A synagogue (from Greek Greek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical ancient Greek literature and the New Testament of: συναγωγή, transliterated Transliteration is the practice of converting a text from one writing system into another in a systematic way. An example of transliteration is typing an e-mail using a qwerty keyboard and sending it in a non-qwerty script synagogē, "assembly"; בית כנסת beyt knesset, "house of assembly"; שול or בית תפילה beyt t'fila, "house of prayer", shul; אסנוגה, esnoga קהל kal) is a Jewish The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation. Converts to Judaism, whose status as Jews within the Jewish ethnos house of prayer. (it might also be of interest that the word when broken down could mean, "learning together" (syn - gr. together and aghoghei gr. learning or training)

Synagogue is commonly spoken of as a "shul" by Orthodox Orthodox Judaism is a formulation of Judaism that adheres to a relatively strict interpretation and application of the laws and ethics canonized in the Talmudic texts and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and Acharonim. Generally, Orthodox Judaism consists of two different streams, the Jews, "synagogue" by Conservative Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s, and "Temple" by Reform Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the surrounding culture. Many branches of Reform Judaism. "Synagogue" is a good all-around word to cover the preceding three possibilities.^[1]

Synagogues usually have a large hall for prayer (the main sanctuary), smaller rooms for study and sometimes a social hall and offices. Some have a separate room for Torah study Torah study is the study by Jewish people of the Torah, Hebrew Bible, Talmud, responsa, rabbinic literature and similar works, all of which are Judaism's religious texts. Ideally within Judaism it is done for the purpose of the mitzvah of Torah study itself, called the beth midrash—בית מדרש ("House of Study").

Synagogues are not consecrated spaces, nor is a synagogue necessary for worship. Jewish worship can be carried out wherever ten Jews (a minyan A minyan in Judaism refers to the quorum of ten male Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations) assemble. Worship can also be carried out alone or with fewer than ten people assembled together. A synagogue is not in the strictest sense a temple; it does not replace the long-since destroyed Temple The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to one of a series of structures located on the Temple Mount in the old city of Jerusalem. Historically, two temples stood at this location and functioned as the centre of ancient Jewish worship. According to classical Jewish belief, the Temple acted as the figurative "footstool" of God's in Jerusalem Jerusalem (Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם‎ (help·info), Yerushaláyim (for the meaning, see below); Arabic: القُدس (audio) (help·info), al-Quds Sharif, lit. "The Holy Sanctuary"; Yiddish: ירושלים Yərusholáyəm)[ii] is the capital[iii] of Israel and, if including the area and population of East Jerusalem, its.

In colloquial speech, Israelis use the term bet knesset (assembly house). Jews of Ashkenazi Sephardi Jews, Mizrahi Jews, and other Jewish ethnic divisions descent have traditionally used the Yiddish Yiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages. It is written in the Hebrew alphabet term "shul" (cognate with the German German (Deutsch, [ˈdɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Globally, German is spoken by approximately 120 million native speakers and also by about 80 million non-native speakers schule, school) in everyday speech. Spanish and Portuguese Jews Spanish and Portuguese Jews are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardim who have their main ethnic origins within the crypto-Jewish communities of the Iberian peninsula and who shaped communities mainly in Western Europe and the Americas from the late 16th century on. These communities must be clearly distinguished from: call the synagogue an esnoga. Persian Jews Persian Jews or Iranian Jews are Jews historically associated with Iran, traditionally known as Persia in Western sources and Karaite Jews Karaite Judaism or Karaism (Hebrew: יהדות קראית , Modern Yahadut Qara'it Tiberian Qārāʾîm ; meaning "Readers of the Hebrew Scriptures" or "followers/seekers of Torah/Tanakh-based Judaism") is a Jewish movement characterized by the recognition of the Tanakh alone as its supreme religious authority. It is distinct use the term Kenesa Kenesa is the term for a Karaite or Persian synagogue. The word derives from the Aramaic word for "assembly", which is derived from Aramaic Aramaic is a Semitic language belonging to the Afroasiatic language family. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic subfamily, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic group of languages, which also includes Canaanite languages such as Hebrew and Phoenician. Aramaic script was widely adopted for other languages and is, and some Arabic Arabic (العربية al-ʿarabīyah, ( Arabic pronunciation ) or عربي ʿarabi) is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. Arabic has more speakers than any other language in the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million-speaking Jews use knis. Some Reform and Conservative Jews use the word "temple".

