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Admiration and Fear: New Perspectives on the Personality of the Maharal

Author(s): Pavel Sládek / Language(s): English,Hebrew Issue: 2/2017

Rabbi Judah Leva ben Betzalel – the Maharal (ca. 1525–1609) is regarded as one of the key figures of the sixteenth-century rabbinic culture. Yet, given the fragmentary nature of the existing sources, his biography and intellectual profile manifest several unfortunate lacunae. Based on unknown or neglected manuscript and printed sources, this study formulates tentative hypotheses about some of the gaps in our understanding of the Maharal’s attitudes and the reception of his person by his contemporaries. It shows that the Maharal felt very close to his brother Hayyim and suggests that he spent his formative years in the Lublin yeshivah of rabbi Shalom Shakhnah. The renown and respect that the Maharal enjoyed from contemporary scholars does not seem to be the result of the reception of his voluminous writings but rather of his radical views of rabbinic authority and the ruthlessness with which he was ready to carry his ideas through.Aban that the Maharal intended to impose on the rabbinic ordination of candidates of Moravian origin indicates that his move to Prague was perhaps involuntary and explains the reluctance of the lay leaders to elect him as a communal rabbi. Other sources discussed for the first time with regard to the Maharal document that he was both respected and feared even outside the region, for example in Italy. The Hebrew originals of the most important unpublished sources discussed in this study are appended.

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Die Politischen Israelitengemeinden in Mähren: Entstehung und legistische Grundlagen, ihre politische Rolle im Nationalitätenstreit, Trennung ihrer säkularen und religiösen Aufgabenbereiche

Author(s): Peter Urbanitsch / Language(s): German Issue: 1/2018

This paper sets out the legal and administrative efforts that were made to reconcile the existence of the old and outdated Jewish communities in Moravia with the new conditions that emerged after 1848. The previously envisaged union of local Jewish and Christian communities proved to be unachievable due to the animosity that existed between Christians and Jews and to the change in the life situation of Jews after being granted freedom of movement, and in view of the emphasis on the religious tasks that the Jewish communities had to fulfill. Independent Jewish political communities were established and were given both political- administrative and cultic-religious-charitable roles. This dual function led to considerable discrepancies in many areas, which is why the idea of separating these two spheres of competence became widespread. Although the various state authorities had differing opinions on this matter, the adherents of a clear-cut separation prevailed in the end. In general, however, this was fraught with various problems (primarily, but not exclusively, of a financial nature), which this paper examines on the basis of specific examples from a number of Jewish political communities.

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Die religiöse Funktion Politischer Israelitengemeinden

Author(s): Daniel Baránek / Language(s): German Issue: 1/2018

Until 1885, the majority of Jewish political communities in Moravia also fulfilled religious functions. This study examines the legal conditions for the close union between local Jewish political communities and Jewish religious communities, as well as the problems that were associated with this. In 1884, as a result of these problems, the Moravian Jewish political communities responded, on the whole, positively to the regulation on granting autonomy to the Jewish religious communities. However, while the institutional split took place in 1885 at the latest, the process of dividing property was drawn out over 25 years in some cases, due to the complex nature of determining the religious or secular character of the property involved. In conclusion, the study shows that the confessional character of Jewish political communities indicates the limits of Jewish integration into the wider society, as Jews made use of this self-governing institution as one of the means of preserving their religious traditions and identity in the era of liberalism.

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Jüdische Identitäten nach 1945 bei Lenka Reinerová und Jurek Becker am Beispiel von Alle Farben der Sonne und der Nacht und Der Boxer

Author(s): Michaela Peroutková / Language(s): German Issue: 2/2018

The article is a comparative study of Jurek Beckers´s novel Der Boxer (1976) and Lenka Reinerová´s story Alle Farben der Sonne und der Nacht (1969, 2003). It examines the literary depiction of the Jewish identity in the GDR and Czechoslovakia after WWII while focusing on the perception of the Jewish identity by the protagonists and by the East German and Czech society and its construction or deconstruction. The theoretical framework for this study is Aleida AAssmann´s concept of collective and cultural memory. The study pursues the following question: how is the Jewish fate and experience from the period after WWII represented in the Czech and (East)German cultural memory?

