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Crown land in the northernmost part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The history of the first settlement of Jews in Bohemia is wrapped in legend. The oldest Jewish sources designate Bohemia as "Ereẓ Kena'an," that is, "Slavonia" (so called because those districts plied a vigorous trade in slaves, in which traffic Jews themselves took part), under which term, however, in a larger sense the countries eastward as far as Kiev are to be understood (Zunz, "Ritus," p. 72; Ar. pp. 54, 131, 989; Salf. p. 151; Vita's. Alberti, in Grätz, "Gesch. der Juden," 6:68). In Ar. p. 29, an archbishop asks for a Jewish or a Slavonic physician, and in ib. p. 50 Ibrahim ibn Ya'aḳub speaks of "ailments of the Slaves" (see "Reisebericht über die Slavischen Länder" published by F. Westberg in the publication of the St. Petersburg Academy, Nov., 1899). Jews resident there are called "Bene Ḥet" (Children of Heth). Inasmuch as intercourse with the East was always very active (Ar. p. 50; M. pp. 31, 363, ["Ereẓ Yawan"]; Güdemann, "Gesch, des Erziehungswesens," 1:114), and in view of the fact that there are Byzantine resemblances in the older ritual of the Prague Altschul, it is supposed that the earliest Jewish settlers in Bohemia came from the East. In the train of the Germans at the time of the Black Death, Jews also found their way into Bohemia from Germany (Pod. pp. 10 et seq.), and they were joined by coreligionists from France (Rapoport, "Introduction to Gal 'Ed"), Poland, Austria (Kisch, M. p. 25) and Hungary. Theirvernacular was Slavonic, as appears from the explanations of words given by Jewish writers and from proper names current in the Middle Ages (M. pp. 26, 31, 318, 372; Sp. Ur. pp. 24 et seq.; Pod. p. 21; Grün, p. 14).

Early Settlements.

The first accredited statement concerning the residence of Jews in Bohemia comes from Leitmeritz, where they, as well as others who brought salt or other goods into the town, had to pay a toll to the Stephan's Church (1067) (Ar. p. 66). But the first actual settlement was in PRAGUE, which is described in Jewish divorce papers as "the city called Mezigrade (), situated on the river Vltava (), and on the Bottich () stream." This specification points to the oldest portion of the city, called Vysehrad, as the scene of the first Jewish settlement. There and in the Prague Vorstadt (probably the present Altstadt), closely adjoining the former ghetto (now the Josephsstadt), lived alongside of other merchants and immigrant Germans (1091) "many Jews very rich in gold and silver" (ib. p. 77). They held the same legal standing as the Germans and French (ib. p. 78; compare pp. 106, 198, 200, 254). The first Crusade and the attendant persecutions of the Jews found the Israelites of Prague prepared for a brave defense of their lives, supported by Duke Vratislav II., as well as by the bishop Cosmas; but the temporary absence of the duke in 1096 at once caused excesses to break out in Prague, Vyšehrad, and Bubenium (ib. p. 92; Salf. p. 151). Jews who had been compulsorily baptized in 1096, sought to emigrate in 1098 to Poland or Hungary with their possessions; but the duke, who had been apprised of their intention, stripped them of their property, leaving them only the barest necessities of life (Ar. p. 95). In spite of these sufferings, the beginnings of scholarship are exhibited in a ritual question addressed by the Jews of Prague to Moses B. Jekuthiel in Mayence (Grün, p. 9).

They seem to have gradually recovered some of their former favor. In 1124 the Jew Jacob, who after his baptism had become a favorite of Vratislav I., and had risen to be vice-dominus at his court, returned to Judaism and removed the Christian altar and holy relics from a synagogue. He was immediately arrested by his royal master and thrown into prison. The Jews are said to have offered three thousand pounds of silver and a hundred pounds of gold for his ransom (Ar. p. 101).

Toleration.

The prohibition against holding Christian slaves was in all probability disregarded in Bohemia as it was in Moravia, and that by the Christian "slaves" themselves, who enjoyed kindly treatment at the hands of their Jewish masters (Fr.-Gr. p. 10). The attitude of the Church toward the Jews was on the whole benevolent (Ar. p. 101). The community, which in 1142 suffered the loss of its synagogue and many houses by fire, probably during the siege of Prague by Conrad II. of Znaim (ib. p. 106), displayed a lively interest in theological studies, which led to close relations with the neighboring congregation of Regensburg, and even with the scholars of northern France. In Prague there lived the Tosafist Isaac b. Mordecai, known as R. Isaac of Prague; in Bohemia lived also Moses b. Jacob and Eliezer b. Isaak, mentioned in the Tosafot. Isaac ben Jacob ha-Laban (from "Albis," the Elbe, Bohemian "Laba") was a rabbinical teacher in Prague, and the brother of Pethahiah of Regensburg, who set out on his travels from Prague (ib. p. 131; Grün, p. 10).

