In the observance of the Sabbath, Jews are not supposed to work or spend money (even carry money). The early 19th Century Prague rabbis made an announcement that people were banned from going to the Prague coffee shops. So, obviously, plenty of Prague Jews were going to coffee shops on Saturdays. By the middle of the 19th Century the rabbis announced that Jews in the city should really not be in the coffee houses on Saturday morning, when they should be at services, and that women were banned all day Saturday from the coffee shops. Coffee shops were winning...

Donal Savage is the projects director at Memorial Scrolls Trust. With a degree in philosophy and in librarianship, he is enthralled to work with the largest collection of Torah scrolls in UK.