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Milk & Honey Tours: Discover Jewish Europe
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Discover Jewish Prague

From Maharal to Modern Day

Prague Old New Synagogue
Largely undamaged by World War II, Prague is all magic and romance - cobbled streets and gold-tipped spires, stone bridges and historic synagogues, charming old beer halls and dazzling crystal shops. The city centre, an official UNESCO World Heritage Site, dates back to the 9th century. Hugged by the Vltava River, below the majestic Prague castle, it is one of the most beautiful and pristine old towns in all of Europe. Prague also boasts one of the richest and best-known Jewish histories on the continent. Jews have lived in Prague since the 10th century. Imagine visiting a synagogue built in 1275! The Altneuschul is the oldest functioning synagogue in Europe. The nearby old Jewish cemetery provides a wealth of information about this important medieval community. It was in the 16th century that the walled ghetto became a gathering point for artisans and intellectuals from all across Europe. The city's Jewish population doubled during this Golden Age, one of the most significant periods in the development of Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism. This was the time of Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, aka the Maharal, philosopher and mystic who created the famous Golem. We will visit the world renowned rabbi's grave and see where it is said the Golem found his final rest. By the 18th century the city flowered into one of Europe's most important centres of Jewish life, and more Jews lived here than anywhere else in the world, accounting for a quarter of the city's population.
Prague Old New Synagogue
During the Jewish emancipation of the 19th century the ghetto was abolished, and Josefov - as the Jewish Quarter was called - became an official city district. It was at this time that Prague's Jews began to adopt the language and culture of the city's German-speaking inhabitants. By the early 20th century, German-language Jewish writers and intellectuals like Franz Kafka, Max Brod, and Franz Werfel were producing works that would soon become mainstays of the western literary canon. We will tour Josefov intimately and in the narrow cobbled streets you might begin to understand why Kafka wrote as he did! 

All of this came to an abrupt halt with the outbreak of World War II and the devastation of the Holocaust. More than two thirds of the city's 92,000 Jews were murdered. Yet Josevof was not destroyed as the Nazis had planned to make an "exotic museum of an extinct race" and so kept the Jewish quarter intact, gathering Jewish artefacts from all over central Europe.

By 1950, half of the 15,000 survivors had emigrated to Israel. Those who stayed behind were forced to keep their identity a secret during the Communist years. After the fall of the USSR Prague's Jewish community came slowly back to life; the restitution of Jewish property began immediately, synagogues were restored, the Jewish Museum was re-opened, and an educational and cultural centre was established. We will see many signs of this Jewish revival which continues to this day, energized by increased involvement from young Jews, many of whom are discovering their heritage for the first time.

With Milk & Honey Tours, you will have an intimate look at this stunning historic community. Stand at the site in Old Town Square where Albert Einstein met with Kafka, see the Jewish Town Hall, admire numerous historic synagogues, explore the Jewish Museum, and discover many other sites of local Jewish life.

We warmly invite you for an up-close-and-personal experience of Jewish Prague, past and present!


Tour Options


4 hour walking tour of Jewish Prague

We will start our tour in the Old Town square, next to a doorway with a plaque about Albert Einstein marking the spot where he played his violin and had frequent meetings with Franz Kafka, Max Brod and other Jewish intellectuals...

6 hour walking tour of Jewish Prague (incl. public transportation)

We will visit the beautiful Jubilee Synagogue and an ancient marketplace where Jewish traders were permitted to sell their wares. We will see the statue of the famous Rabbi Löw and hear of the many legends behind the Maharal, including that of the Golem.


8 hour walking tour of Prague, Jewish and General


Day trip to Terezin concentration camp memorial site

Please see the "Discover Europe" section of our website for further tour options in Prague.