In the thirteenth century the circumstances of the Jews were even more favorable. On leaving the country for a journey they had to pay a lighter tax even than the Christian clergy (Ar. p. 186). In 1235 they extended their settlements into the plains of Bohemia (Pod. p. 6). Though it is true that in that year the Jews contemplated leaving Bohemia in expectation of the Messiah's coming (Ar. p. 211), this was not due in any way to oppression. All their old privileges were secured to them; the friendly bull of Innocent IV. (1254) was confirmed by Ottocar II. and, in expressed opposition to the hostile resolutions of the Vienna council, was again confirmed in 1267 (ib. pp. 255, 257; Wertheimer, p. 172). The following regulations applied to the Jews in Bohemia as well as to the king's other Jewish subjects: a Christian might testify against a Jew only in conjunction with another Christian and a Jew; a Jew was to be tried only in the synagogue (with "coram suis scolis," in Ar. p. 255). In disputes between Jews the decision was not to rest with the municipal judges, but with the lord of the manor or the chief chamberlain; the Jewish judge had jurisdiction in such cases only if the charge had been brought originally before him. Desecration of the Jewish cemetery was punishable with death, the offender's property escheating to the head of the state. A Jew could not be compelled to deliver upon a Jewish festival a pledge upon which he had lent money. In loan transactions with the Church the Jew was advised for his own good—as also by the municipal laws of Iglau, 1249 (ib. p. 244)—to exercise especial caution.

Jews were also found in Tachau, among them being Moses ben Ḥisdai, "one of the grays of Bohemia." His contemporaries were Jacob, son of the above-mentioned Isaac ha-Laban, and Abraham ben Azriel called Isaac Or-Zarua, whose history seems to have been intimately associated with Prague, and whose teachers were counted among the scholars of that city. A Pentateuch commentary was written by a disciple of Judah the Pious, who lived probably in Bohemia. In the second half of the thirteenth century, a grammarian, Jekuthiel b. Judah ha-Kohen or Solomon ha-Naḳdan, lived in Prague. Thus Saadia, Ḥayyug, Ibn Ezra, and Maimonides, together with the exegetes of northern France, may be said to have found a new home in Bohemia (M. pp. 31, 316, 360; Grün, 2:13).

The Fourteenth Century.

A fitting prelude to the horrors of the fourteenth century was afforded by the massacre of the Prague community, which, it would appear, had its own quarter, the "Vicus Judæorum," as early as 1273 (Grün, p. 24). In 1290 (Wertheimer, p. 175) and 1298 Rindfleisch's robber-band (Grün, p. 16), fell upon the ghetto there, to avenge an alleged insult to the host. As early in the century as 1305 the charges of ritual murder which sprang upin so many German towns found victims in Prague (Kohut, "Gesch. der Deutsch. Jud." p. 162). In 1321 seventy-five Jews were burned at the stake there ("Jahrb. Gesch. der Jud." 4:147). John of Luxemburg in 1336 plundered the synagogues because by the newly introduced customs duty he could not quickly attain his end (Grün, p. 17). In the same year 53 Jews were burned in Prague ("Jahrb. Gesch. der Jud." 4:147). At the instigation of the Armleders and their like the Jews in Budweis (Wertheimer, p. 177), where there were in 134 three families, had increased considerably in numbers; those in Czaslau, Prichowitz, and Neuhaus were plundered and murdered (Salf. p. 240). The archbishop of Prague, Arnest I., in 1347 made new charges against them (Wertheimer, p. 173); but they were shielded by the utterance of the emperor Charles IV. in that year, who said that the Jews were his "serfs" ("Kammerknechte"), and that his rights in them must be respected (M. 1894, p. 371). His representative in 1339 likewise protected certain Jews, who had been baptized and had reverted to Judaism again, from the vengeance of the Church; for his humane interference he was promptly excommunicated (Wertheimer, p. 175). On the other hand, however, Charles IV. felt himself justified in considering all the property of his "serfs" as quite his own, and at his pleasure released debtors to the Jews from their obligations. He divided with his nobles the possessions of the Jews massacred in the fearful outbreaks of 1348 and 1349 which accompanied the Black Death in Prague and Eger (ib. p. 174; Salf. pp. 250, 268; Kohut, ib.; concerning the Jews in Eger, see Wertheimer, p. 176; for those in Kolin: M. 1894, p. 220). All these bloody scenes of the century were brought to a fitting close with the repeated massacres excited in 1388 by the charge of ritual murder (Wertheimer, p. 74); in 1389, by the charge of insulting the host (Salf. p. 306; Zunz, "Ritus," p. 127), during which latter outbreak even the grave-stones in the Jewish cemetery were broken, the Altschul synagogue burned, and the walls of the Alt-Neuschul synagogue streaked with the blood of Jewish martyrs (Pod. p. 84; see Abigdor Kara's elegy). Finally, in 1391 the charge of poisoning the wells was made, on which occasion Lipmann of Mühlhausen was among the sufferers (Kohut, ib. p. 318).

