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SYNAGOGUE (avvaywyii)

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 292 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SYNAGOGUE (avvaywyii) , literally " assemblage," is the See also:term employed to denote either a See also:congregation of See also:Jews, i.e. a See also:local circle accustomed to meet together for See also:worship and religious instruction, or the See also:building in which the congregation met. In the first sense the word is a See also:translation of name, keneseth (assemblage), in the second of nwen nu, beth hakkeneseth (See also:house of assemblage). Further the term is often used to denote the See also:system of Judaism, as when the " Synagogue " is contrasted to the " See also:Church." The germ of the synagogue, that is, of religious assemblages dissociated from the See also:ancient See also:ritual of the See also:altar, may be found in the circle of the prophets and their disciples (see especially Isa. viii. 16 seq.) ; but the synagogue as an institution characteristic of Judaism arose after the See also:work of See also:Ezra, and is closely connected with the development of Judaism, to which his See also:reformation gave definite shape. From the See also:time of Ezra downwards it was the business of every See also:Jew to know the See also:law; the school (beth hammidrash) trained scholars, but the synagogue, where the law was read every See also:Sabbath (Acts xv. 21), was SYNAGOGUE 291 the means of popular instruction. Such synagogues existed in all parts of See also:Judaea in the time of Ps. lxxiv. 8 (probably a See also:psalm of the See also:Persian See also:period); in Acts xv. 21 it appears that they had existed for many generations " in every See also:city." This held See also:good not only for See also:Palestine, but for the See also:Dispersion; in See also:post-Talmudic times the See also:rule was that a synagogue must be built wherever there were ten Jews. In the Dispersion the synagogue filled a greater See also:place in the communal See also:life, for on Palestinian See also:soil the See also:Temple enjoyed a predominant position. In this sense the synagogue is a See also:child of the Dispersion, but this does not imply that it was a product of the Hellenic diaspora. For the Aramaic papyri discovered at See also:Assuan show that in the 5th See also:century B.C. the See also:Egyptian Jews had their place of worship in Syene See also:long before See also:Greek influences had begun to make them-selves See also:felt.

The fact that the Books of the See also:

Maccabees never refer to synagogues is not See also:evidence that synagogues were unknown in Judaea in the Maccabean period. These books refer mostly to a time of See also:war, when assemblages in the cities were impossible; their See also:interest, moreover, is concentrated in the Temple and the restoration of its services. During the second Temple there is no doubt but that public worship was organized in the provinces as well as in the Jewish settlements outside the See also:Holy See also:Land. And though the name " synagogue " varies with 7rpoaevxi (" place of See also:prayer "), it appears that everywhere the assemblage was primarily one for instruction in the law; the synagogue, as See also:Philo puts it, was a S&Sao aAeiov. Prayer, in the more restricted sense, invariably accompanied the instruction, and several parts of the extant See also:liturgy go back to the 3rd century B.C. A formed institution of this sort required some organization: he See also:general See also:order of the service was directed by one or more "rulers of the synagogue" (apxiavvl yoryot, See also:Luke xiii. 14; Acts xiii. 15), who called on See also:fit persons to read, pray and preach; See also:alms were collected by two or more " collectors " (gabble seddgd); and a " See also:minister " (hazzan, nr77Pfrfls, Luke iv. 20) had See also:charge of the. sacred books (preserved in an " See also:ark ") and of other ministerial functions, including the teaching of See also:children to read. The discipline of the congregation was enforced by See also:excommunication (Iherem) or temporary exclusion (niddui), and also by the See also:minor See also:punishment of scourging (Matt. x. 17), inflicted by the hazzdn. The disciplinary See also:power was in the hands of a See also:senate of elders (7rpecOUTepo6, yepovaia), the See also:chief members of which were apxovees.

The See also:

principal service of the synagogue was held on Sabbath See also:morning, and included, according to the Mishnah, the recitation of the shema' (Deut. vi. 4-9, xi. 13-21; Num. xv. 37-41), prayer, lessons from the law and prophets with Aramaic translation, a See also:sermon (derashah) based on the See also:lesson (Acts xiii. 15), and finally a blessing pronounced by the See also:priest or invoked by a layman. On Sabbath afternoon and on See also:Monday and See also:Thursday there was a service without a lesson from the prophets; there were also services for all feast-days. Synagogues were built by preference beside See also:water, in order to avoid proximity to the idol temples, rather than, as some think, for the convenience of the ceremonial ablutions (cf. Acts xvi. 13). Remains of very ancient buildings of this class exist in several parts of See also:Galilee; they generally See also:lie See also:north and See also:south, and seem to have had three doors to the south, and sometimes to have been divided by columns into a See also:nave and two aisles. See also:Modern synagogues are mostly built of oblong shape, with a See also:gallery for See also:women. Since the See also:middle ages, See also:Renaissance and Moorish types of decoration have been generally favoured, but there is nowadays a See also:great variety of types.

The ancient synagogue of See also:

Alexandria (destroyed by See also:Trajan) was a See also:basilica. A number of See also:recent synagogues have been built in octagonal See also:form. The See also:main interior features of the synagogue are the " ark " (a See also:cupboard containing the scrolls of the law, &c.) and the almemar (or See also:reading-See also:desk, from the Arabic al-See also:minbar, See also:pulpit). This is sometimes in the centre, sometimes at the eastern end of the building. The See also:Talmud prescribed an elevated site for the synagogue, but this rule has been impossible of fulfilment in modern times. The synagogues are theoretically " orientated " —i.e. the ark (which worshippers See also:face during the principal prayer) is on the eastern See also:side. But this rule, too, is often ignored under the stress of architectural difficulties. Jewish tradition has a great See also:deal to say about a See also:body called " the great synagogue," which is supposed to have been the supreme religious authority from the cessation of prophecy to the time of the high priest See also:Simeon the Just, and is even said to have fixed the Old Testament See also:canon (cf. v. 3 seq.). But See also:Kuenen in his See also:essay " Over de Mannen der Groote Synagoge " (Verslagen of the See also:Amsterdam See also:Academy, 1876) has powerfully argued that these traditions are fiction, and that the name keneseth haggadola originally denoted, not a See also:standing authority, but the great• See also:convocation of Neh. viii.–x. Some more recent scholars are, however, more willing to attach See also:credence to the older tradition. Compare, in general, See also:Schurer, Geschichte See also:des jiidischen Volkes, § 27, where the older literature is catalogued.

For some unconventional views the reader may refer to M. Friedlander, Synagoge and Kirche in ihren Anfangen (See also:

Berlin, 1908). For the usages of the synagogue in more recent times, see See also:Buxtorf, Synagoga judaica (See also:Basel, 1641). On the See also:history of synagogue services the See also:works of See also:Zunz are the chief authorities; there is also a good See also:article on Liturgy in the Jewish Encyclopedia. Useful summaries in See also:English are to be found in Dembitz, Jewish Services in Synagogue and See also:Home (See also:Philadelphia, 1898) ; and Oesterley and See also:Box, The See also:Religion and Worship of the Synagogue (See also:London, 19o7). The article " Synagogue " in the Jewish Encyclopedia is illustrated with numerous pictures of buildings and plans.

End of Article: SYNAGOGUE (avvaywyii)

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