Zeh ha-shulhan plaque

Group of objects

About the exhibit:

The zeh ha-shulhan plaque may have adorned a festive table, but was more likely to have been placed on a synagogue lectern. It contains the inscription “This is the table that is before the Lord” (Ezekiel 41:22), which is placed in a circular disc in the centre of the plaque. Around the edge is a quotation from the Mishnah, Pirkei Avot 3:4. Inside the disc are two circular medallions with a highly simplified motif of the Austrian eagle and the Bohemian lion, with the remaining free space filled with flowers. Along the sides are cut-out depictions of Moses with the tablets of the Ten Commandments and Aaron with the censer and other decorative elements.

GALLERY

LOCATION

Luže
The presence of Jews in Luže is documented from the last quarter of the 16th century at the latest. The first synagogue there was built as early as 1612. The present-day synagogue in Luže dates from around 1780. It underwent major repairs in 1881 and 1935. The synagogue was taken into the care of the Prague Jewish community in the 1990s. The most valuable Czech genizah to date was discovered during a survey of the building in 1996.
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LOCATION

Březnice
Jews probably lived in Březnice as early as the end of the 15th century. The synagogue there (dating from the 1720s) burned down in 1821, as did half the town, but was later rebuilt. In 1996, the synagogue genizah was transferred to the Jewish Museum in Prague.
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LOCATION

Rychnov nad Kněžnou
Jewish settlement in Rychnov nad Kněžnou is documented from the middle of the 16th century. The old synagogue (dating from the first half of the 17th century) was destroyed by fire in 1782. The new synagogue (dating from 1787) had to be repaired several times in the 19th and 20th centuries, but its genizah was preserved. Genizah items were transferred to the Jewish Museum in Prague in the 1990s and in 2021.
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LOCATION

Zalužany
A valuable genizah was preserved in the rural synagogue in Zalužany, which dates from the first half of the 19th century. Thanks to the kind help of the owner of the building, Jewish Museum staff were able to retrieve items from the genizah in 1997 and 2017.
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LOCATION

Holešov
Jews settled in Holešov perhaps as early as the middle of the 15th century. In the 18th and 19th centuries it was one of the most important Moravian Jewish communities. The first synagogue, which was made of wood, burned down. The second synagogue, called the Old or Shakh Synagogue, was built after 1559. In 1998, printed items of particular value were retrieved from its attic. In 2022, additional genizah fragments were extracted by Jewish Museum staff.
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LOCATION

Bezdružice
Jews lived in Bezdružice from the beginning of the 17th century at the latest. The local synagogue dates from the beginning of the 19th century. A small group of items from the genizah were transferred to the Jewish Museum in Prague in 1996.
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LOCATION

Janovice nad Úhlavou
Jews lived in Janovice nad Úhlavou from as early as the middle of the 15th century, but in greater numbers only from the first quarter of the 18th century. The local synagogue was built in 1723 and was substantially rebuilt in the 1950s.

LOCATION

Kdyně
The first documented record of the Jewish population in Kdyně is from 1724. The local synagogue, which was connected to the school, dates back to 1863. The items discovered in the genizah are mostly of a more recent date. They were transferred to the Jewish Museum in Prague in 1997.

LOCATION

Úsov
The Jewish population in Úsov is documented from the middle of the 16th century at the latest. From seven families in 1564, its numbers rose to 656 individuals by 1830. The local synagogue (dating from 1784) was acquired by the Olomouc Jewish community in the 1990s, and building repair work began afterwards. The remains of the local genizah were brought to the Jewish Museum in Prague in 1996.
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LOCATION

Všeradice
Jews lived in Všeradice from the first quarter of the 18th century. In 1829 the local wooden synagogue building was replaced by a brick synagogue. In 1928 the synagogue was sold as a result of the declining number of Jewish inhabitants.

LOCATION

Neveklov
Jewish settlement in Neveklov is documented from before 1618. The first wooden synagogue burned down and was replaced in 1657. The second synagogue burned down in 1730, was rebuilt in the Baroque style and rebuilt again after 1910. In 1999 it was returned to the Prague Jewish community.
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LOCATION

Jičín
Jews lived in Jičín from the middle of the 14th century. The local synagogue was built in 1773 and was damaged in a devastating fire that affected the entire town in 1840. It was later repaired and rebuilt. The building was revitalized as part of the ‘10 Stars’ project between 2010 and 2014.
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LOCATION

Brandýs nad Labem
Jews lived in Brandýs nad Labem from the beginning of the 16th century at the latest. The local synagogue stood here as early as 1559. It was not until the 18th century, however, that the Jewish community became more important. The present-day synagogue building was completed in 1829 after the previous one had burned down. This building was revitalized as part of the ‘10 Stars’ project between 2010 and 2014.

LOCATION

Dambořice
Jews lived in Dambořice from the beginning of the 17th century at the latest. The first synagogue burned down in a major fire and was replaced by another one in 1769. In 1807 the second synagogue had to be repaired following another fire. Flooding also caused great damage in Dambořice. The synagogue was demolished in 1948, but the school building has been preserved.
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LOCATION

Spálené Poříčí
A private genizah was discovered in what was once a Jewish merchant’s house in Spálené Poříčí. This contained mainly the personal documents of Joachim Löwith. In 2015 these documents came into the care of the Jewish Museum in Prague.
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LOCATION

Loštice
The earliest mention of the Jewish population in Loštice dates back to 1544. The first local synagogue was made of wood and probably dates from the second half of the 16th century. It was replaced by a brick synagogue about a hundred years later. The second synagogue was converted in its present form in 1806. In the 1980s the genizah in the synagogue’s attic was almost destroyed during construction work, but a local inhabitant saved part of it and handed it over to the local museum. The genizah was then passed on to the Respect and Tolerance association, which handed it over to the Jewish Museum in Prague in 2022.

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Kojetín
Jews settled in Kojetín from the middle of the 15th century. The local synagogue is mentioned for the first time in connection with its rebuilding in 1614. The building currently belongs to the Czechoslovak Hussite Church.

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Slavkov
Jews lived in Slavkov from as early as 1343. The local synagogue was built in 1858 on the site of an earlier building and was reconstructed between 1994 and 1998.

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Kasejovice
Jews lived in Kasejovice from the second half of the 16th century at the latest, with a prayer hall perhaps from as early as the 17th century. After 1730, a synagogue, probably made of wood, stood in the middle of the Jewish quarter. It was replaced by a brick synagogue, perhaps in 1763, which was damaged by fire and rebuilt at the end of the 18th century. Objects from the synagogue, including the genizah, were preserved thanks to the efforts of Václav Mentberger, the founder of the local museum. In 2015, they were acquired by the Jewish Museum in Prague.
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LOCATION

Pňovany
The synagogue in Pňovany was used as a fire station after 1945 and is now in a very dilapidated state. Thanks to the owner, it was possible to record the genizah fragments, some of which were acquired by the Jewish Museum in Prague in 2022.

The map shows the location of all the sites where the genizah items in the collections of the Jewish Museum in Prague were discovered (finds from other sites, such as Ivančice and Pacov, are not in the museum’s collections). Representative genizah items from each location are gradually being added to the museum’s website. Complete sets of genizah items can be found in the museum’s catalogue at collections.jewishmuseum.cz.

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