The Fifteenth Century.

Such an unbroken period of suffering could not but result in the most terrible conditions, but the worst feature, particularly in Prague, was a system of shameful espionage and denunciation of the authorities which raged for more than two centuries, and which sometimes involved rabbis and wardens of the congregations. As lords of their "serfs," Wenzel and Sigismund frequently exacted scrupulous compliance with their alleged "rights" over the Jews (Wertheimer, p. 177; "Zeit. für die Gesch. der Juden in Deutschland," 2:173; on the relations between Wenzel and Abigdor Kara, and between the Jews and Hussites, see Güdemann, "Gesch. des Erziehungswesens," 3:154, and Berliner, "Aus dem Leben," etc., p. 55). The Jews were no longer, together with the trade-gilds, considered privileged traders. The fifteenth century witnessed a constant succession of massacres and pillagings (Wertheimer, p. 175), 1422, 1448, 1476 (compare "Gal 'Ed," Nos. 5, 50), etc., which, in part, were no doubt to be ascribed to the turmoil of the Hussite wars, but also to the blood accusation in Trient, 1476. The congregation in Eger alone shows satisfactory development; with it, especially with its teacher Nathan, Isserlein b. Pethahiah kept in touch (M. pp. 18, 134; compare pp. 316, 322).

Expulsions.

The pretentious resolution of the imperial Diet in 1501 (Wertheimer, p. 178), never again to expel Jews from Germany, was very quickly belied by the expulsions of 1503, 1504, 1506, 1507, 1512, and 1516. A similar decree of 1520 was revoked in consideration of a very heavy money contribution (ib. pp. 175, 177; Pod. p. 40; "Jahrbuch," c. p. 147). Systematic persecutions took place under the fanatical Ferdinand I.; in 1527 he confirmed that high-sounding resolution which had been agreed to by Ladislaus II., but in 1541 he negotiated with the Bohemian nobles for the expulsion of the Jews. For the first time a charge of high treason was made against them; they were charged with intriguing with the Turks; and Ferdinand was most zealous in the restoration of the almost forgotten regulations concerning the distinctive Jewish garb (1541, 1544, 1551 ["Zeit. für die Gesch. der Juden in Deutschland," 1:251], 1571). In 1540 (Kohut, ib. p. 554; formerly every scholar had to pay two pfennig for his writing materials; Wertheimer, p. 181) he imposed a special property tax upon the Jews, compelling each one to swear upon the Decalogue as to the value of his possessions. In 1541 (ib. p. 179) the Jews, with the exception of fifteen families, were expelled from Prague, greatly to the satisfaction of Luther (Grätz, "Gesch. der Juden," 9:313), Ferdinand's bitterest enemy. In 1554 they were welcomed back again, in return for heavy financial considerations; in 1559 they were again expelled, to be readmitted two years later ("Gal'Ed," p. 22; Pod. p. 42). Again, in 1562-64 the edict of expulsion was launched against them (Wolf, Th. p. 61, note), but the warmth with which the empress (Pod. p. 42) and archdukes pleaded the part of the Jews was at least a gratifying incident of the decree. In 1568 they were expelled from Kolin and Kuttenberg, and in 1571 from Matters-dorf ("Hebr. Bibl." 4:149).