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Recenze: Janusz Spyra, Rabbiner in der Provinz. Die Rolle des Rabbiners im Leben der jüdischen Gemeinschaft in Teschener und Troppauer Schlesien

Author(s): Pavel Kocman / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

Janusz Spyra, Rabbiner in der Provinz. Die Rolle des Rabbiners im Leben der jüdischen Gemeinschaft in Teschener und Troppauer Schlesien, Berlin: Peter Lang 2018 (= Polnische Studien zur Germanistik, Kulturwissenschaft und Linguistik; Band 9). 264pp. ISBN 978-3-631-65218-3

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“Ohncensurirte viel übles in sich enthaltende Bücher”: On the Registration and Censorship of Hebrew Books in Moravia in the Mid-18th Century

Author(s): Andrea Jelínková / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2019

This paper deals with the Hebrew printing press of Franz Joseph Neumann in Brno in the years 1755–1760. It focuses on a dispute that emerged in 1755 between the printer and the Jesuit censors in Olomouc and Prague. At issue was the censorship of Hebrew books, in particular liturgical works, which were printed by Neumann. On the basis of this dispute, it is possible to show the (non-)functioning of the censorship of Hebrew books in the 1750s in Moravia, when there was a significant change in censorship practice, namely a transfer of implementation powers from the Jesuit order to the state authority. The paper compares the situation regarding Hebrew printing, book censorship and the book trade in Moravia with the conditions and practices that existed in Bohemia at the time. It describes the functioning of the Hebrew book trade and its regulation in Moravia, and provides details about the stamping of Hebrew books for registration purposes. It also gives specific examples of terms and passages that were unacceptable to the censors. Based primarily on an analysis of archival materials, the paper supplements existing overviews and case studies while also correcting some of the claims made so far.

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Resettlement Maps of Jewish Dwellings in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, 1727–1728

Author(s): Filip Paulus,Šárka Steinová / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2019

At the end of this year, the National Archives of the Czech Republic is publishing an interdisciplinary monograph titled Krajina a urbanismus na rukopisných plánech z 18. století. Translokaèní plány židovských obydlí v zemích Koruny èeské z let 1727–1728 [Landscape and Urban Planning in 18th-Century Manuscript Maps: Resettlement Maps of Jewish Dwellings in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, 1727–1728]. This is the outcome of a long-term study of these unique cartographic documents. Resettlement maps are of exceptional value, as they provide a reliable picture of the internal development of settlements and their topography, and they document, among other things, the economic and social condition of the Jewish population in the Bohemian lands. On the basis of a comparison with other sources and, above all, with the Indication Sketches of the so-called Stabile Cadastre, 2 it is possible, to a certain extent, to trace the development of Jewish settlement over a span of more than a hundred years (until the middle of the 19th century).

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Official Discussions about the Toleration of Jews in Bohemia:

Author(s): Iveta Cermanová / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

This study deals with the Josephinian policy of toleration towards the Jews of Bohemia and aims to clarify in detail the circumstances surrounding the issuance of the Court Decree (Hofdekret) of 19 October 1781 (the so-called Edict of Toleration) for the Jews of Bohemia – the Habsburg Monarchy’s first key document in the sense of Joseph II’s renowned Handbillet of 13 May 1781. On the basis of newly found sources in the National Archives in Prague, it sets out the official discussions that took place in Bohemia’s highest provincial authority (the Bohemian Gubernium) and the discussions between this office and the central authorities in Vienna, which, in 1781, accompanied the promotion of Joseph II’s policy of Jewish toleration. It complements and corrects the results of previous research, which is almost exclusively based on sources of Viennese provenance. It also reveals the mechanisms for implementing the Josephinian reforms, specifically the nature of the interaction between the monarch, the court authorities, and the provincial authorities. In addition, it furthers our knowledge of an understanding of the Jewish question in Enlightenment circles in Bohemia at the end of the 18th century. It shows that between Joseph II’s Handbillet and the issuance of the Court Decree of 19 October 1781 for the Jews of Bohemia, there emerged a lively debate in the Bohemian Gubernium on the intentions declared by the emperor, which saw a clash of completely contradictory opinions, the most progressive of which ultimately prevailed, including views on the toleration of Bohemian Jews that went further than the monarch was willing to accept.

