Celebrations or the Lack Thereof Behind the Gates of the Ghetto or The Festival of Purim in Prague’s Jewish Town in 1728
Abstract
The Jewish festival of Purim celebrating events recorded in the Book of Esther is the most joyful, loudest, and thus one of the most popular Jewish holidays. It recalls the rescue of Jews from Persian captivity. The holiday falls on the 14th day of the month of Adar (according to the Jewish lunar calendar, from mid-February to the beginning of March). The holiday can thus to some extent overlap with
Christian Carnival and is similarly associated with masks and free entertainment extending beyond the borders of the ghetto. The loud merrymaking and exuberant participants in the Purim celebrations often provoked outrage among the Jewish community's God-fearing Christian neighbours. In an effort to prevent potential problems, we can also encounter efforts to limit or even ban Purim celebrations, and especially the consequences of these prohibitions, as evidenced by the events in Prague in 1728.