The oldest synagogue is what today?

Answer 1

The oldest synagogue which has been used continuously in the fifty states would be Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island. However, there are several older synagogues in the Caribbean which have also been in continuous use. The oldest of those inside of current United States territory is in St Thomas, US Virgin Islands.

Note: When the synagogues were built Rhode Island and the US Virgin Islands were in British and Dutch control respectively.

The Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, is the oldest Jewish house of worship on the North American mainland that is still standing and in use today. (1759)

Answer 2

(check at bottom for Europe)The oldest synagogue to have been securely dated is the Jericho Synagogue at Wadi Qelt, near Jericho, which dates to around 70 BCE (BC). Evidence of even older synagogues, in the form of dedication tablets, comes from Egypt and proves that synagogues were in use there in the 3rd Century BCE.

The oldest synagogue still in use is the Alyenau Shul in Prague, built in 1270. An earlier synagogue, built in Erfurt, Germany in about 1100, is currently being renovated to serve as a museum and has not been in use as a synagogue for a great many years. The Ancient Synagogue of Barcelona dates from the 4th Century CE (AD) but it is not certain that the building was definitely a synagogue in those times - it currently houses a synagogue and a museum. An even earlier synagogue, dating to the 1st Centruy CE, has been discovered by archaeologists at Ostia Antica, a Roman port near Rome.

In Britain, Bevis Marks Synagogue in London is the oldest to have been continually in use a synagogue and dates from 1769. A house in Lincoln, dating to the 17th Century, is thought to have been used as a synagogue and stands on the site of a much earlier building also thought to have been a synagogue and is connected with the notorious Hugh of Lincoln blood libel case in the 12th Century. The building next to Jew's Court, known as Jew's House, is believed to be the oldest domestic building in the United Kingdom.

In the USA, the Touro Synagogue of Newport, Rhode Island, was built between 1759 and 1763 and as such is the only North American synagogue to date from the colonial era.

(Staronová is the oldest surviving Synagogue in Europe.)

Answer 3

North America

Probably the Touro Synagogue in Newport RI, dedicated in 1763. It was even known to President George Washington, who sent Newport's Jewish congregation a letter reassuring them that all religions, including minority faiths, were entitled to freedom of worship in America. The synagogue, known as Congregation Jeshuat Israel, is today a Jewish history museum and national historical site; and it still holds worship services on certain occasions.

It should be noted that another synagogue, New York's Congregation Shearith Israel, is older (1654) but it is not at its original location, whereas the Touro Synagogue still is. So, if the question is about what is the oldest building still in use, that would be the Touro Synagogue. But if the question is what is the oldest congregation that is still functioning, that would be Shearith Israel in New York.

World

Note: While the Touro Synagogue is the oldest synagogue on the North American Mainland, the oldest synagogue that is still in use is most certainly in the Old World. For example, the Ari Ashkenazi Synagogue in Safed, Israel dates from the late 16th-century, it being constructed several years after the death of Luria, a great kabbalist who arrived in Safed in 1570. (This would place it nearly 150 years prior to Touro Synagogue's construction.)

Answer 4

The Touro Synagogue in Rhode Island (www.tourosynagogue.org) The Touro Synagogue in Rhode Island (www.tourosynagogue.org)

Answer 5

That would be Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island.

Answer 6

it is called guru manku

Answer 7

Beit ha mikdash

Answer 8

Touro Synagogue.