Synagogue

Synagogue (Greek, “place of assembly”; Hebrew bet knesset), in Judaism, an assembly house for communal prayer, study, and meeting; a central communal institution. Central and Eastern European Jews called their synagogues shuls (Yiddish, “schools”); Reform Jews sometimes use the word temple.

Synagogue architecture has never been standardized, but the following elements are almost invariable: of greatest importance, the ark housing Torah scrolls (the Five Books of Moses in Hebrew written in archaic style on parchment), which is always on the wall facing Jerusalem; the Ner Tamid (“perpetual flame”), a light always lit, before the ark; a large desk on an elevated platform (bimah), at which the Torah is read before the congregation; a small reader's lectern from which the service is conducted and from which the rabbi may preach; and seating for the congregation. Traditionally, men and women sit in separate sections, but Reform and Conservative synagogues do not observe this custom. A seven-branched candelabrum (menorah) is a standard ornament.

The origins of the synagogue as an institution are obscure. The earliest archaeological evidence is a 3rd-century bc inscription from Egypt. The earliest evidence from Palestine is a 1st-century bc Greek inscription that stresses the synagogue’s teaching function (“for the reading of the Law and the teaching of the commandments”). The earliest synagogues discovered (at Masada and Herodium) are from 1st-century ad Palestine and predate the destruction of the Temple. Literary evidence of the 1st century (such as the works of the philosopher Philo Judaeus and the historian Flavius Josephus, as well as the New Testament) portrays the synagogue as a well-established institution, but its exact origin is uncertain, despite numerous scholarly guesses. The Jerusalem Temple was the center of the Jewish cult as long as it stood, and the synagogue clearly had a different function, serving as a local meetinghouse for study and, probably, prayer. When the Temple was destroyed, the synagogue became its surrogate. Much of the liturgy of rabbinic Judaism—even the times of statutory prayer and the number of services held on Sabbaths and festivals—was framed to correspond to the rituals and rhythms of the defunct Temple cult. From early on, the synagogue functioned also as a communal center and even as a hostel for traveling Jews.