RAUDNITZ:
By: Gotthard Deutsch, J. Reach
Town of Bohemia. According to tradition it is one of the oldest three communities of Bohemia, the other two being Bunzlau and Kolin (the mnemonic word is 
). The ancient cemetery was situated near the present Kapuzinergarten, where tombstones with Jewish inscriptions have been found. These are preserved in the Podripské Muscum. In the old cemetery in the former ghetto there are more than 1,500 tombstones, including many of the seventeenth century, and several tombs of martyrs. The new cemetery was opened in 1896. In 1853 a large temple was built, the services in which are conducted with choir and organ. The ḥebra ḳaddisha is mentioned on tombstones as early as the seventeenth century.
The earliest known rabbi of Raudnitz is Rabbi Nehemiah (d. 1637), who officiated here for more than twenty-five years (see Hock-Kaufmann, "Die Familien Prags," p. 336, Presburg, 1892). Other noteworthy rabbis were: Abraham Broda; Simeon Jeiteles (d. 1762), buried in the old cemetery of Prague (ib. p. 168); Moses Spiro (d. 1760); R. Mattathias Neugröschel (d. 1778; ib. p. 224): the district rabbis Joseph Deutsch (1778-1825), Mahler, Pereles, and Albert Cohn (d. 1872); Moritz Klotz (1889-93). Julius Reach is the present (1905) incumbent (since 1894).
Down to 1872 Raudnitz was the seat of the district rabbinate. Since the law of 1890 the congregation has comprised all the Jews living in the county of Raudnitz. In 1903 there were 400 Jews in a total population of 8,000.
