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Welcome to your onece in a lifetime experience with the Precious Legacy Tours!

Prague has one of the oldest kehilot (Jewish communities) in Europe; records of a certain Jewish merchant are dated at 965 CE. By the 11th century, a first Jewish settlement and a synagogue were established and since Prague emerges immediately after its founding into one of the most important commercial crossroads of Europe, the Jews have apparently flocked into the city even more so. By the 13th century, there has not been just one - but already several Jewish settlements within the Prague conurbation! The city skyrockets into global importance not merely as a economic stopover of the continental Jewry but also as an early Ashkenazic Talmudic center. 

The early Bohemian בעלי התוספות Baalei Hatosafot were influential Jewish scholars from the 12th and 15th centuries, contributing to the legacy of Rashi and the Tosafist movement by interpreting and expanding upon Talmudic texts, particularly in the region of medieval Bohemia; Abraham Azriel, Yitzhak HaLavan or the Or Zarua, to name just a few. Avigdor Kara is the first one buried in the famous Old Jewish Cemetery of Prague. Despite periods of prosperity and persecution, including the establishment of the Old Jewish Cemetery in the 15th century, the Jewish community in Prague has persisted and remains an integral part of the city's history and culture.

In the 16th century, Prague's Jewish Community experienced a golden age of religious and cultural significance. Under Emperor Rudolf II's reign, led by influential figures like Mordecai Maisel or Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, also known as the מהר"ל מפראג Maharal of Prague, the Jewish community flourished spiritually and intellectually. The Jewish Town of Prague (today called Josefov) became a world renown center of religious learning and practice, with shuls, yeshivos and other institutions fostering a vibrant religious, cultural and social life. This period marked a significant chapter in Prague's religious history, shaping its cultural identity for centuries to come.

Before the Holocaust, Czechoslovakia had a significant Jewish population estimated to be around 400,000 people in the late 1930s, dispersed evenly in all its regions: Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia and Ruthenia. Prague had one of the oldest and largest Jewish populations in Europe; around 100,000 people, some one third of the city's population. This significant Jewish community played a vital role in the religious, cultural, economic, and intellectual life of the city.

Tragically, during the Holocaust, the vast majority of Prague's Jewish population was persecuted, deported, and murdered by the Nazis; most were sent to the Theresienstadt Ghetto, a unique, dual-purpose transit camp for Jews being deported to extermination camps and a propaganda tool for the Nazis to deceive the international community about the true conditions of Jewish life during the Holocaust, presenting a facade of cultural and art activities while hiding the harsh realities of imprisonment, starvation, and death. By the end of World War II, only a fraction of Prague's Jewish community had survived, marking a profound loss for the city and its cultural heritage.

"The Precious Legacy" was a traveling exhibition of Czech Jewish art and ritual objects that debuted at The Whitworth in Manchester in 1980. It toured the United States and Canada from 1983 to 1986, and in 1990, a portion of the exhibit was showcased in Israel alongside the Israel Museum's permanent collection. Revived in 1998, the exhibition toured Sweden, New Zealand, and Australia for two years. Despite the widespread belief that the artifacts were confiscated by Nazi Germany for a proposed "Museum to an Extinct Race," this has been debunked as a postwar myth. The items originated from pre-war Jewish communities in Bohemia and Moravia, transferred to the Jewish Museum's collections through the efforts of Prague's Jewish community employees, some of whom were involved in the museum.

A century ago, the Czech Republic had 400 synagogues. During Nazi occupation (1938-1945), 70 were destroyed; under communism, another hundred met the same fate. Most were repurposed or left neglected. Today, around 200 synagogues remain, with a few functioning as places of worship and many restored as museums or cultural sites. There are also over 340 Jewish cemeteries, some centuries old, and remnants of Jewish quarters in 180 locations nationwide. This makes the Czech Republic one of the most attractive tourist destination for Jewish heritage travel.

Come and join us with our expert team for an unforgettable and life-changing expereince. Below you can find some of our high end, in depth tours. 

 

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