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Some facts include:

  • Jews worship at synagogues.
  • The first synagogue still being used was built in 1371-1387.
  • Reform Jews call the synagogue a temple.
  • It is the Jewish prayer house.
  • The word synagogue can mean assembly, house of prayer or learning together.
  • Synagogues usually have a large hall for prayer (the main sanctuary), smaller rooms for study and sometimes a social hall and offices.
  • The Jericho synagogue is the oldest known synagogue in the world and was built between 70 and 50 BCE.
  • The ark is a special cabinet where the Torah scrolls are kept.
  • Near the ark there will be a lamp that is kept alight all the time. This is called the ner tamid, which means everlasting light. It is to remind people that God is always there.
  • The bimah is the where the Torah scroll is read.
  • Some synagogues have a symbolic menorah (candelabrum).
  • The star of david is a six pointed star that is a symbol of Judaism. It is likely to be found in synagogues.
  • There are tens of thousands of synagogues around the world.
Synagogues, in Judaism, are a place of assembly for worship, education, and communal affairs. The origins of the institution are unclear. One tradition dates it to the Babylonian exile of the 6th century BCE. The returnees may have brought back with them the basic structure that was to be developed by the 1st century CE into a well-defined institution around which Jewish religious, intellectual, and communal life was to be centered from the earliest period into the present. Other scholars believe the synagogue arose after the Hasmonean revolt (167-164 BCE) as a Pharisaic alternative to the Temple-worship. The destruction of the Temple (70 CE) and the Diaspora over the following centuries increased the synagogue's importance. Services in the synagogue were conducted in a simpler manner than in the Temple. There was no officially appointed priest; the services were conducted by a chazan (reader). The role the synagogue played in preserving Judaism intact through the centuries cannot be overestimated, nor can its influence as an intellectual and cultural force. In the modern period, the reform movement restricted its scope to almost purely religious purposes, although among the Orthodox Jews its purview did not diminish. In more recent times the synagogue has again taken on its additional functions as a social and communal center. The architectural appearance of the synagogue has usually not differed from that of local non-Jewish forms. The interior includes an ark in which the Torah scrolls are held and a platform from which they are read. In modern times, a pulpit from which to preach has also become common, and in many synagogues the three are combined on one platform. In the United States, the national synagogue associations, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, the United Synagogue of America (Conservative), and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (Reform) are organized in the Synagogue Council of America.

We come there to worship God. An atmosphere of decorum, cleanliness and contemplation is to be maintained. The payers are set forth in the traditional Siddur (prayerbook).

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