The building where a Jewish religious assembly or congregation regularly meets for religious worship and instruction in Torah and Tanach.
The term synagogue is of Greek origin (synagein, “to bring together”) and means “a place of assembly.”
The synagogue, historically and today, has served as a gathering place for prayer, instruction, and community.
A synagogue is a place of Jewish worship. In addition to housing a sanctuary for services, synagogues often serve as the center point of Jewish life.
In the synagogue, the community participated actively in reading the Torah and reciting the prayers.
A synagogue, sometimes referred to by the Yiddish term shul and referred to by Reform communities as a temple, is a Jewish house of worship.
There are three main features of synagogues. The first is the ark, where the Torah is contained. The second is the Eternal Light, which symbolizes the presence of God and is a lamp that sits above the ark. The third is the bimah, a platform on which the Torah is unrolled to be read to the congregation.
The synagogue serves as a place of worship, a school, and a community center.
There are three main things that happen in the synagogue. The first is prayer. The other two, study and community organization, are aspects of Judaism that give synagogues their distinction and separation from other houses of worship.
Synagogues are religious buildings of Judaism that have an ark, a lamp representing the presence of God, and a raised platform for the reading of the Torah.
ORIGIN OF SYNAGOGUE: 1125–75; Middle English synagoge<Late Latin synagōga<Greek synagōgḗ assembly, meeting, equivalent to syn-syn- + agōgḗ, noun use of feminine of agōgós (adj.) gathering, derivative of ágein to bring, lead; akin to Latin agere to drive.
A synagogue is a place of worship for Jews throughout the world. Although there are regional differences in the creation and architecture of synagogues, they all have three distinct elements and serve the same purposes.
The actual word means 'a gathering' (of people). In Hebrew theology it is a place where Jews gather together for worship and the reading of the word of YHWH.
The synagogue is the Jewish place of worship, but is also used as a place to study, and often as a community center as well.
Orthodox Jews often use the Yiddish word shul (pronounced shool) to refer to their synagogue. In the USA, synagogues are often called temples.
For many Jews, Jewish law governs all aspects of Jewish life, including how to worship, compulsory rituals and dietary laws. The Jewish place of worship is called the synagogue and it plays a major role in the lives of many Jewish people.
Synagogue means ‘bringing together’ or 'assembly'. A synagogue is a place of worship, gathering and education about the Jewish faith. On the outside of the building there is a Star of David and often a menorah.
The synagogue was first an institution meant to temporarily replace the temple of Jerusalem during the Jewish Diaspora, or exile from Israel.
The first roles of the synagogue were not associated with prayer, but rather with Jewish study and gathering. The first rabbis were not celebrants of religious rites but teachers of religious texts; in fact, the word rabbi means “my teacher.”
It refers to gathering together in a group. In the Bible, we see Jesus and Paul teaching in synagogues that were gathering places for the Jews.
A Synagogue is a place of worship for the Jewish community. It serves as a center for religious and communal activities, where individuals can come together to study, pray and connect with their faith. Synagogues are not only physical structures, but they also symbolize the heart and soul of Jewish identity and spirituality.
The concept of the synagogue is about as old as the Torah itself.1 In biblical times, the center of worship was the Tabernacle, and later the two Holy Temples in Jerusalem. Then, throughout the exile, even in the darkest, gloomiest periods of Jewish history, the synagogue served as the center of Jewish life. Archeologists have uncovered remnants of ancient synagogues in Egypt dating back at least to the 3rd century BCE.