The internal development of the community meanwhile had progressed satisfactorily. In 1512 the first Hebrew book was printed in Prague; the Jewish printing business founded there by the Gersonides remained the distinguishing feature of the community until the eighteenth century. In 1547 the censorship made itself felt ("Gal 'Ed," p. 20), and in 1559 suspicions professed concerning the Jewish prayer-book led to an examination in Vienna of all Hebrew books that could be seized in Prague. Even matters of internal management were not free from the interference of the authorities; e.g., the confirmation of the rabbi Abraham b. Abigdor, called "Abraham of Prague" (Kohut, ib. pp. 361, 582; compare "Gal 'Ed," p. 121). Unfortunate contentions in the congregation resulted in 1567 in the transfer of the superintendence of Jewish affairs to the Bohemian chambers ("Zeit. für die Gesch. der Juden in Deutschland," 1:310).

Mordecai Meisel.

But in the last third of the sixteenth century the circumstances of the congregation changed for the better and were brighter than ever before. Trade with the interior of Austria, and with Bavaria and Saxony, which the Jews controlled, and the financial transactions of the imperial house enriched Mordecai Meisel, the well-known benefactor of the congregation. He built the synagogue named after him, half a century after Aaron Meshullam b. Isaiah Horwitz had established the Pinkus synagogue ("Gal 'Ed," p. 24). Conjoined with Meisel we find as friend and counselor Löw b. Bezaleel, "the chief Rabbi Löw" (founded, in 1654, in conjunction with Eliezer Ashkenazi, the burial society; on his celebrated audience with Rudolph II. see Pod. pp. 1, 2, 3). The historian, geographer, and astronomer, David Gans, and Lipmann Heller of Wallerstein, author of the "Tosafot Yom-Ṭob," were their contemporaries and fellow-countrymen.

Maximilian II. and Rudolph II., in whose time the Prague congregation attained its highest development (in 1609 the first rabbi is recorded in Jung-Buntzlau; see Grünwald, "Jungbunzlauer Rabbiner"), were followed by Ferdinand II., who distributed all manner of favors to the Jews in the hope of securing their conversion. His court-steward, Jacob Bassev (Bathsheba) Schmieles, was raised by him to the nobility as "Von Treuenberg." The first step here-unto was taken by the institution of the Jesuits' sermons, to which the Jews were compelled to listen (1623 and 1630). But the Passau expedition of 1611 (Zunz, "Ritus," p. 129; "Gal 'Ed," p. 13); the Thirty Years' war (Kisch, Pr. pp. 7, 10), in which the Jews of Bohemia remained loyal to the emperor, receiving in return the protection of his generals (for a letter by Torstenson protecting Jung-Buntzlau see "Zeit. für die Gesch. der Juden in Deutschland," 1:288), and being especially rewarded by the emperor for their defense of Prague against the Swedes; the conflagrations ("Jahrbuch," c. p. 147) of 1654, 1679, and 1689; the invasion by the French in 1680 (Kohut, ib. p. 654)—all brought severe sufferings to the Jews of Prague. Their numbers were increased by emigration from Vienna and in 1650 from Poland (at the head of the latter being Ephraim Cohen of Wilna; see K. Of. pp. 14, 18), in compensation, as it were, for those who at the expulsion of 1542 left Bohemia with Jacob Pollack and Solomon Shechna b. Joseph to settle in Poland. In 1636 the congregation contained 7,815 souls, in 1679 only 7,113 ("Zeit. für die Gesch. der Juden in Deutschland," 1:317). The Prague community attended to the assessment and collection of the taxes from the provincial congregations, and the rabbi was appointed upon the city-tax commission, a circumstance which in 1625 subjected Lipmann Heller to the machinations of Jewish informers (Wolf, Ferd. p. 17). The "Prague Purim," on Ḥeshwan 14 (Kisch, Pr. p. 12), and the "Vorhang Purim," on Ṭebet 22, are memorials to-day of events happening in the seventeenth century. In 1627 the Prague Jewish quarter was independent of municipal authority, governing itself. Celebrated teachers at that time were Salomon Ephraim Lenczyz and Isaiah Horwitz, while Joseph Salomon del Medigo ended his checkered career here.

The Eighteenth Century.

