The Old-New Synagogue (Staronová synagoga or in German Altneu-Synagoge) is the oldest active synagogue in Europe, located in Prague, in the quarter called Josefov. Originally, the building was called the "New Synagogue" or the "Great Synagogue." The year of construction of the Old-New Synagogue is considered to be 1270. It received its strange name because other synagogues previously operated on this territory, which unfortunately have not survived, and the newly built one was "new" in comparison. But over the years, other newer synagogues appeared in Prague's Jewish Quarter, and so soon the New Synagogue became the Old-New.
This is one of the first buildings in the early Gothic style built in Prague at the end of the 13th century. The brick two-nave building in Prague was erected in the last third of the 13th century by royal stonemasons who worked nearby on the construction of the Agnes Monastery. The building with a crown of late Gothic gables on the east and west sides is the view that greets travelers at the Old-New Synagogue. The 12 windows in the synagogue symbolize the 12 tribes of Israel. Five pointed windows are located on the north and south sides, and two windows are on the west side.
The interior is a two-nave space covered by six sail-shaped rib vaults resting on two massive pillars. The original circular arrangement of seats facing the center, where there is a raised platform with a lectern for the Torah, has been preserved here.
According to Orthodox custom, seats for men and women during the service are arranged separately in the synagogue. Women sit in an outer room with small windows leading into the main hall.
According to one legend, the Jews living in Prague argued for a long time. They could not decide where to build the new prayer house. But then children playing on a hill found several stones vaguely resembling the remains of an ancient foundation. At that moment, the local rabbis recalled a tradition that these were stones from the foundation of the destroyed Jerusalem Temple, brought here by angels. There were also seers who advised: "Let the vault rest on two columns, and nine steps lead down. If the synagogue is built according to these requirements, neither war, nor water, nor fire will harm it, and it will stand for centuries."
So they did. And for more than seven hundred years, the Old-New Synagogue has stood in Prague, the oldest active synagogue in Europe. It has survived many wars, floods, and fires. In 1558, a fire literally devastated the Jewish quarter of the Czech capital. But the stone synagogue survived, proudly towering over the ruins. The same legend says that when the Messiah comes, he will restore the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. Then the angels will take the stones on which the Old-New Synagogue rests and carry them to Jerusalem. Only then will it be destroyed.
An unusual feature is the large flag on the western column, depicting the Star of David, the text of the Shema, and a Jewish hat, which became the symbol of the Jewish community in Prague from the 15th century. The right to have a flag, symbolizing the community's autonomy, was granted by Ferdinand II, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, in recognition of the Jews' merits in defending Prague from the Swedes. The current flag was granted to the Jews by Charles VI (the flag now displayed is an exact copy of it).
In a small park behind the synagogue stands a bronze sculpture of Moses from 1905 by sculptor František Bílek.
Above the entrance to the southern vestibule is a tympanum richly decorated with stone grapevines. Undoubtedly, the harmonious and smooth interiors of the medieval Old-New Synagogue with 15th-century vaults and stone benches, majestic candelabras inspire calm and tranquility. But perhaps the most impressive here is the Ark of the Covenant, where the sacred Torah scrolls are kept. Many visitors experience a sacred awe here. Another mystical and therefore mysterious object in the Old-New Synagogue is the chair of the famous 16th-century Rabbi Löw (Judah) Benzalel, the creator of the Golem (a clay giant created to protect Jews during pogroms, which according to legend will come to life again if his remains are found) and a great Kabbalist.
The story of the Golem in Prague is as popular as the tales of the brave soldier Švejk; here is one of its many versions.
It happened in 1580. A clergyman named Tadeusz, a fierce opponent of the Jews, again tried to disturb peace and harmony and bring new accusations against the Jews. Rabbi Löw learned about this in time and asked heaven in a dream what means to use to fight the evil enemy. He received the following alphabetically arranged answer: "Ata Bra Golem Dewuk Hachomer Wrtigzar Zedim Chewel Torfe Jisrael." "Create a Golem from clay and destroy the vile rabble devouring the Jews."
