I've just returned from a few days in Prague, my first time there. Such a beautiful city. And we heard amazing jazz and much other good music generally. It's weird to be a Jew there. While there is a remnant of Jews still living there you can't help but be struck by the 1/
museum-like nature of Jewish life. Yes, there are active synagogues built hundreds of years ago in Old Town but they are hardly vibrant. Of the 120,000 Jews of what is now the Czech Republic, about 80,000 were murdered by the Nazis. The current population is something 2/
between 10,000 and 20,000 and they live in varying degrees of identification. It is weird how Kafka, a Jew, is the most famous face of the city. The Jewish part of Old Town is a huge tourist attraction for Jews and non-Jews alike. But it is essentially a giant museum of past 3/
vitality. So as a Jew visiting Prague for the first time, it was easy to mourn what has been lost--the lives, the scholarship (Prague's rabbinic scholars were extraordinary), and the cultural role that Jews played in the city. But we're not alone in mourning the past. While 4/
Judaism as a central part of the city is gone, it is not the only religion that is a shell of its former self. The same would be true of Christianity. There are maybe 3-4 churches in Prague that offer nightly concerts playing some of the greatest hits of the classical past. So 5/
one night, we sat in a magnificent high-vaulted church filled with dramatic sculpture and frescoes listening to Bach, and Vivaldi, and Schubert, and Pachelbel, and others. And I thought, this too is dying out. The Christian impulse that built such magnificent cathedrals and 6/
inspired some of the finest music human beings have ever composed, plays no role in the culture of Prague any more than Judaism does. It does make a difference that Christians were not herded into railroad cars and murdered as the Jews were. But both religions are essentially 7/
being kept alive by a remnant, a remnant that is not embedded in a serious way in the life of the city other than as a tourist attraction. I don't remember who made the observation but it is a deep one, that some of the greatest works of human beings in Europe--the cathedrals 8/
in particular but you could also include the music--were inspired by something very few people in those European cities believe in any longer Christianity. Yes, there are still Christians and Jews in Prague. But their role is not the same. It's a bit ironic for a Jew to sit 9/
in a church in Prague and reflect on what has been lost with the demise of Christianity in Europe, a Christianity, that when those churches were built, was not particularly good to the Jews. But something has been lost. You look at the statuary and you see an attempt to 10/
inspire human beings to rise above themselves and aspire to greatness. The post-Christian attempts to inspire such aspirations, communism and fascism, dwarf Christianity in their cruelty to the Jews and to humankind generally. What beliefs will inspire great art in the 11/
future? What will inspire a sense of belonging among human beings and a sense of purpose? A revival of religion, even in Europe, would not surprise me. Or something else. But everything else is human not divine and so far, worshipping ourselves has a poor track record. 12/12
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