Origins

Although synagogues existed well before the destruction of the 2nd Temple in 70 CE, communal worship in the time while the Temple still stood centered around the korbanot Korban or Qorban , in Judaism, is the term for a variety of sacrificial offerings described and commanded in the Torah. Such sacrifices were offered in a variety of settings by the ancient Israelites, and later by the Jewish priesthood, the Kohanim, at the Temple in Jerusalem. A Korban was usually an animal sacrifice, such as a sheep or a bull ("sacrificial offerings") brought by the kohanim A Kohen is a Jew who is in direct patrilineal descent from the Biblical Aaron ("priests") in the Holy Temple The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to one of a series of structures located on the Temple Mount in the old city of Jerusalem. Historically, two temples stood at this location and functioned as the centre of ancient Jewish worship. According to classical Jewish belief, the Temple acted as the figurative "footstool" of God's. The all-day Yom Kippur Yom Kippur , also known as the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the year for religious Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue services. Yom Kippur completes the annual period known in service, in fact, was an event in which the congregation both observed the movements of the kohen gadol ("the high priest") as he offered the day's sacrifices and prayed for his success.

During the Babylonian captivity Although the term Babylonian captivity, or Babylonian exile, typically refers to the deportation and exile of the Jews of the ancient Kingdom of Judah to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar II in 587 BC, in fact the exile started with the first deportation in 597 BC. The captivity and subsequent return to Israel and rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple are (586–537 BCE) the Men of the Great Assembly began the process of formalizing and standardizing Jewish services and prayers that did not depend on the functioning of the Temple in Jerusalem. Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai Yochanan ben Zaccai , also known as Johanan B. Zakkai was one of the tannaim, an important Jewish sage in the era of the Second Temple, and a primary contributor to the core text of Rabbinical Judaism, the Mishnah, one of the leaders at the end of the Second Temple era, promulgated the idea of creating individual houses of worship in whatever locale Jews found themselves. This contributed to the continuity of the Jewish people by maintaining a unique identity and a portable way of worship despite the destruction of the Temple, according to many historians.

Synagogues in the sense of purpose-built spaces for worship, or rooms originally constructed for some other purpose but reserved for formal, communal prayer, however, existed long before the destruction of the Second Temple.^[2] The earliest archaeological evidence for the existence of very early synagogues comes from Egypt, where stone synagogue dedication inscriptions dating from the third century BCE prove that synagogues existed by that date.^[3] A synagogue dating from between 75 and 50 BCE has been uncovered at a Hasmonean-era winter palace near Jericho Jericho (Arabic: أريحا‎ Ārīḥā [ʔæˈriːħɑː] ); Hebrew: יְרִיחוֹ‎ Yəriḥo [jeʁiˈħo] ( listen) is a city located near the Jordan River in the West Bank of the Palestinian Territories. It is the capital of the Jericho Governorate, and has a population of over 20,000 Palestinians. Situated well below sea level on an.^[4][5] More than a dozen Second Temple era synagogues have been identified by archaeologists.^[2]

Any Jew or group of Jews can build a synagogue. Synagogues have been constructed by ancient Jewish kings, by wealthy patrons, as part of a wide range of human institutions including secular educational institutions, governments, and hotels, by the entire community of Jews living in a particular place, or by sub-groups of Jews arrayed according to occupation, ethnicity (i.e. the Sephardic, Polish or Persian Jews of a town), style of religious observance (i.e., a Reform or an Orthodox synagogue), or by the followers of a particular rabbi.

Architectural design

There is no set blueprint A blueprint is a type of paper-based reproduction usually of a technical drawing, documenting an architecture or an engineering design. More generally, the term "blueprint" has come to be used to refer to any detailed plan for synagogues and the architectural shapes as well as interior designs of synagogues vary greatly. In fact, the influence from other local religious buildings can often be seen in synagogue arches, domes and towers.

