The Empty Spaces of Prague

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

            Sometimes living in Czechoslovakia and working in Josefov didn’t just feel like I was living in another country; but rather it felt like I was living in another universe.  I grew up as a Methodist.  There was no pomp and circumstance to my celebrations.  Years of reformation after reformation made for a bare-bones, clean service that was devoid of symbolism or association.  Papacy had left and along with it all the trappings that connected the common man to his religion left with it.  There were no statues, no incense, no stations of the cross or even stained glass.  The benefit was that you were supposed to have a close personal connection to God without any distractions.  The detriment was that there was no connection to the earth or your ancestors, which are two things that Judaism takes very seriously.

It was mid-September.  I had been working for a few weeks in the museum when I was told that there was going to be a holiday coming up and I wouldn’t be allowed to work.  “Not allowed?” I asked, as if such a thing were even possible.  Mordecai was there, and he told me that no one can work on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which was going to be on September 20th of that year.  I looked beyond him at Sammy with eyebrows arched, and Sammy motioned that it was true with a nod.  Mordecai also invited me to the celebration which was going to be held at the newly created Jewish Community Center.  Since the Velvet Revolution, more and more Jewish people were moving back to Prague and there needed to be a bigger and more efficient establishment.  They brought their customs and traditions with them, so the way that they celebrated Rosh Hashanah wasn’t necessarily the way the Jews who lived in Josefov would have celebrated it, but it was close and as a rule, religious communities favor the traditions of their fathers over new traditions.

I didn’t know anything about the high holy days of Judaism, but it turned out that in September there are two of them:  Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.  Later in the Day I spoke to Sammy about them, and he told me that since I was doing all of this work, and since I was technically Jewish, that I should come to the celebration for the New Year.  He told me I would have to turn off the lights anyway but I was unsure about the whole idea:  I felt very awkward with the idea of going to the religious ceremony in the synagogue. 

Finally relenting and I think fearing that he was overplaying his hand, Sammy said that the synagogue part was not entirely necessary in order to celebrate the holiday, so I agreed to meet him after the official part for the celebratory part.

Rosh Hashanah is more than a traditional New Year that I was used to celebrating on January first.  It had a whole different role in the Hebrew calendar and it comes in the beginning of the seventh month of the calendar.  I know this sounds strange.  But it was explained to me that we have a New Year as the start to the year, and a new start of the school year and a new start to baseball season, there are lots of things that start, and not necessarily on the first of January.  As I said, sometimes it felt like I was living in a different universe with different rules and different norms.

 Unlike the secular New Year, Rosh Hashanah is a contemplative affair.   It is a time of reflection and repentance for what you have done for the year, and in the hopes that God will write you in his book for the coming year in a positive way.  The saying  goes, “On Rosh Hashanah it is written, on Yom Kippur it is sealed,” meaning, the book is sealed and that is your fate for the year.  Between those two holidays there is roughly ten days for you to repent and atone for your sins before your fate is sealed.  These are called the Days of Awe and you are supposed to act like a saint so you get the best possible outcome for the year. 

You must also seek out those you may have offended over the year, loved ones, friends, relatives, you name it, and you must ask their forgiveness.  You are supposed to ask in the same place where the infraction took place, but this was impossible for Sammy who was writing daily to friends and family in America, and was receiving air mail envelopes in return.  He took it very seriously.