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Jewish Representatives of the Hungarian Political Opposition in Interwar Slovakia. The Case of Prešov and Košice

Author(s): Veronika Szeghy-Gayer / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

The paper constitutes an attempt to investigate the Jewish elite of interwar Czechoslovakia who were engaged in the Hungarian political opposition. Its aim is to examine the political activity of Jews who, after the post-1918 border changes, considered the Jewry of Slovakia and Subcarpathia as members of the Hungarian minority community, based on contemporary sources, mainly the interwar Czechoslovak press, pamphlets and articles written by Jewish members of the Hungarian National Party (Magyar Nemzeti Párt), founded in 1925, as well as archival documents. In the first part of the paper, the main tendencies are highlighted that characterized the nationality declaration of Jews in interwar Slovakia, with special regard to the Jewish citizens who declared Hungarian nationality. Thereafter, the policy of Magyar Nemzeti Párt, the Hungarian minority party is presented, in which a large number of Jewish representatives were grouped. The second part of the paper is dedicated to an analysis of the pamphlets and articles written by the most influential Jewish members of Magyar Nemzeti Párt, whose activity was concentrated mainly on the Eastern part of Slovakia, especially on Prešov and Košice. It is intended to highlight the way they were perceived by the Czechoslovak state. The paper is an attempt to contribute to a better understanding of the Jewish political activity that aimed to unite Jewish voters who declared themselves Hungarian, into one organization, which is still an overlooked aspect in recent Jewish studies concerning interwar Czechoslovakia.

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Jewish Goldsmiths in Early Modern Prague: A Paper on Immigration, Labour Mobility, and Socio Economic Relations in 16th-Century Prague Jewish Society

Author(s): Marie Buňatová / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

This paper focuses on the topic of Jewish goldsmiths in early modern Prague who constituted a small but highly specialized professional group of artisans in the local Jewish society. The obvious prerequisite for practising such a trade was not only knowledge of metal processing, fine craftsmanship, and refined aesthetics, but also connections and close contacts with suppliers of precious metals and gems, and with wealthy clients who could acquire such jewellery and other luxury goldsmith products. The study seeks to provide a comprehensive view of the goldsmith’s trade in Prague during the 16th century. It describes the legal conditions under which guild-organized Christians could practise goldsmithing, and compares them with the legislative pre-requisites under which Jews were allowed to engage in this profession. Attention is also paid to the widespread participation of Jewish and Christian goldsmiths in financial transactions and other credit transactions in that period. At the same time, however, the study seeks to capture the broader cultural and social framework of the lives of Jewish goldsmiths in the Prague metropolis, which was shaped not only by solely professional, financial and business relationships, but also by other personal contacts both within their own community and in various Christian social strata. Based on the observations of the lives of several prominent Jewish goldsmiths who worked in Prague during the 16th century and especially during the Rudolphine period, it tries to determine whether they were long-term residents or newcomers from other countries. It also examines their involvement in the Prague Jewish community, their property status, and their possible further involvement in the administration of the local community. All this in the context of immigration, which affected Prague after the middle of the 16th century and to a large extent impacted the composition of its population.

