Old-New Synagogue (Staronova synagoga)

Prag · Tschechien · Historic building

Rabbi Loew shaped the Golem from Vltava clay and laid him in the attic. Then the stairs were removed — and no one has brought him down.

Late in the 1500s, Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel is said to have shaped a figure from clay taken off the Vltava bank and given it life to watch over the people of the Jewish Town. The Golem obeyed without speaking and worked without tiring, but grew stronger than its maker. The rabbi withdrew the sign of life and carried the heavy body up into the attic of the Old-New Synagogue, after which the stairs were taken away. The legend holds that the Golem still lies up there beneath dust and rags, and that anyone climbing up to look never comes back down. In the prayer hall stands Loew's own chair, marked with the Star of David: tradition says whoever sits in it uninvited dies within the year.

FAQ

Wo befindet sich Old-New Synagogue (Staronova synagoga)?

Old-New Synagogue (Staronova synagoga) liegt in Prag, Tschechien.

Image: Øyvind Holmstad / CC BY-SA 3.0 — Wikimedia Commons