{"id":64937,"date":"2019-10-29T17:54:43","date_gmt":"2019-10-29T15:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=64937"},"modified":"2023-05-25T12:36:49","modified_gmt":"2023-05-25T09:36:49","slug":"humiliation-in-holiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/humiliation-in-holiness\/","title":{"rendered":"Humiliation In Holiness"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[690,478,915],"acf":{"old_id":"64937","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34255,"related_cahpter":"340","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"\u201cIma, why are there big gold Hebrew letters on that man on the cross?\u201d","content":"

This past spring, I traveled to Prague with my six year-old son Amitai for a special mother- son adventure. We read many books in advance and were prepared to take in the sights and sounds of this magical city, its legends, ghosts and Golems swirling in the crisp air around us. Like good tourists, we visited the Charles Bridge, spanning the Vltava River, adorned with statues and street performers vying for our attention. We were familiar with some of the statues we would see from Lego models (research comes in all forms), and Amitai excitedly skipped across the bridge at sunset, as I lingered behind, camera in hand.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He suddenly stopped in front of one statue, and puzzled, said, \u201cIma, why are there big gold Hebrew letters on that man on the cross?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I looked up at the Statuary of the Crucifix and Calvary, with the words <\/span>Kadosh Kadosh Kadosh A-donai Tz\u2019vaot<\/span><\/em>\u201d <\/span><\/i>(Isaiah 6:3) and was left with the difficult task of trying to impart centuries of history, struggle, anti-Semitism and reconciliation to a curious six year-old. I may not have done his question justice, but at least I tried.<\/span><\/p>\n

This statue is one of the most historically interesting ones there as its current appearance evolved over many centuries. The original wooden crucifix was installed there in 1361, and destroyed some fifty years later. A new crucifix was set up in 1629 but damaged in the Thirty Years War, ultimately being replaced by a metal one in 1657. The shiny, gold Hebrew text was added in 1696 and stands as an example of medieval European anti-Semitism and subsequent reactions to it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In that year, Elias Backoffen, a local Jewish leader, was accused of blasphemy and as part of his punishment had to raise the funds to purchase the gold-plated Hebrew letters to adorn the statue. The inscription was intended to be a public humiliation of the Jews of Prague \u2013 by forcing them to finance the set of golden letters, referring to God that hung around the neck of Christ.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2000, Rabbi Ronald Brown, from Merrick, Long Island, passing by the statue, noted the offensive placement of the text, and reached out to the Mayor of Prague, expressing his concern. The words could not be removed as the statue is a protected landmark. However, shortly thereafter, three small plaques \u2013 in Czech, English and Hebrew – were placed on a wall under the statue which read:<\/span><\/p>\n

The addition to the statue of the Hebrew inscription and the explanatory texts from 1696 is the result of improper court proceedings against Elias Backoffen who was accused of debasing the holy cross. The Hebrew inscription of the words of the prophet Isaiah \u201cHoly Holy Holy is our Lord of the multitude,\u201d which represent a very important expression of faith in the Jewish tradition, was intended to humiliate the Jewish community.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

So what did Amitai say after I tried to explain some of this complexity to him? \u201cIma, thanks. Now can we get ice cream?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo: Courtesy of the author, Charles Bridge, Prague, 2019<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":64938,"id":64938,"title":"is6-prague","filename":"is6-prague.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is6-prague.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/humiliation-in-holiness\/is6-prague\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is6-prague","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":64937,"date":"2019-10-29 15:54:26","modified":"2019-10-29 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