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Jews in the Bohemian Lands, 19th–20th Centuries: New Permanent Exhibition of the Jewish Museum in Prague at the Spanish Synagogue

Author(s): Michaela Sidenberg,Iveta Cermanová,Jana Šplíchalová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 1/2021

The Jewish Museum in Prague (JMP), which focuses primarily on the cultural and social history of Jews in the Bohemian/Czech lands, has several permanent exhibitions, two of which provide an extensive survey of the history of the Jewish community in the territory of what is now the Czech Republic from the beginnings of settlement in the 10th century through to the present. The purpose of the current report is to take a closer look at the follow-up exhibition in the most beautiful of Prague synagogues – the temple in Dušní Street, now better known as the Spanish Synagogue. Requiring several years, the preparatory work for the exhibition was intensive and demanding in terms of expertise and costs, as it also involved modernizing the synagogue building and its furnishings. Unfortunately, the opening date of the exhibition coincided with yet another peak of the COVID-19 pandemic on 16 December 2020. Due to the government’s antipandemic measures, it had to close after two days, and remained closed for five more months.

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Restoration of the Synagogue in Police (Pullitz)

Author(s): Arno Pařík / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

Police is a small village with a Renaissance and Baroque chateau in a remote region of south-western Moravia, about halfway between Jemnice (Jamnitz) and Bítov (Vöttau). The nearest Jewish communities used to be in Jemnice, Píseèné (Piesling) and Šafov (Schaffa), the latter two of which were once located in the border zone. Jewish settlement reputedly first appeared in Police as early as the beginning of the 16th century. The earliest written evidence of Jewish settlement here, however, comes from the field register of 1671, when Count Karl Berchtold allowed the construction of two Jewish houses in Police, most likely for Jewish exiles from Vienna in 1670. In the following years, however, the Jewish community in Police flourished and grew to unprecedented size.

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Exhibition ‘Translocation Plans of Jewish Settlements in the 18th Century’

Author(s): Lenka Matušíková / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

In the autumn of 2020 (10 September – 18 October), an exhibition featuring a selected set of translocation plans of Jewish settlements (also known as resettlement maps of Jewish dwellings) from the 18th century was on view in the exhibition hall of the National Archives in Prague. These materials are kept in the fonds of various archives and memory institutions in Bohemia and Moravia. The exhibition was held under the auspices of Jan Hamáèek, the First Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister of the Czech Republic, His Excellency Daniel Meron, the Israeli Ambassador to the Czech Republic, and the Czech Commission for UNESCO.

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Jakub Hauser – Eva Janáèová, eds., Obrazy nenávisti. Vizuální projevy antisemitismu ve støední Evropì

Author(s): Ivana Ebelová / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

Jakub Hauser – Eva Janáèová, eds., Obrazy nenávisti. Vizuální projevy antisemitismu ve støední Evropì [Imagery of Hatred. Visual Antisemitism in Central Europe], Praha: Artefactum – Ústav dìjin umìní AV ÈR, 2020, 271pp. Full-colour illustrations. ISBN 9878-80-88283-45-4

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Court Jews’ (‘Hofjuden’) in Remote Areas of Silesia: A Contribution to the Seventeenth-Century History of the Jews in the Bohemian Lands

Author(s): Janusz Spyra / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2021

One of the issues raised while discussing the history of Jews in Central Europe in the early modern period is the existence of a specific group of ‘court Jews’, people from Jewish families who took care of their rulers’ money, luxury goods and other services in exchange for special activity opportunities, i.e. becoming ‘privileged’. Their activity is connected with a change in the role of the state and with so-called mercantilism. Thus far, historians have discussed this issue on the basis of the careers of the most famous court Jews who operated in the courts of the Habsburgs and other sovereign rulers. However, court Jews also operated in other regions. This paper shows this with the example of Silesia, which from the Middle Ages was divided into several principalities and, from the 14th century, recognized the sovereignty of the Bohemian kings (who after 1526 were Habsburgs). From the 16th century, Jews were forbidden to stay in Silesia but, in the 17th and 18th centuries, there were Jewish families at the courts of numerous local feudal lords, whose activities were typical of the court Jews.

