High Holidays in Prague

Again, another post about events of semester's past. The topic tonight is my experience observing the High Holidays in Prague. With the help of my pops, I came in touch with a Progressive congregation here in Prague for the High Holidays, Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. The interesting thing about this synagogue is that it is almost nomadic. The people are mostly the same but they hold services in different synagogues. I really liked this because I was able to go to two very different synagogues: the Pinkas Synagogue and the Libeň Synagogue. All I knew about the services was that they were to be in three languages: Czech, Hebrew, and thankfully English. I love doing the whole Jewish thing, especially on the holiest of days, but I do not think I could have made it through services in just Czech and Hebrew.

Services for Rosh Hashana were held at the Libeň Synagogue, right off the Palmovka metro stop. Two friends, Max and Jake, joined me for the occasion. In true Rossoff fashion, we were fifteen minutes late. Then on top of that, I only had directions to get off the metro at Palmovka, nothing passed that. We then wandered a bit less than 40 years through the not so desert like streets of Prague 8. Finally we stumbled upon a building with two patrolling police officers and the Star of David on it; we were in the right place. Luckily they had not started yet. We were greeted by some English speaking members of the congregation, a girl studying in Italy who just happened to be in Prague for Rosh Hashana, and we exchanged some some dobrý den's (hellos) with others. As the service started and went on for a bit, it felt comforting. I was half way around the world from even my home away from home in Evanston, let alone from Morristown, and could still sing melodies I had learned growing up. They of course had their own regional twists but overall they remained as I remembered. When it came time for the Torah service, my friends and I were asked to make aliyah (I think that's what it's called), and Max and I did. But before I went up there I had this terrible realization, “I have no idea what my father's Hebrew name is.” I thought and thought and thought but nothing came to mind. Ultimately I settled on Moshe, or Moses. Why Moses? I rationalized that he is one of the forefathers of our religion, so in a sense, we are all Moses's children. So that is what I told the rabbi who then chanted “Natan ben Moshe.” Obviously looking back, I probably should have chosen Adam or Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob. They all would have worked, hell I think my idea worked. I do not know. I hope that is not too sacrilegious. I do not mind if I broke a tiny Jewish law, that is what Yom Kippur is for, and for that aliyah I got it right! (I called my dad that day after services and asked him. His Hebrew name, or rather Yiddish name, is Fivel. Anywho, so reciting the prayers for the pre- and post reading of the torah was quite exhilarating. Jeez, my knees were buckling I was so nervous. Normally in a room full of complete strangers, I do not care if I mess up, which I did but only slightly, or anything because I will walk out and never see them again. I think I was so nervous because this was such a practiced yet such a new experience for me. I was in Prague at a random congregation's services reciting prayers in front of everyone. Holy poop is right! I was relieved to be done and the handshakes I received while walking back to my seat in the last row were very reassuring and comforting.

Next came the rabbi's sermon. She was a younger rabbi, probably in her mid 30s, from California. I am not sure if she came from a congregation there. However, first I must tell you that her sermon was twice as long as it should have been. While my friends and I understood her words directly, in English, 99% of the people were completely lost so there was a woman standing next to the rabbi translating every line into Czech. Next, her sermon was a bit kitschy. The topic was something I had never thought about before, the realistic psychological state of Abraham, but her delivery felt very gift wrapped. I do not want to brag but my father is a pretty smart guy who writes pretty interesting sermons, I bet I would even stay awake if I had heard his sermons this year, so to hear this very gimmicky sermon was a little annoying. I want to go back to the sermon's topic, though. Have you ever thought about this? Here is a guy, Abraham, working in his father's idol shop who decides to destroy everything in it because he feels this higher calling to a different God. His actions are founded in nothing, based in no previous experience with this new God. I mean, I understand God must really have been trying to get his message across through Abraham but it does seem a little crazy if you think about it rationally in terms of his time period. The next example cited by the rabbi was the story of Abraham sacrificing Isaac for this new God. Again, Abraham needed to prove his faith in this new, previously unheard of God, and decided that his son was the necessary sacrifice. Luckily that angel floated down and stopped this guy because he was out of his mind! Seriously, those are some crazy beliefs, needing to kill your own son in order to prove allegiance. Wowzas. I guess you can say that the rabbi's sermon made some sort of impact on me as I am still thinking about it two months later.