Rabbi Löw interpreted the combination of words as meaning that he could create a living being from earth using the number of letters revealed to him by heaven. He ordered his son-in-law Yitzhak ben Simeon and his student, the Levite Jacob ben Chaim Sasson, to be brought and revealed to them the secret of creating the Golem: "I require your help because four elements are needed for its creation: you, Yitzhak - the element fire, you, Jacob - water, I myself - air, together we will create the Golem from the fourth element - earth." He taught them in detail how to first sanctify and purify themselves to prepare for the great task of creating an artificial man.
On the appointed day, the work was done by torchlight and with the reading of psalms in feverish haste. They molded from earth a figure of a man three cubits long. The Golem lay face up. Then the men stood at his feet so as to look him straight in the face. He lay motionless, like a dead man. Then Rabbi Löw ordered the priest Yitzhak to circle the clay body seven times from right to left, entrusting him with the "tzrufim," a phrase he was to pronounce during this. When this was done, the clay body turned fiery red.
Rabbi Löw then ordered the Levite Jacob to circle the body from right to left the same number of times, giving him the specific "tzrufim" for his element. When he completed his task, the fiery red color disappeared, and water flowed inside the clay body; hair sprouted from the skin, and nails appeared on the fingers.
Then Rabbi Löw himself circled the clay body, placed the "Shem" written on parchment into its mouth, and bowing to the east and west, south and north, all three simultaneously pronounced the words: "And He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." And so, thanks to the three elements: fire, water, and air, the fourth element - earth - came to life. The Golem opened his eyes and looked around as if in amazement.
Rabbi Löw said to him: "Stand on your feet!" And he stood up. Then they dressed him in the shames (attire of a synagogue attendant), and soon he looked like a normal man. Only he lacked the gift of speech. But later it turned out that this was even better. At dawn, all four went home.
On the way, Rabbi Löw said to the Golem: "Know that we created you from a lump of earth. Your task is to protect the Jews from persecution; you will be called Joseph, and you will spend the night in the rabbinical office. You, Joseph, must obey my orders, wherever and whenever I send you, into fire and water, if I order you to jump from a roof or if I send you to the bottom of the sea."
Joseph nodded in agreement. At home, Rabbi Löw said he had met a mute stranger on the street, and since he felt sorry for him, he took him as a servant of the rabbinical office. However, at home, he forbade using the Golem for personal needs.
It happened that on the Day of Atonement in 1587, in the Old-New Synagogue where Rabbi Löw prayed, the head of the community dropped the Torah while putting it into the box after the afternoon reading. The event caused horror among all the gathered community members, as since time immemorial such an incident was considered a bad omen. Rabbi Löw was also disturbed and immediately ordered everyone present to fast the next day. On Monday, he asked in a dream what sin was the cause of the bad event. However, he did not receive a clear answer, only separate letters that he could not understand. Therefore, he wrote them on paper and gave them to the Golem, entrusting him to find the answer.
Looking over the strip of paper, the Golem immediately took a prayer book from the bookshelf, opened it, and showed the chapter that was read from the Torah on the Day of Atonement. The letters shown to Rabbi Löw were an abbreviation of the commandment "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife."
Rabbi Löw now knew that the man who dropped the Torah was involved in an extramarital affair, so the Torah slipped from his hands. He called the man to him and confidentially told him about the word from the dream. The man, crying, confessed his sin and asked the rabbi to entrust him with repentance. But Rabbi Löw went further, dissolving the marriage of the unfaithful woman and her husband according to the laws of Moses.
Rabbi Löw introduced the custom of giving the Golem a kind of daily task on Fridays after lunch because on the Sabbath he wanted to communicate with him only in extreme cases. Usually, Rabbi Löw ordered him to do nothing on the Sabbath except stand guard and be cautious.
Once Rabbi Löw forgot to give the Golem his daily task on Friday after lunch. And so the Golem was left without occupation. As the day was drawing to a close and everyone was preparing for the Sabbath, the Golem began running wildly through the Jewish town, wanting to destroy everything. The fact that he had no task scared him as much as it enraged him. Seeing this, people ran away shouting: "Joseph the Golem has gone mad!"
