<<(“Noda BeYehudah.”)>> Tephilah [prayer for Queen Maria Theresa].

Daily prayer intoned for the success of the nation’s military services, as well as directions for the recitation of particular chapters of Psalms in support of the Empress to be recited in all of the Synagogues of Prague. The great Noda BeYehudah authorized particular prayers to be recited in honor of Maria Theresa and voiced strong support of the Empress’s political and military policies concerning the city of Prague. He declares his unbridled allegiance to her and casts dire warnings to any member of the Community seen to appear disloyal. See A.D. Luria & S. Offman, The Support of the Noda Yehudah for Maria Theresa during the Seven Years War [Hebrew] in: Kol Machzike Hadath (1979) Vol. V, pp. 67-71. Despite such pledges of allegiance on behalf of the Jewish community, Maria Theresa harbored no warm feelings in return. She expelled the Jews of Prague from that city between the years 1744-48 and would later write: “I know of no greater plague than this race… the Jews are to be distanced and avoided as much as possible” (E. Crankshaw, Maria Theresa (1970) p. 313). Such a one-sided relationship highlights the dependence of central European Jews on the whims of their absolutist rulers during the emergence of the modern era.