Rosh Hashana services were very nice, as were Kol Nidre and Yom Kippur services. I think what made them particularly special were the structures in which they were held. The Libeň synagogue is an incredibly old and empty building. There is no bathroom, no heating; it is really just a shell of a building with a bimah and some broken windows. Not more than fifteen minutes into the service, I decided that it was one of the most beautiful synagogues I had ever seen. There was nothing to it but there was so much beauty to be found in the vacancy. I was recently given a pamphlet on the history of the synagogue, something impossible to find on the internet. The synagogue was shut down and used for storage at the beginning of World War II and was not returned to the Jewish community until the fall of communism in 1989. I guess it is a great, yet incredibly cliché, metaphor for the enduring nature of the Jewish people. There are apparently plans to renovate the synagogue and make it functional with a permanent congregation. No matter how long the suffering may last, we will always brave the storm and rebuild. I know less about the Pinkas Synagogue, sorry, or maybe not, you may be tired of reading by now. The Pinkas Synagogue is known for having the names of all of the Holocaust's Jewish victims written on the walls. I was definitely taken aback to see all of these 80,000 names. It is unbelievable what happened and that synagogue does a good job of peacefully reminding its inhabitants of the history's dreadful reality. Services here were nice, nothing special other than the setting. Also, I was able to complete the fast with ease. I laid in bed, watched a lot of Scrubs or Shameless, I cannot recall, but my 6” Subway sandwich from the 6 pm the night before lasted me all the way until dinner time. I am proud of myself being able to fast here. Granted, I obviously avoided any temptations like the plague but was able to face it well mentally.

The Jewish population here in the Czech Republic has seen better days. At the beginning of the Holocaust, over 92,000 Jewish people lived in Prague alone; two-thirds of them were murdered within the next few years. By 1945, only 15,000 Jewish people lived in the Czech Republic, half of them soon moved to Israel. Today, there are 3,000 people registered as Jewish in the country, 1,600 of them live in Prague. It is tough to say whether the Czech Republic will ever get back one of the most vibrant Jewish communities in all of Europe, probably not. Nothing is overt but people are definitely still getting used to the idea of seeing Jewish people as equals. Anti-semitism held up through the communist era pretty well. It is weird to think of a community not being seen as real people, as different, and the Jewish community is only one of hundreds to whom this has and will continue to happen. Rules of political correctness do not allow anyone to say something against others. Hell, in this country you can get up to three years in prison for publicly denying the Holocaust or parading Nazi ideology. I guess that is what it takes to make prejudices go away over time. Because it is so taboo to have opposing views, no one voices them, and eventually they pass on without teaching anyone their true feelings. Yeah, it is definitely a good thing when that happens. The world will be much more accepting when that happens.

Anywho, I think that is enough for tonight. Thanks very much for reading!

All the best,

Than

Václav Cílek, The Man

The following entry is a description of my reactions to one of my professors, Václav Cílek, and his class entitled “European Mentality.” He will most likely never read this post, so do not think I am brown-nosing. I am simply reflecting the opinions shared by many of this great man.

Really quickly, I would like you, he/she who reads this (thanks by the way!), to click on this link, the Wikipedia page for Václav Cílek: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaclav_Cilek. It is not a very long page but the first sentence about him describes how cool he is. It is written: “Václav Cílek (born 1955 in Brno) is Czech geologist, climatologist, writer, philosopher, science popularizer and translator of Tao and Zen texts.” Not only is he a leading expert in geology and climatology, he also translates Tao and Zen texts. That might be the coolest addendum to any biographical statement ever. Cílek has written countless articles and books which are revered as intellectual genius. He shows incredible humility in his lectures, alluding to his published book on the Charles Bridge or his television series on the lost caves of the Czech Republic, but never letting his work define his being. One day as we walked down Národní street, one of the main streets in New Town Prague, a man approached Professor Cílek. After a brief and very smiley conversation, we asked our professor who the man was: “Was that one of your fans, professor?” we said jokingly. He was very embarrassed to answer our question affirmatively. The fan had recognized him from his aforementioned television show on caves. Incredible. There are not many things we quote from Cílek (though we learn a lot a lot) but the fan story and the next one are favorites. As we sat in the grass one day during class, he lectured us on Václav Havel, the first president of the new Czech Republic, as his birthday had been in that week. He told us all about Havel's office calling him for certain consultations on such and such an issue. Then he said our favorite line: “I was invited to Havel's 75^th birthday party but I did not go. I do not play the social games.” He is very in touch with himself, his likes, dislikes, and beliefs about the world. He believes in the energy of spaces, in apparitions, and very strongly against love locks (a couple will put a lock on a bridge or a fence to symbolize eternal love; Cílek hates them because they are mostly empty promises made by young people). European Mentality is based outside the classroom. Better yet, Prague is our classroom and our teacher knows a hell of a lot about his subject matter. Every class, save for two or three, this semester has been a cool field trip to a new part of Prague. Missing class is actually devastating; these field trips are amazing. If you do not mind, I want to share a select few stories from our trips.

