to humans although he was not able to speak. There was a other particularity about Golem, he could only live with the clay tablet inserted in his moth, but represented in his forehead.
After the Golem had put a stop to these harmful murderous he was no longer needed, so Rabbi Judah Loew took the clay tablet from his mouth and locked his body in the attic of Prague’s Old-New Synagogue. To keep him safe, the Rabbi Judah Loew enacted a ban on anyone entering the attic of the Old-New Synagogue, and it is widely believed that the body of Prague’s Golem rests there to this day.
The Old-New Synagogue survived the destruction by the Nazis during the Second World War because Hitler wanted to keep the Jewish living, synagogues and all rituals belonging intact so later he could make a museum of the exterminated people. Therefore you can visit the place there the body of Golem still lays till these days. The Old-New Synagogue in located between the river Vltava and the Old Town Square, a place where you ill find lots of hotels in Prague in the heart of  the city.
It is believed that this event happened in the specific year of 1580, although it’s not certain.

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