ICJudaism: A Teacher’s Guide to Judaism
Hosted by ICTeachers Formerly: Mike’s Rough Guide to Judaism
Disclaimer:
The contents of these pages represent the author’s personal views, experience and
understanding.
There are bound to be some things here that some Jews would disagree
with.
Synagogue
Since the destruction of the 2nd Jerusalem Temple by the Romans in 70 CE, synagogues have been the main places of community worship for Jews. The word synagogue is actually of Greek construction meaning leading together (ie a meeting place). We use a variety of terms for these multipurpose buildings. Three names in particular describe the 3 main functions that a synagogue fulfils for a community:
- Bet HaTefillah means House of Prayer;
The Hebrew word, tefillah, means prayer. The synagogue is where Jews meet on Sabbaths
and festivals to pray to God. In some synagogues there will be a special room, often
referred to as the sanctuary, which is only used for prayer services. In others the
same room will be used, at different times, for prayer and for other activities.
The need for a synagogue for communal prayer is centred on the requirement for the
Torah to be read to the community. Jewish prayers are always the individual’s own
prayers -
- Bet HaMidrash means House of Study;
A midrash (plural midrashim) is a deeper explanation of something in Torah. Midrashim
often take the form of stories (like parables). Most Jewish communities use their
synagogue as a place where adults and children can learn more about Judaism. There
will usually be a religion school for children on a Sunday morning. The religion
school is often called cheder (Yiddish for room -
- Bet HaKnesset means House of Gathering
The Hebrew word Knesset means meeting place (eg. The parliament in the State of Israel
is called the Knesset). Jewish communities use their synagogues for all sorts of
non-
Of course, these 3 functions are not unique to Judaism, churches, mosques, temples, gudwaras etc. are often used in the same ways.
Although synagogues are important places of worship for Jews, they are community spaces; the home remains the most important place of Jewish worship since we spend more of our lives there. Many of the most important prayer activities, such as celebrating Shabbat, the Pesach Seder, eating in a sukkah during the festival of Sukkot are focused on the Jewish home.
Most British Jews generally refer to the synagogue simply as shul, which is Yiddish for school (eg “I’ll see you in shul”). In America the term synagogue is commonly replaced by temple, although this is intensely disliked by many strictly orthodox Jews, because a synagogue is not The Temple and they consider that the use of the term trivialises the true temple, which they hope and believe will be rebuilt one day. To British Jews the term temple just seems wrong.
A synagogue is technically a building, although, like the term church, it is often used to refer to the community that uses the building. In Britain synagogues are usually named after their locations eg. Spring Hill District Synagogue. The community, though, may have it’s own name, different from the name of the building. The correct Hebrew term for a community is kehillah and a kehillah may choose a name for itself such as:
Kehillah Bet Israel (Community of the House of Israel);
Kehillah Chaim (Community of Life);
Kehillah Bet Miglat (Community of the House of Refuge)
although it will probably be known to the outside world by the name of its building.
