Volume 4: Jewish Consumption and Material Culture in the Early Modern Period, 2007, University of Maryland

Memorial Prayers from the Pinkas Synagogue, Prague

Pinkas Hahazkarot, Beit Hakenesset Pinhas

1801

Translated by Rachel L Greenblatt, Harvard University, USA

To inform and to notify:
And [because] of what they had seen:^[1][they decided] to institute a new pinkas hazkarat neshamot hakedoshim (notebook of commemorations for the holy souls) who are in the earth, may their memory be for a blessing Who gave of their hearts and brought sacred vessels and sacred vestments as a memory in the sanctuary of the Lord And they made an explicit condition that their souls (i.e., their names) be remembered on Sabbath and festivals. And indeed, in the pinkas hazkarot that was previously in the Pinkas Synagogue from the year 5461 (1701), a book in the form of a scroll, was written about them everything that they vowed and that they donated And until now the cantor would recite from that pinkas However, they wrote there at great length what they vowed (i.e., donated), and it is not necessary to recite [all] this, for it is clear to heaven And it was a great inconvenience to the congregation, and it was also impossible to recite more than two or three hazkarot on a single Sabbath Because of this, it was impossible – God forbid – to complete the entire pinkas in a single year. And it was also impossible to make any sign [indicating] where the cantor concluded on a particular Sabbath, and where another cantor should begin the following week. Because of this, individuals of unique qualities donated to this synagogue to make this pinkas with signs and narrow slots.^[2] At the outset, the hazkarot were divided into [paragraphs], marked “a,” “b,” [and so on], a defined portion for each Sabbath with a line of separations between them. And a needle will be as a sign to close and to open So that the cantor the following Sabbath will begin in the place where the silver needle is fixed And when he has finished the special portion for that Sabbath, then he will put [the needle] in the slot following it, and in this manner, all the mistakes have been corrected And in order to beautify it, we wrote inside [the pinkas] everything that belongs and is needed by the cantor at that hour (i.e., at that point in the service) May God be as our helper, and send his messiah quickly in our days, Amen Renewed by officers, functionaries and assesors, and donated by individuals of unique qualities of the Pinkas Synagogue on the New Moon of Elul in the year 5561 (1801) So states Judah Leib Graf, scribe in Prague.

Endnotes

^[1]Esther 9:26. My translation is based on New JPS An alternative, based, for instance, on the quotation of the verse in Talmud Bavli: The Schottenstein Edition (New York, 1991), Tractate Megillah, p 19a, might read, “And for what [reason] did they see [fit to act] this way?

^[2]Slots were formed by attaching a narrow piece of paper on top of the manuscript, fixed at the top and the bottom and open in the middle, so that a needle could be inserted horizontally.

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Citation Information

Memorial Prayers from the Pinkas Synagogue, Prague
Pinkas Hahazkarot, Beit Hakenesset Pinhas
, 1801