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Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Jews in the Czech Republic

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The short answer is that there aren't any. That is a slight exaggeration, but not by a lot. There are 3,000 people in the Czech Republic who are identified as Jewish--and the definition is not strict. Almost all Jews are in mixed marriages, and the basic criteria is that you have a Jewish grandparent. While I was in Prague, we had the chance to meet with a member of the Jewish community. She is personally very active in Jewish education, but sad fact is that there arent' that many people to educate. Many synagogues do not even hava torah, despite the fact that there are numerous Czech torahs that survived the war. The other sad part is that the Jewish Quarter in Prague, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, speaks to a large and thriving Jewish community before WWII. The Spanish Synagogue, the most elaborately decorated of the synagogues that remain, has nightly concerts. Culture abounds in modern day Prague, that is true. But there are likely to be as many people of Jewish ancestry who are visiting this fair city than who live there. This may indeed be a very good entry into the Ottoman Empire followed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire countries that Hitler left behind. If you look solely at the effect on the Jewish population, he was very successful. Gorgeous synagogues, beautiful cemeteries, no living Jews. So while discrimination is not alive and well in the Czech Rebuplic, it is not an exaggeration to say that there arent't many people it would apply to

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