Chabad Takes Judaism Out of the Cemetery
PRAGUE, Czech Republic — Aplaque on a building in one of the Jewish Quarter’s side streets in Prague reads:
This building was the Jewish Primary School 1920-1943.
And the Central Jewish Museum 1940-1945
Most of the Children, Teachers and Museum Staff Perished in The War.
The building was designated by Hitler to be a “Museum of An Extinct Race.”
Instead, the music of Am Yisrael Chai reverberated through the streets of Prague last night as the city’s Jews danced with a new Torah scroll encased in silver, donated by the Safra family to Chabad-Lubavitch of Prague.
Tourists visiting this extraordinarily beautiful city, home to the famous 13th century Altneushul, pulpit and burial place of the Maharal, Rabbi Yehuda Loew (1525-1609), the legend of the Golem, Franz Kafka and the starting point for the Jews deported to Terezin, are often misled to believe that Jewish Prague is to be found in its museums and cemetery; to be regarded as objets d’art and historic monuments.
But those living here learn quickly that in this most secular of European cities with only about 1700 identifying Jews, a vibrant hub bursts with authentic Jewish living, where Torah, Shabbat and mitzvot are part and parcel of a warm, inviting family: Chabad of Prague—Rabbi Manis and Dini Barash, and their children are synonymous with the yiddishkeit that lives and grow in this city of 100 spires.
Against incredible odds, the Barashs have taken Judaism out of the cemetery and revived it for the city’s Jews.
“If not for Chabad, I would not stay in Prague,” Esther ben Peretz, a native Czech said as her little daughter, Keshet, a Chabad preschooler, danced to the music in Prague’s Intercontinental Hotel, where the final letters of the Torah scroll were being inscribed.
Article Continued (Lubavitch.com)
The Torah, under the canopy. (Photo by Daniela Deutelbaum for Lubavitch.com)
