Sobědruhy, fully Sobědruhy u Teplic is, now a district of Teplice

Teplice

Teplice , Teplice-Šanov until 1948 is a town in the Czech Republic, the capital of the Teplice District in the Ústí nad Labem Region. It is the state's second largest spa town ....

, Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

.

History

Traditionally, Sobědruhy was a town in Bohemia

Bohemia

Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

, whose Jewish community is probably one of the oldest in the province. The Jewish community of Sobědruhy includes parts of the Teplitz (Teplice), Dux (Duchcov

Duchcov

Duchcov is a town in the Teplice District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has a population exceeding 9,000 and is located at the foot of the Ore Mountains....

), and Karbitz (Chabařovice

Chabarovice

Chabařovice is a town in the Ústí nad Labem District, Ústí nad Labem Region, Czech Republic. Until the expulsion of Germans after World War II it was inhabited mainly by the German population....

) districts. The synagogue

Synagogue

A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...

 has a tower, with a clock

Clock

A clock is an instrument used to indicate, keep, and co-ordinate time. The word clock is derived ultimately from the Celtic words clagan and clocca meaning "bell". A silent instrument missing such a mechanism has traditionally been known as a timepiece...

, and two lamps respectively bearing the dates 1553 and 1654. For a time the Jewish cemetery

Jewish cemetery

A Jewish cemetery is a cemetery where members of the Jewish faith are buried in keeping with Jewish tradition....

 at Sobědruhy was used as a burial-place by the Jewish community of Dresden

Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

. Many gravestones bear the inscription "Mi-Geresh Prag", marking the graves of Jews who were driven from Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

, some of whom died as martyr

Martyr

A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...

s. Until 1848 the Jews of Sobědruhy were confined to the ghetto

Ghetto

A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...

 - the Judengasse, as it is still called. For some time the Jewish community formed a part of the Leitmeritz district rabbi

Rabbi

In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

nate, but in 1883 it gained independence and elected as its rabbi Ḥayyim (Heinrich) Galandauer (author of "Der Socialismus im Bibel und Talmud").

Sobědruhy has a Jewish population

Jewish population

Jewish population refers to the number of Jews in the world. Precise figures are difficult to calculate because the definition of "Who is a Jew" is a source of controversy.-Total population:...

of 150 in 1900s.