re: #77 Dr Lizardo

The former Soviet Bloc was essentially sealed off from the world; maybe - maybe - in Prague, you’d meet the son or daughter of a diplomat from Angola or a foreign exchange student, but that’s about it. And contact with foreigners was, shall we say, strongly discouraged.

One thing that really surprised me on our visit to Prague in 2015, the huge crowds of tourists, almost all of them non-Jewish, who came to visit the Altneu Shul and the old Jewish cemetery.

So many non-Jewish tourists, they were free to roam in the main sanctuary while actual prayer services were held in the Ezrat Nashim (women’s section).

Of course everyone was looking for a way to get into the attic, where the legendary Golem is alleged to rest, but it was sealed up over 200 years ago.