Prague Burial Brotherhood
The Prague Burial Brotherhood , actually Chewra kadischa de-gomle chasadim , literally "Holy Brotherhood of those who perform acts of mercy", was founded in 1564 by the Jewish community and was a non-profit organization in the former Jewish town of Prague (now the Josefov district ).
It was located at the Jewish cemetery in the Josefov district, which has been preserved to this day . In the museum of the cemetery - in the new ceremonial hall and the rooms of the former Klausen synagogue - countless cult objects and pictures from the period from the 16th to the 19th century are on display. This also includes the cycle of large-format paintings, probably from 1772, depicting the activities of the brotherhood. The cycle originally comprised 15 pictures and was commissioned by the then board of the association. The painter is no longer known, his style was late baroque. The pictures were supposed to decorate the room of the brotherhood, where the assemblies and annual anniversary banquets took place. The picture cycle is the first evidence of the penetration of enlightenment and emancipatory ideas into the Jewish community. It was intended to emphasize the social role of the brotherhood within the Jewish community. In addition, it is the first pictorial document in which the Prague Jewish city and its inhabitants were recorded, as well as the time of the last burials in the cemetery in the Josefov district .
The Prague Burial Brotherhood, like every Chewra Kadisha of that time, had the task of becoming active in cases of illness and death within the community. The members of the brotherhood visited the sick, stood by the relatives, washed and dressed the deceased, carried him to the cemetery, excavated the grave, buried the dead, ensured the presence of a minyan made up of at least ten male Jews, and were during the Seven days of mourning in the house of the bereaved and present at the kaddish in the synagogue during the year . All these tasks were also represented on the picture cycle.
literature
- Silvie Ann Goldberg: Crossing the Jabbok. Illness and Death in Ashkenazi Judaism in Sixteenth-through Nineteenth Century Prague . Berkley 1996 (English).
- Georg Herlitz, Bruno Kirschner (ed.): Jüdisches Lexikon . An encyclopedic manual of Jewish knowledge in four volumes. Volume 1: A - C. Jüdischer Verlag, Berlin 1927.
- Arno Pařík: Prague Jewish cemeteries. = Pražské židovské hřbitovy. = Prague Jewish cemeteries. Jewish Museum, Prague 2003, ISBN 80-85608-69-3 .