The Jewish Quarter is an unbelievable area of town that most tourists make sure to go to upon visit. It's pretty weird walking from a metro to multiple, multiple-century-old synagogues and passing some of the priciest stores in a town. Being filled with synagogues and really expensive stores only, however, I guess this area lives up to the traditional, Jewish reputation. The sad part about the Jewish Quarter is definitely not aesthetic or cultural. Much to my dismay, I learned this morning that the Prague Jewish community consists of approximately 1500 members, and there are just barely 3000 within the whole country. I never would have thought that Hitler's first stop would have been in a country with so few Jews, but I'm just hoping that it's always been like that and not just since 1939 (which I believe it unfortunately is).
Anyways, lsat night's service was quite American in nature, despite being in a mid-16th century building. Today, I went all out, both in terms of the service and the building. Today, I managed to get into Staronova Synagoga, also known as the Old New Synagogue, despite extreme security. I realized that the security only wanted to make sure that I (and everyone else) had a legitimate story to tell, and that they weren't trying to lie to get in, which is nice to know. They still are really scary and really intense, especially for 4 or 5 guys who are all under 5'11. In regards to being culturally all out, the Old New Synagogue is Orthodox in every sense of the word (although not ultra orthodox), and much more traditional than Chabad [duh]. The most shocking aspect to most, which plays a role into both ways of it being 'all out,' is the design of the building.
Completed in 1270, Staronova is one of Prague's first gothic buildings, an impressive claim in itself. I can't wait to take a tour of the Jewish Quarter and actually learn about this place, because it definitely has some history within it. Anyways, you're not allowed to take photos of the inside, and being Rosh HaShana I didn't take a picture of the outside, so here is a picture (to get a feel of it) of the synagogue from online.
Despite Staronova seeming to have a really high ceiling, you actually walk down - as if into a basement - and have an even higher ceiling above you from the inside. Above you, gigantic gothic arches point towards heaven. Surrounding you are extremely plain, extemely old stones which have a pale plaster covering them. For decoration, there are about 5 or so quotes painted around the walls. Unlike traditionally US synagogues, all of the seats are not facing the same direction as the ark. The ark may be on the southern-most wall, but only seats on the north wall face it. If you're on the west wall, you're sitting towards the east wall, and if you are on the west side of the bima, youre facing west (the bima is in the middle). All that the bima is is the center of the room, elevated by two stone steps, and surrounded by iron beams. The bima almost looks like a prison, if you sort of squint your eyes and imagine the beams are 3 inches apart instead of about 6. The iron-rod door that is at the top of the 2 steps, even locks. Anyways, this is just the inside where everyone prays.On the outside is the interesting part. Most orthodox synagogues in the US have a divider separating men's and women's sections; some even have separate rooms for women. Staronova goes all out by having 4 feet of stone separating the women. And I don't mean a separate room. I'm talking about the outside walls, which your back is up against (with an extremely uncomfortable, upright, wooden slab in between), has 4 feet of stone behind you. About 7 feet off the ground, there is a small hole (about 3 feet long on the inside of the shul, about 6 inches long on the outside) similar in shape to a castle's openings for firing at enemies. These 6 inch wide holes are on 2 walls, and on the outside, is where the women sit. O yeah, some stand in the entrance hallway with their kids too.
One thing I learned today was patience. Being in a stone fortress, which somehow even spared Nazi destruction, sound REALLY echoes. Meaning the kids running around in the halls outside of the service that you don't usually here (because of doors and carpeting and insulation and distance and such) make it hard to here the cantor chant. Luckily the kids don't usually make it to all of Shachrit, they only come with their mother's to the end (as in the Torah Portion and the blowing of the Shofar). Phew. At least it's not like anyone came to actually here those parts, instead of, say, the silent Amidah, which no one speaks for. Anyways, as I read the Torah Portion to myself with a faintly audible chanting in the background, I noticed that as frustrated as I was getting with these kids, no one else was. Saying I was the least religious person there, and probably everyone else had been looking forward to hearing it sung for at least 11 and a half months, it's pretty interesting to notice how no one minded the kids screaming or walking onto the bimah. I guess great patience is a blessing and should be a requisite for all.
Other interesting things of note:
-Whenever the Torah was lifted, everyone raises their right pinky finger. Not sure why.
-People get up quickly during the blessing prior to reading each aliyah (the part that the congregation recites back to the omeh)
-Having just said the prayer over the reading of the Torah, everyone in the entire synagogue shakes the omeh's hand after he gets off the bimah.
-I had to miss the musaf service, starting after the Torah was returned to the ark, in order to make it back for class, which I am not excused from (I skipped my Czech language class this morning)
-After returning from class, I was exhausted. I took a 30 minute power nap so that I'd be revived for Tashlich with the Americans. I really did want to throw some stale Czech bread (which I've got lots of) into the river, but instead I accidentally slept for 4 hours. At least tomorrow morning I should have no problem getting up for services.
-The shofar blowing was really nice, and unlike in the US, at Staronova, they have a tradition of making each 'tekiyah' longer than the previous one (and leading up to the Tekiyah gedola). This makes the shofar blower become pretty tired by the end, and I can't wait to find out how long he can really hold a Tekiyah gedola for on Yom Kippur (without 30 other ram's horn blows beforehand). Hopefully everyone else has had a nice service, and anyone going back tomorrow will enjoy the rest of their New Year's services.
PS: Why on the Christian New Year's to we get wasted, yet on the Jewish one, we feel an obligation to be somber in order to begin our '10 days of asking for forgiveness,' which every American Jew most definitely thinks about on New Year's night?
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