Historically, synagogues were built in the prevailing architectural style of their time and place. Thus, the synagogue in Kaifeng, China Kaifeng , formerly known as Bianliang (Chinese: 汴梁 or 汴樑; pinyin: Biànliáng), Bianjing (Chinese: 汴京; pinyin: Biànjīng), Daliang (Chinese: 大梁 or 大樑; pinyin: Dàliáng), or simply Liang (Chinese: 梁 or 樑; pinyin: Liáng), is a prefecture-level city in eastern Henan province, People's Republic of China. Located along the looked very like Chinese temples of that region and era, with its outer wall and open garden in which several buildings were arranged. The styles of the earliest synagogues resembled the temples of other sects of the eastern Roman Empire. The surviving synagogues of medieval Spain are embellished with mudéjar Mudéjar is the name given to individual Moors or Muslims of Al-Andalus who remained in Christian territory after the Reconquista but were not converted to Christianity. It also denotes a style of Iberian architecture and decoration, particularly of Aragon and Castile, of the 12th to 16th centuries, strongly influenced by Moorish taste and plasterwork. The surviving medieval synagogues in Budapest Budapest (pronounced /ˈbuːdəpɛst/, also /ˈbʊdəpɛst/, /ˈbjuːdəpɛst/ or /ˈbuːdəpɛʃt/; Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈbudɒpɛʃt] ; names in other languages) is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it serves as the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2010, and Prague Prague (pronounced /ˈprɑːɡ/; Czech: Praha pronounced [ˈpraɦa] , see also other names) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Nicknames for Prague have included Praga mater urbium/Praha matka měst ("Prague – Mother of Cities") in Latin/Czech, Stověžatá Praha ("City of a Hundred Spires") in Czech or are typical Gothic Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture structures.

The emancipation of Jews in European countries not only enabled Jews to enter fields of enterprise from which they were formerly barred, but gave them the right to build synagogues without needing special permissions, synagogue architecture blossomed. Large Jewish communities wished to show not only their wealth but also their newly acquired status as citizens by constructing magnificent synagogues. These were built across Europe and in the United States in all of the historicist or revival styles then in fashion. Thus there were Neoclassical Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing features of Late Baroque. In its purest form it is a, Neo-Byzantine The Byzantine Revival was an architectural revival movement, most frequently seen in religious, institutional and public buildings. It emerged in 1840s in Western Europe and peaked in the last quarter of 19th century in the Russian Empire; an isolated Neo-Byzantine school was active in Yugoslavia between World War I and World War II. Neo-Byzantine, Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival is a style of building employed in the late 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque style of architecture. Popular features of these revival buildings are round arches, semi-circular arches on windows, and belt courses. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, however, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to Moorish Revival Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of the Romanticist fascination with all things oriental. It reached the height of its popularity after the mid-nineteenth century, part of a widening vocabulary of articulated decorative ornament, Gothic Revival The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement which began in the 1740s in England. Its popularity grew rapidly in the early nineteenth century, when increasingly serious and learned admirers of neo-Gothic styles sought to revive medieval forms, in contrast to the neoclassical styles prevalent at the time. In England, the centre of this revival,, and Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture. The term was first used by Charles Robert Cockerell in a lecture he gave as Professor of. There are Egyptian Revival synagogues and even one Mayan Revival synagogue. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century heyday of historicist architecture, however, most historicist synagogues, even the most magnificent ones, did not attempt a pure style, or even any particular style, and are best described as eclectic.

In the post-war era, synagogue architecture abandoned historicist styles for modernism.

Interior elements

All synagogues contain a Torah ark, a table from which the Torah is read, and a desk for the prayer leader.

The Torah ark, (Hebrew: Aron Kodesh—ארון קודש) (called the heikhal—היכל [temple] by Sephardim 1st row: Maimonides • Isaac Abrabanel • Baruch Spinoza • David Nieto • Daniel Mendoza • David Ricardo ) is a cabinet in which the Torah The term Torah , also known as the Pentateuch (Greek: Πεντάτευχος from πεντα- penta- [five] and τεῦχος teuchos [tool, vessel, book]), refers to the Five Books of Moses—the entirety of Judaism's founding legal and ethical religious texts. A "Sefer Torah" (סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה, "book of Torah") or scrolls are kept.

