For the first time since World War II, one of Prague’s most historic synagogues, the Klausen Synagogue, has held a Jewish prayer service.
The Kol Nidre service, marking the start of Yom Kippur, was conducted Friday night, ending over 80 years of silence. The synagogue’s long hiatus followed the horrors of the Holocaust and the suppression of Czech Jewry during the war.
Built in 1573 and rebuilt after a fire in 1694, the Klausen Synagogue is the largest in Prague’s Jewish Quarter and was once a vibrant center of Jewish life. It was home to significant Jewish scholars, including the renowned Talmudist Judah Loew, also known as the Maharal of Prague, and Baruch Jeitteles, associated with the Jewish Enlightenment movement. After the Holocaust decimated Czech Jewry, the synagogue ceased to host services for over eight decades.
On Friday night, however, a Yom Kippur service drew approximately 200 people, led by Rabbi David Maxa of the Czech Progressive Jewish community. Jewish locals, visitors, and tourists from around the world came together to celebrate this historic moment. Maxa remarked on the significance of the occasion: “It’s quite remarkable that there is a Yom Kippur service in five historic synagogues in Prague,” he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, emphasizing the revival of Jewish life in the city.
During the German occupation in World War II, the Klausen Synagogue was repurposed as a storage facility. Though Nazi forces killed about 263,000 Jews from the former Czechoslovak Republic, they collected Jewish artifacts for preservation. The Jewish Museum in Prague was permitted to store these objects, with the Klausen Synagogue becoming part of its depository. Now, after decades, the synagogue has returned to its original purpose: a place of prayer and reflection.
