The Mysterious Atmosphere of the Jewish Cemetery

Beyond the high walls the city pulses with life, but here there is extraordinary stillness. Trees with twisted roots grow into the gravestones and lift them. Some stones are weathered, their inscriptions erased, and sink into the earth; others lean in every direction after the storms of time, surrounded by little stones placed reverently. The oldest tombstone belongs to Abigdor Karro (died 1439). The famous Rabbi Yehuda Löw ben Bezalel, one of the foremost Kabbalists and creator of the Golem and a magic lantern, is also buried here. He was born in Poznań sometime between 1512 and 1525. From 1553 to 1573 he was chief rabbi and supervisor of Jewish schools in Moravia, based in Mikulov (see entry). In 1573 he moved to Prague, where he wrote most of his important religious and educational works. Apart from several years in Poznań, he lived in Prague for the rest of his life. In the ghetto he founded a Talmudic academy called a beth midrash, served as rabbi and was also chief judge. He was nicknamed Maharal mi-Prag, the Great Master of Prague. He is said to have constructed a magic lantern with which he showed Rudolf II an image of Hradčany. Many legends concern his life and magical powers, the best known being his creation of an artificial man, the Golem (see the Golem entry in the survey of mysteries). Rabbi Löw once summoned Old Testament prophets for Rudolf II, first stipulating that the emperor must not laugh. When the phantom of red-haired, limping Naphtali appeared, Rudolf could not restrain himself and laughed. They immediately noticed the ceiling beginning to descend dangerously. The quick-witted rabbi stopped it with a magical formula. An epidemic plague among children once swept the ghetto. To discover its hidden cause, the rabbi sent his servant to the cemetery to fetch a tachrichim, the shroud of a dead child. He knew the child’s spirit would have to come for it. The following night it did so, and in return for its shroud had to reveal the plague’s secret cause. The rabbi learned that the epidemic was punishment for two women of the ghetto secretly killing their newborns. He ensured justice was done and the plague ceased. Tales also tell of Rabbi Löw’s encounters with personified Death. His long life was attributed to his presence of mind in once snatching from Death’s hand, in the cemetery, a sheet on which his own name was written. The rabbi loved roses, and one day, as he enjoyed their scent, Death hidden in a blossom overcame him.