The ark in a synagogue is positioned in almost always such a way that those who face it, face towards Jerusalem Jerusalem (Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם‎ (help·info), Yerushaláyim (for the meaning, see below); Arabic: القُدس (audio) (help·info), al-Quds Sharif, lit. "The Holy Sanctuary"; Yiddish: ירושלים Yərusholáyəm)[ii] is the capital[iii] of Israel and, if including the area and population of East Jerusalem, its. Thus, sanctuary seating plans in the Western world generally face east In Judaism, mizrah is the direction that most Jews in the diaspora face during prayer. Jewish law proscribes that Jews face the site of the Temple in Jerusalem during prayer, and most Jews in the diaspora live west of Jerusalem, so they face eastward during prayer. The word "mizrach" also refers to the wall of the synagogue that faces, while those east of Israel face west. Sanctuaries in Israel face towards Jerusalem. Occasionally synagogues face other directions for structural reasons; in such cases, some individuals might turn to face Jerusalem when standing for prayers, but the congregation as a whole does not.

The ark is reminiscent of the Ark of the Covenant The Ark of the Covenant is a vessel described in the Bible as containing the Tablets of Stone on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed, along with Aaron's rod and manna. According to the Pentateuch, the Ark was built at the command of God, in accord with Moses' prophetic vision on Mount Sinai (Exodus 25:10-16). God was said to have which contained the tablets with Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments, or Decalogue , is a list of religious and moral imperatives that, according to the Hebrew Bible, were spoken by God (referred to using several names) to the people of Israel from the mountain referred to as Mount Sinai or Horeb, and later authored by God and given to or written by Moses in the form of two stone tablets. They. This is the holiest spot in a synagogue, equivalent to the Holy of Holies The Holy of Holies is a term in the Hebrew Bible which refers to the inner sanctuary of the Tabernacle and later the Temple in Jerusalem where the Ark of the Covenant was kept during the first Temple, which can be entered only by the High Priest on Yom Kippur. The Ark of the Covenant contained the Ten Commandments given by God to Moses and the. The ark is often closed with an ornate curtain, the parochet פרוכת, which hangs outside or inside the ark doors.

A large, raised, reader's platform called the bimah (בימה) by Ashkenazim and tebah by Sephardim, where the Torah scroll is placed to be read. Is a feature of all synagogues. In Sephardi synagogues it is also used as the prayer leader's reading desk.

Other traditional features include a continually lit lamp or lantern, usually electric in contemporary synagogues, called the ner tamid (נר תמיד), the "Eternal Light", used as a reminder of the western lamp of the menorah of the Temple in Jerusalem, which remained miraculously lit always. Many have an elaborate chair named for the prophet Elijah and only sat upon during the ceremony of Brit milah. Many synagogues have a large seven-branched candelabrum commemorating the full Menorah. Most contemporary synagogues also feature a lectern for the rabbi.

A synagogue may be decorated with artwork, but in the Rabbinic and Orthodox tradition, three-dimensional sculptures and depictions of the human body are not allowed, as these are considered akin to idolatry.

Until the 19th century, an Ashkenazi synagogue, all seats most often faced the 'Torah Ark. In a Sephardi synagogue, seats were usually arranged around the perimeter of the sanctuary, but when the worshippers stood up to pray, everyone faced the Ark. In Ashkenazi synagogues The Torah was read on a reader's table located in the center of the room, while the leader of the prayer service, the Hazzan, stood at his own lectern or table, facing the Ark. In Sephardic synagogues, the table for reading the Torah was commonly placed at the opposite side of the room from the Torah Ark, leaving the center of the floor empty for the use of a ceremonial procession carrying the Torah between the Ark and the reading table.

Denominational differences

Orthodox synagogues feature a partition (mechitzah) dividing the men's and women's seating areas, or a separate women's section located on a balcony.

The German Reform movement which arose in the early 1800s made many changes to the traditional look of the synagogue, keeping with its desire to simultaneously stay Jewish yet be accepted by the host culture.

The first Reform synagogue, which opened in Hamburg in 1811, introduced changes that made the synagogue look more like a church. These included: the installation of an organ to accompany the prayers (even on Shabbat, when musical instruments are proscribed by halakha, a choir to accompany the Hazzan, and vestments for the synagogue rabbi to wear.^[6]

In following decades, the central reader's table, the bimah, was moved to the front of the Reform sanctuary—previously unheard-of^{[citation needed]} in Orthodox synagogues. The rabbi now delivered his sermon from the front, much as the Christian ministers delivered their sermons in a church. The synagogue was renamed a "temple", to emphasize that the movement no longer looked forward to the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem.^{[citation needed]}

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