Place of the Maharal, Altneushul, Prague

According to legend, the Altneushul was built with foundation stones and dust which had its origins in the Temple of Solomon on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It is the oldest extant synagogue in Europe, built in the 13th C. Altneu means old-new, but altneu is more likely a corruption of the Hebrew phrase, al-t’nai which means “on-condition”. This synagogue was built on the condition that it would be moved to the holy city of Jerusalem when the Temple in Jerusalem is restored.

One of the most famous scholar-rabbi-sages-mystics in all of Jewish history was Rabbi Judah Loew, who served as rabbi of this congregation in the late 16th C. He is known better as the famed Maharal of Prague. His writings and essays are seminal in Jewish thought. He is most famous to the general public for something that he himself never mentioned: the Maharal is credited with creating the legendary golem, an animate humanoid creature with supernatural powers who protected and defended the Jewish community of that period. The Maharal’s place is marked by the prayer stand at the side of the Aron Kodesh.

This historic synagogue is open to tourists during the day, so I worked all night. After the small congregation gathered for the evening prayers I remained and worked until the morning prayers at dawn.

People wonder why the synagogue, like so many others, was not destroyed by the Nazis? There is another legend, that I once heard from a woman whose family escaped the Nazi death squads and came as a young girl to Israel. She related that Hitler believed in mysticism and had heard the legend of the Maharal and the Golem. He sent a Nazi officer to investigate the Altneushul and especially the attic where it is said that the Golem is interred. No one enters this attic. The Nazi officer went up the ladder to the attic and never descended. The Germans, she said, left the place alone.

I spent four nights working in this medieval, deeply mysterious space