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The Haskalah in Brno (Brünn)? Enlightenment Works Produced by the Moravian Hebrew Printing Press

Author(s): Andrea Jelínková / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2021

Works influenced by the Haskalah, the Jewish Enlightenment, were also published by the Hebrew printing press in Brno at the end of the 18th century. To date, little attention has been paid to the circumstances surrounding the publication of haskalic literature in Brno. On the contrary, the publication of haskalic editions in Prague has been well described. The relative proportion of Enlightenment literature printed by the Hebrew presses in Brno and Prague is similar, but the approach to publishing these works differed. An analysis of the Enlightenment editions and, in particular, a comparison with the situation in Prague shows that the publishing of haskalic literature in Brno was not done for educational purposes, as it was in Prague, since it was a commercial enterprise of the printing press owners, Josef Karl Neumann and Josef Rossmann. It is also conceivable that there was a degree of state involvement in the publishing profile of the Brno printing press. It was not a successful business plan, however, and the Enlightenment works printed in Moravia only had a meagre reception.

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The Jewish War, God’s Wrath and ‘the Most Unfortunate People’:

Author(s): Lucie Storchová / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2022

This study shows how Protestant scholars wrote about the First Jewish-Roman War and the destruction of Jerusalem, and demonstrates how this story was updated in relation to Jews and anti-Jewish politics in the Bohemian lands after 1550. Drawing on a large corpus of Latin and vernacular texts, the author shows that the Jewish revolt was linked primarily to eschatological expectations and to a critique of the Jews’ disruption of natural law, religious unity and the social order as based on sovereign-subject relations. With regard to individual works, the author traces the collective imagination of the day that helped to shape the alterity of Jews (including imaginary notions of cannibalism, unsettled lifestyles, and non-normative sexuality) and elaborates on the strategies of legitimisation for violence against contemporary Jewish communities through references to the past.

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Transformation of the Jewish Space in Kolín, 1848–1921

Author(s): Daniel Baránek / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2022

This study focuses on the phenomenon of the disappearance of the borders of the Jewish ghetto after the granting of equal rights to Jews in the middle of the 19th century. This was one of the essential features of Jewish history and an important component of the cultural interaction between Jewish and non- Jewish society. Through a local historical investigation, this study examines the expansion of Jewish settlement from the former ghetto into the Christian town, the demographic dynamics of Jewish society, the motives for Jewish migration from small towns to large cities, and the influence of antisemitism on emigration from ‘traditional’ Jewish communities.

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In Search of Books Missing from the Prague Jewish Community Library

Author(s): Michal Bušek / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2022

The Library of the Jewish Religious Community in Prague (hereinafter the JRCP Library) has made up the historical core of the book collection of the Jewish Museum in Prague (hereinafter the JMP) since 1945, when it came under the management of the museum.1 Archival documents confirm that acquiring the JRCP Library was one of the JMP’s priorities, in which Jiří Weil was particularly active across the region of Bohemia.

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A böjttől a közösségi megtérésig. MTacan II.

Author(s): Tibor Marjovszky,János Márton / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 1/2022

In ancient Israel, the lack of winter rains was not only seen as an economic crisis, but also as a warning from God. Whenever the rainy season passed without rainfall, the sages proclaimed a public fast. Part 2 of the Mishnaic tractate Tacanit treatise deals in detail with the rituals that the patriarch, the president of the tribunal, the clergy and the members of the congregation were required to perform. The external ceremonies, such as the sprinkling of ashes on the ark, included various blessings which pointed to the real purpose of fasting: to set the heart back on the right path. The days of fasting, therefore, provide an opportunity to fulfil the prerequisites for conversion: confession and repentance of sins. The chapter also mentions the days on which fasting is expressly forbidden and those who are exempt from fasting in the strict sense. Lastly, because it was a matter of the repentance of the community, the sages also took care to ensure that thus traders did not fall into the sin of greed, and tried to exclude any attempts of abuse in business.

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