One of the most interesting classes we have had our trip to a homeless art exhibit. If that sounds weird, then you are getting into the right mindset. It was incredibly weird. We walked for a while along the river in a random area just outside the city center until we came upon a construction site. Apparently, developers thought the area could be profitable so they started construction on a housing project, I think if I remember correctly. They quickly lost funding due to a lack of interest in the area and it became abandoned. Recently, people have started to leave pieces of “art” on these grounds. There was some graffiti, some photography, organized rubble and tires, and playing cards to give examples. A few sections were wrapped in VHS film that the artist had set free to shake in the wind. The empty tapes were then arranged in a cool way. When looking at the film, we were actually watching classic movies from our childhood! I am pretty sure The Lion King was there, Home Alone, etc. Classics. Another artist, or maybe the same person/s, had then taken pictures of the tapes, printed them on big coasters, and arranged those in an artistic way. It was all very natural and cool. Anyone who came added to the overall experience, there was nothing commercial about it at all. In one section of the grounds there was a little hut with a cloth door. The class was pretty hesitant about going near it for fear that an aggressor lay waiting behind the curtain but Cílek was anything but that. He turned to us and asked, “Do you know what to do when there is no door to knock on?” He started clapping, saying something, and then pulled back the sheet. We were all scared for his and our lives. Luckily, or maybe not luckily but just so, the inhabitant was not home. I think that class, only a few weeks into the semester, was when we really knew how awesome a professor Cílek would be. We had inklings of his genius but then it was definite that we were going to go way off the unbeaten path's unbeaten path, and we were going to love it.

We have gone on a lot of light and playful field trips, like the homeless art gallery, or the time we sat on the hills near Jinonice and Cílek talked all about public urination (one of my favorite lectures of all time), or the time we climbed under a bridge, like above us the highway, below the creaky grate catwalk under our feet was the river... yup, I should probably explain that one. Cílek took us on a tour of the abandoned port near Holešovice when we came upon a bridge. Professor turned to us and said that he would normally do something next with his Czech students but American students are normally not brave enough. We obviously demanded the contrary, so he took us to the base of the bridge. He hopped up onto a ledge, climbed up the ladder, and told us to follow if we wanted. We proceeded to walk over countless grates, holding onto the railing for dear life the whole way down and back. It was thrillingly nerve-wracking. It felt as though we could fall through into the river below at any moment. I have a feeling this sort of adventure might be frowned upon by parents and schools. It may or may not have been a little dangerous, but since nothing happened, it does not matter, it is all groovy. These are the types of little adventures he takes us on and they are always fun. On our recent visit to Vyšehrad, we walked through passed and talked about all of the standard sights. Then, in true Cílek fashion, he hopped the brick wall protecting people from falling onto the highway 50 feet below and motioned for us to follow. We stood where they used to import goods to the castle complex directly from the river as he explained the process of it to us. I like learning about things much more when they are right in front of me, when I can see them, hear them, and touch them; that is the way Cílek teaches.

One last short story about how awesome this man is comes from our lecture a week ago, Thanksgiving day, when we visited the Infant of Prague in the Church of Our Lady Victorious. The Infant of Prague is a tiny wax figurine of baby Jesus dressed immaculately and surrounded by lots and lots of gold. Supposedly, the Infant saved the city from being destroyed in war and by the plague. Because of its miracle powers, it has international fame and is a frequently visited church by Spanish and Italian believers who want to pay homage. Anyway, as the class approached the church, a cameraman was in a ready position and immediately started filming our professor. Cílek just went along with his business, in true Cílek form, and went on lecturing. Inside, he apologized for the cameramen, saying that Czech national television wanted to interview him but he refused, “so the least I could do was tell them where I would be.”

I do not wonder for a second why anyone would want to capture every word out of this man's mouth. The other night, I looked up Cílek on YouTube to see if he had any interviews in English. I found zero in English but listened to three or four in Czech. I could not understand 99% of what he was saying, after the greeting words from interviewer I could not keep up, but I listened to the whole interview. Cílek spoke about environmental policies. Again, I knew not a word he spoke, but he has this voice and sense of composure that is soothing in a way, and you know that what he is saying is prophetic. This is particularly funny for me to write because Cílek's least favorite topic is himself. He will tell us all about his archeological excavation project in the Sudan but only because we ask him to do so. Professor then takes that opportunity to speak about the people there, their interactions among their community, and their interactions with foreigners to teach us about them, not himself. He would probably dislike this entry. Cílek is an inspiring man who truly follows his heart, does things he wants to do, sees things he wants to see. Hell, what is cool about European Mentality is that most of the places we go are sights he just finds on his walks and thinks are interesting. They may not be the most significant places in Prague but they are unique to the area and Cílek is always able to find a humanistic lesson in them.

Cílek never brags so I guess I have to on his behalf. On one of the first days of class he told us that most of what a student learns in the classroom is not what is written on the board or assigned for homework. The student is most influenced by the teacher's attitude. Professor Cílek has taught me a great deal about how to walk through a city and really explore it. If something catches your eye that is not on the itinerary, who cares, goes see it. Walk through alleyways that seemingly lead to nowhere; some of them will prove to be nothing but down one of them lies a treasure chest of some sort. I have come to terms with my readiness to go home, all the Christmas lights and music just get me ready for my birthday (12/24) for which I am normally always home. I will be home again soon, which excites me, but it also means that I will probably never get to go an adventure with Václav Cílek again. I guess I can take solace in the fact that I still have a couple more classes with him. I am especially excited for our last trip, a nighttime visit to the Prague Castle, one of the most beautiful places on top of the city. It will be nice.

Anywho, thanks for reading. I'll post again very soon (as my completed journal assignment is due in less than a week!).

All the best,

Than