Prague or Bohemia had a huge and important Jewish presence since the middle ages. They were one of the few 'Jew cities' or 'Judenstadte'. They were given freedoms as regular folks and flourished and was in every profession. Europe, especially Eastern Europe was strongly Roman Catholic and soon discriminated against them because of the quirky Jewish ways and their refusal to convert to Catholism. The regular folks soon relagated the Jews to 'ghettos'.These ingenious Jews prospered regardless of the obstacles placed on them. This reminds me of a verse in the Old Testament that said, 'blessed is he whose God is the Lord'. God's word in the bible is immutable. We, all know what happened to the Jews during Hitler's time and during communism.
Today the Jewish quarter is among the fanciest neighborhood in Prague. The synagogues have been rebuilt. The old cemetery still stand as a reminder of a people so oppressed and yet still strong and vibrant. The old Jewish cemetery is just a tiny little plot but it has been estimated that tens of thousands of Jews have been buried here, one on top of another. The entrance fee was too steep that we refused to pay so we didn't get to go in to see it. We could see it from the streets, the cemetery was above the streets. I took a few pictures and told myself, that was enough, we came, we saw.
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