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A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It has a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, choir performances, and children's plays. They also have rooms for study, social halls, administrative and charitable offices, classrooms for religious and Hebrew studies, and many places to sit and congregate. They often display commemorative, historic, or modern artwork alongside items of Jewish historical significance or history about the synagogue itself.
- Nathless the sacred shrine is holy yet,
With its lone floors where reverent feet once trod.
Take off your shoes as by the burning bush,
Before the mystery of death and God.- Emma Lazarus, In the Jewish Synagogue at Newport
- To go to the synagogue with one's father on the Passover eve - is there in the world a greater pleasure than that? What is it worth to be dressed in new clothes from head to foot, and to show off before one's friends? Then the prayers themselves - the first Festival evening prayer and blessing.
- Once on a time, years ago, I was happy in the little old synagogue; I remember that I felt happy without an end—without a limit! Here, in the little synagogue, years ago, my childish soul swept about with the angels I imagined were flying around the carved wings of the Holy Ark. Here, in the little synagogue, once on a time, with my father and all the other Jews, I prayed earnestly. And it gave me great pleasure, great satisfaction.
- Sholem Aleichem, "Jewish Children"
- One of the profoundest religious changes effected by the synagogue almost immediately upon its establishment twenty-five centuries ago was to bring communion with God directly and easily to the the individual worshiper.
- Nathan Ausubel, The Book of Jewish Knowledge (1964), p. 433
- I love going to synagogue on Friday night and being swept in the melodies. Everyone seems more friendly and unburdened by the week and ready to be taken elsewhere.
- Erica Brown
- One day, a leopard stalked into the synagogue, roaring and lashing its tail. Three weeks later, it had become part of the liturgy.
- CHRISTUS, reading in the Synagogue.
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me.
He hath anointed me to preach good tidings
Unto the poor; to heal the broken-hearted;
To comfort those that mourn, and to throw open
The prison doors of captives, and proclaim
The Year Acceptable of the Lord, our God!- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Christus: A Mystery, Part I - The Divine Tragedy - The First Passover - V - Nazareth
- There are occasions when non-Jews visit a synagogue. They may be invited to the service by Jewish friends celebrating a Bar-Mitzvah or some other special event in their lives. They may be part of a church group studying Judaism, who wish to experience a synagogue service. Or they may simply be individuals who are curious about Judaism and wish to learn more about it. Whatever the reason for the visit, a non-Jew is always welcome to attend a synagogue service. He may come only to observe the service or to join in the prayers if he so wishes.
- Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin: To Pray As a Jew: A Guide to the Prayer Book and the Synagogue Service, ch. 2, "To Feel At Home in the Synagogue: Knowing What to Do", pp. 59–60. Basic Books (1980). ISBN: 0-465-08633-0.
Bible, King James Version
- They have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
- Psalms 74:8
- Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
- Matthew 6:2-4
- I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the Temple, whither the Jews always resort.
- John 18:20
- I know your works, oppression, and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
- Revelations 2:9
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