History of the Jews in Prague

The Jewish Town Hall in Prague's Jewish Quarter.

The history of the Jews in Prague, the capital of today's Czech Republic, relates to one of Europe's oldest recorded and most well-known Jewish communities (in Hebrew, Kehilla), first mentioned by the Sephardi-Jewish traveller Ibrahim ibn Yaqub in 965 CE. Since then, the community has existed continuously, despite various pogroms and expulsions, the Holocaust, and subsequent antisemitic persecution by the Czech Communist regime in the 20th century.[1]

Nowadays, the Jewish community of Prague numbers approximately 2,000 members. There are a number of synagogues of all Jewish denominations, a Chabad centre, an old age home, a kindergarten, Lauder Schools, the Judaic Studies department at the Charles University, kosher restaurants and a kosher hotel. Notable Jews from Prague include Judah Loew ben Bezalel, Franz Kafka, Miloš Forman and Madeleine Albright.

  1. ^ Levine, Menachem (6 October 2022). "The Jewish History of Prague". Aish.com. Retrieved 20 November 2023.