A terrible panic arose, and soon the news reached the Old-New Synagogue where Rabbi Löw was praying. He ran out and, not seeing the Golem, still shouted into the void: "Joseph, stop!" And then people saw that the Golem immediately stopped as if rooted to the spot, overcoming the force of his wildness. Rabbi Löw was informed where the Golem stood, the rabbi approached him and whispered in his ear: "Go home and lie down." And the Golem obeyed him like a child. Then Rabbi Löw returned to the prayer house and ordered the Sabbath song to be sung again. From that Friday on, he never forgot to give the Golem his daily task, knowing that the Golem could devastate all of Prague if not calmed in time.
When much time had passed and the community was no longer threatened by malicious slander, Rabbi Löw called his son-in-law Yitzhak, the Levite, and the student Jacob, who assisted in creating the Golem, and said to them: "Now the Golem has become unnecessary, as we no longer need to fear evil accusations. Therefore, we will destroy him."
It was the beginning of 1593. Rabbi Löw ordered the Golem not to spend the night in the rabbinical office this time but to move his bed to the attic of the Old-New Synagogue and spend the night there. Everything happened secretly, as it was midnight.
At two o'clock, Rabbi Löw was visited by his son-in-law and the Levite Jacob, and he asked them whether a dead being, as the Golem was, could represent, like other dead things, a source of impurity. This was a very important question because otherwise the clergyman could not participate in the destruction of the Golem, but Rabbi Löw decided that the answer should be negative. Then all three went up with a servant to the attic where the Golem was sleeping.
The men began destroying the Golem. They did everything opposite to how they did during creation. If, creating him, they stood at his feet opposite his head, now they stood by his head. The words from the Book of Genesis were also read backward.
After that, the Golem again became a lump of earth, as before his animation. Rabbi Löw then called the servant, took candles from him, and ordered him to undress the Golem down to his shirt. He ordered the clothes to be secretly burned. The frozen Golem was then covered with old clothes and remnants of books kept according to Jewish custom in the synagogue attic.
In the morning, it became known on the Jewish streets that Joseph the Golem had disappeared from the city during the night. Only a few people knew the truth. Rabbi Löw ordered an announcement in all synagogues and prayer houses strictly forbidding entry to the attic of the Old-New Synagogue. The remains of books and other sacred objects could no longer be stored there.
Another city legend also tells of a Nazi agent who during World War II climbed to the attic and tried to strike the Golem but died in the process. The ladder leading to the attic from the outside was removed, and the attic is closed to the general public. Many tourists hope to find the remains of the Golem, which according to legend are kept in the synagogue.
Also notable here is the standard of the Prague Jews preserved since 1716, in the center of which is depicted a hat—the main symbol of the synagogue. And the final touch is the statue of Moses in the well-kept square in front of the Old-New Synagogue. The bronze statue was cast in 1905 by František Bílek—a symbolist sculptor—in the courtyard of his home, and the statue was donated to the community only in 1937 for installation near the synagogue. Interestingly, the sculpture represents a kind of indestructible symbol of the Jewish nation. The oppression of World War II "melted" the sculpture, but it was restored in 1947 according to a plaster model provided by the sculptor's widow and erected in its rightful place.
Since its creation, the Old-New Synagogue was not used for its intended purpose only from 1942 to 1945. The Nazis closed it and, like other synagogues in Josefov, turned it into a warehouse for items confiscated from Jewish communities. It was planned to turn Josefov into a "museum of a vanished people," but fortunately, these plans were never realized.
Having survived fires and floods, pogroms and collapses many times, the Old-New Synagogue miraculously always emerged intact from all troubles. Whether it is the prayers of the faithful or the mysterious Golem, someone or something truly protects this place even in the most difficult times. Today, the Old-New Synagogue remains the religious center for all Jews of Prague and a "delicacy" for hunters of secrets and legends.
Sources:
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Староновая_синагога
http://prahafx.ru/legend/golem.htm
https://dzen.ru/a/X6ejdhrrWDJsnRkC?sid=125579465434078929
