A synagogue is what? The synagogue in Moscow. Jewish Synagogue

Each faith and religion has its own special terms, concepts, rituals. And it is sometimes difficult for a person who does not know everything in this to understand. In this article I want to dwell on Judaism and try to clarify what a synagogue is.

On the origin of the word

First of all, you need to understand the very concept. In Greek, the synagogue is a meeting. However, in Hebrew this word sounds like "bate-kneset", which literally translates as "house of assembly". It will be interesting to note that in the Talmud (the Holy Scriptures of the Jews) the name of the synagogue as "bayt tefilah", which means "house of prayer", is found only once. This indicates that for Jews the synagogue is more than a prayer house.

A bit of history

So, having understood and understood that the synagogue is a church of the Jews, it is worthwhile to look a little into the history of its emergence. As for the time period, to be precise, when they started to appear, no one will be able to, data about this has not been preserved. However, it is believed that the first synagogues began to appear at the time when the First Temple was destroyed and the Jews were taken captive to Babylon (6th century BC). They first gathered in homes for joint study of Torah and later began to build separate buildings for prayers and gatherings. After the return to the homeland, the Second Temple was erected, but at that time the believers also began to build synagogues throughout their country. After the Romans destroyed the Second Temple, the synagogues became a real refuge for Jews - often not only in the psychological meaning of the word, but also literally. These were places where people could hide from danger.

Primary importance

So, the synagogue is a place where Jews can gather to pray, study the Torah, communicate. It should be said that it also has special functions.

1. A place of prayer. Of course, the synagogue is the first place where believers can turn to God with prayer. An interesting fact is that for Jews it is not the sole, but the public prayer that is of great importance, for which this building fits perfectly.
2. Study of the Holy Scriptures. In the synagogues it is also customary to study the Torah. For this, there are special schools that can be either nearby or in the same building. It is not surprising that the beit-midrash (home of the teachings) is closely associated with the Bate Knesset (synagogue). In these schools, children and adolescents study the Torah daily, on weekends there can be various lectures and exercises for adults.
3. Library. Also in the synagogues there must be a hall where various books of religious orientation are collected. They can be read both in the temple itself and taken to the house (warning about this shames - the clerk of the synagogue).
4. Public life. In addition, the synagogue is a place where members of the community can gather for various celebrations and festivities. So, within the walls of this temple can be held as a collective, and personal parties. Celebrating circumcision, baby ransom, bar mitzvah, etc. The rabbinical court, beit-din, often sits in synagogues. Earlier in the temples there were also guest rooms, where traveling Jews could easily stop, there could also be small stables for a couple of horses.

Architecture

It is worth mentioning that there are no special rules for what a Jewish synagogue should look like. It can be splendidly built up, or maybe just a room. However, there must be windows in it. In the Talmud it is said that one can not pray in a room from which the sky can not be seen. It is also desirable that at the entrance there is a lobby where a person can leave all his worldly thoughts and torments. It will be interesting that all the synagogues are facing Jerusalem, in the very same Jerusalem - to the Temple Mount. Build the buildings if possible on the highest mountain in the city, so that they could rise above other buildings. And since it was not always possible, on the roof of the house the prayers were set up with a star pole so that the synagogue would appear to be higher than the rest of the buildings.

The synagogue from the inside

What does the synagogue look like from within? Photo suggest that there are separate places for women and men (ezrat-our - a separate place for women). Often representatives of the fair sex were placed on the balcony, but if this was not possible, the prayer room was divided into two parts by a curtain or partition called the "mexican". This was to ensure that no one and nothing distracted men from communicating with God.

The most important place in the synagogue is Aron a-Kodesh - a special niche or locker, covered with a curtain, where Torah scrolls are collected. People's faces are also addressed there during prayer. It is worth mentioning that on the one hand Aron a-Kodesha is the place of the rabbi, on the other - the place for the lecturer. Also in the synagogues there will necessarily be a neramid, a lamp or a candle, and a bima, the place from where the scripture will be read. Here, perhaps, and all the nuances that are important for the synagogue. In the rest of the house, prayers can differ from each other and be unique in their own way.

Positions

Having understood what the meaning of the word "synagogue" has, it is worth paying a little attention to those posts that are available at these houses of prayer. So, the important fact is that each community independently chooses its leadership and officials.

1. The rabbi (rabbi) is the spiritual leader. This is a person who knows Torah well and before taking his post, he passes a very difficult examination. Today, the rabbi is also imposed administrative duties, which he must perform.
2. Hazan (or shliakh-zibur - the messenger of the community) is a person who conducts public prayer and thus represents people before God. This person should also be highly educated, know Hebrew, in parallel he can perform other functions.
3. Shamash is a servant who performs many duties: he follows the order in the house of prayer, takes care of the safety of property, monitors the schedule. Sometimes it can replace hazan.
4. Gabay (Parnas) - the so-called administrative director of the community. Often there are several. They mainly deal with financial issues and solve administrative problems.

Types of synagogues

It is worth mentioning that for centuries two socio-cultural communities have formed, which lead a somewhat different life - Ashkenazi and Sephardi. The difference here is in the special order of prayers and the arrangement of synagogues. Most of the modern Jews are Ashkenazi (central and northern Europe, southern Africa, Australia, America, etc.), their houses are more equipped in European style, the Sephardim like to decorate their synagogues with carpets and other oriental attributes. Most of the famous houses of prayer are Ashkenazi, including the synagogue in St. Petersburg.

Doing service

It is also important that there are differences in the way of conducting service in the synagogue. Thus, Ashkenazi is distinguished for Hasidim and Nehasid. It is interesting that the Hasidim borrowed the style of conducting the prayer from the Sephardim. Otherwise, the differences are almost invisible and insignificant. After all, in order to change the synagogue from one to another, it's enough just to change the prayer books. The scrolls of the Torah themselves remain the same for all. In addition, for people who are unaware of rituals and various celebrations, "different" Jews will seem almost identical, since the differences are in the smallest details, which sometimes are simply invisible.