The eighteenth century, which in its last quarter was to see the gates of the ghetto flung wide open, was marked by a blot upon the reign of Maria Theresa, which all the formal edicts of toleration could never remove. The confiscation of their books in 1715 had reminded the Jews of their utterly defenseless condition (M. pp. 41, 359). They may have hoped to recover grace by their conspicuous loyalty, shown first in 1741 on the occasion of the birth of Joseph II. and the empress' first visit to the church (Kohut, ib. p. 655), and again particularly at the walls of Prague in 1742 and 1743, where with permission of their rabbi, Jonathan Eybeschütz, they stanchly fought against the French even on the Day of Atonement ("Jahrbuch," c. p. 151). Their loyalty was rewarded by an edict in 1745 which, without any reason, at one stroke banished them, 60,000 souls strong, from Bohemia, after their payment of a fine of 160,000 gulden. Representations by Venice, Holland, England, Hamburg, and other liberal powers were of no avail. Jonathan Eybeschütz wrote to the French congregations, and even to the pope (Kohut, ib. p. 658). Embittered to the extreme by the treachery of the nobles, the authorities desired to make an example of the Jews, especially as the opposition emperor, Charles VII., had shown himself well disposed toward them, and as Frederick the Great was considered by the people as a "father of the Jews" (K. Bur. p. 3). That the authorities did not themselves believe in the accusation of treachery made against them is shown by the fact that it is nowhere alleged as the reason for the expulsion, and that later, in 1771, the Bohemians themselves defended the Jews from a similar accusation (Wolf, Th. p. 69); on the excommunication of Jewish traitors, issued in 1756 by Ezekiel Landau, see H., 1894, p. 416; Wolf, Th. p. 64. The sad results of this outrage affecting the whole country, the stagnation of all business, and the outspoken complaints of the people induced the authorities finally to readmit the Jews. From the edict of recall, it appears that before the expulsion the Jews had been permitted to live in Kaurzim, Tabor, Neuhaus, Pisek, Schuettenhofen, Wodnian, Pilsen, Miess, Klattau, Rokizan, and Laun. They were still to be excluded from the following cities where they had formerly lived: Czaslau, Budweis, Eger, and Leitmeritz ("Jahrbuch," c. p. 188; in memory of the bloody rule of the Croatians in 1745, to which R. Jonah, among others, fell a victim, a fast-day is still observed in Böhmisch Leipa, on Ṭebet 4; see Kohut, ib. p. 658). After this expulsion Maria Theresa treated the Jews on the whole more favorably than before (Wolf, Th. p. 60). But such laws as the FAMILIANTEN GESETZ (Fr. Gr. p. 171), limiting the number of married persons in a community, the restrictions imposed upon Jewish trade (Wolf, Th. p. 77), rigorous insistence upon the wearing of the Jew badge (yellow collar on the coat; abolished in 1781; "Zeit. für die Gesch. der Juden in Deutschland," 1:27), and the limitations imposed upon Jewish physicians (Wolf, Th. pp. 75-77; the first doctor was graduated in 1778), still showed the same intolerance. All of these, however, were wiped away at one stroke by the edict of tolerance issued by Joseph II. in 1782. The Prague Jewishquarter was incorporated (1784); Jewish physicians were allowed to treat Christian patients in 1785 (Lieben, "Gal'Ed," p. 18), and Jews were drawn for military service (Kohut, ib. p. 757). The home conditions of the Prague Jews likewise improved. On the great fire of 1754 see K. Heine, p. 43; Pod. p. 92. David Oppenheimer, the book-collector, laid the foundation for Jewish bibliography. Jonathan Eybeschütz, a living exemplar of the destructive influence wrought by the Shabbethai Ẓebi imposition (Kohut, ib. p. 680), and Ezekiel Landau, his opponent, were the chief scholars of this period. Upon the other side, Peter Beer and Herz Homberg sought to introduce reforms in the Jewish ritual, but met with determined resistance, particularly as Joseph II. himself would have nothing to do with Mendelssohn and his "enlightenment."

The Nineteenth Century.

The nineteenth century must be said to evidence retrogression in the condition of the Jews in Bohemia, since, in spite of the example of Joseph II., the Jews were treated throughout in the spirit of his predecessors. The Familianten Gesetz and its evils, and the various imposts levied, were not abolished until the adoption of the constitution, March 4, 1849. The fact that a few individual Jews have occasionally been raised to the ranks of the nobility has exerted no influence upon the general circumstances of the Jews. Nevertheless, Prague has flourished under the inspiriting breath of modern times, and has become a focus of Jewish learning. Zacharias Frankel was born here; Rapoport, Zunz, and Michael Sachs labored here. The Slavonicizing of Bohemia makes itself evident here and there among the Jews in the adoption of the Czech language at general meetings and occasionally in the pulpit.