A Synagogue Essay -- Papers

A Synagogue A synagogue forget look the like whatsoever other building from the outside - the precisely sign you might relieve oneself from the outside is the star of David which is called magen David in the Hebraic tongue. There whitethorn too be a sign outside stating the name of the synagogue. There atomic number 18 many names for a synagogue such as shul - which intend school in Hebrew, bet haknesset, which means house of assembly - this is only used by Sephardim, which is oriental Jews. A synagogue is primarily a place of worship but overly functions as a residential area centre for the Jews. The building is so important that the whole Jewish community of interests that worship there will revolve around the building. It is used as a teaching school for Jewish children where they will be taught the Hebrew alphabet, numbers of Hebrew and almost their faith. This school is a Jewish equivalent to a Christian Sunday school. If you now go in side you would see that the synagogue is rectangular and although you will not realise it, but the whole synagogue is built facing Israel, if possible, Jerusalem. There will be a go across where the congregation will wash their hands and feet before praying or worshipping. You will also notice that there are separate seats. This is because in Jewish-Orthodox synagogues, the men bewilder on the ground floor and worship and the women present in the gallery. There is a good reason for this - and not because the Jews are sexist - but because in Judaism, the men take on the portion of worshipping and the women are expected to look after the house and the children so if raft were late (the women). This may be because they had to change the baby or something like that so instead of disturbi... ...yed and the hymns and songs are sung without the aid or co-occurrence of music. In a liberal or reformed synagogue yet things would be very different, for insta nce, there is quite a large break that a female rabbi would be conducting the service, the man and women are more equal they sit together and worship together as one big mass. The bimah may be at the front which, in my opinion, gives a sense of lecture and I think Jews know their religion, they dont need to be educated about it they just want to worship god. There also may be an organ to accompany songs and hymns because music is permitted in reformed synagogues. There would also be slightly less Hebrew spoken. So this synagogue I have described to you is an orthodox synagogue. Orthodox translates to right belief and is considered to be traditional Judaism.