Editing Temple (section)

==Jewish synagogues and temples==
In [[Judaism]], the ancient Hebrew texts refer to a "sanctuary", "palace" or "hall" for each of the two ancient temples in [[Jerusalem]], called in the [[Tanakh]] {{Lang|he-latn|Beit YHWH}}, which translates literally as '[[YHWH]]'s House'.  In English "temple" is the normal term for them. 

The [[Temple Mount]] in [[Jerusalem]] is the site where the [[First Temple]] of Solomon and the [[Second Temple]] were built. At the center of the structure was the [[Holy of Holies]] where only the [[High Priest of Israel|High Priest]] could enter. The Temple Mount is now the site of the [[Islamic]] edifice, the [[Dome of the Rock]] ({{Circa|690 CE}}).

The Greek word ''[[synagogue]]'' came into use to describe Jewish (and [[Samaritanism|Samaritan]]) places of worship during [[Hellenistic]] times and it, along with the Yiddish term ''[[shul]]'', and the original Hebrew term ''[[Synagogue|Beit Knesset]]'' ('House of meeting') are the terms in most universal usage.  

Since the 18th century, Jews in Western and Central Europe began to apply the name ''temple'', borrowed from the French where it was used to denote all non-Catholic prayer houses, to synagogues. The term became strongly associated with [[Reform Judaism|Reform]] institutions, in some of which both congregants and outsiders associated it with the elimination of the prayers for the restoration of the Jerusalem Temple, though this was not the original meaning—traditional synagogues named themselves "temple" over a century before the advent of Reform, and many continued to do so after.<ref>Michael A. Meyer, ''Response to Modernity: A History of the Reform Movement in Judaism'', Wayne State University Press, 1995. p. 42.</ref> In American parlance, ''temple'' is often synonymous with ''synagogue'', but especially non-Orthodox ones.

The term ''[[kenesa]]'', from the Aramaic for 'assembly', is used to describe the places of worship of [[Karaite Judaism|Karaite Jews]].

Example of such temple is the [[Sofia Synagogue]], [[Bulgaria]] the largest [[synagogue]] in [[Southeastern Europe]] and third-largest in [[Europe]].<ref>[http://www.dnes.bg/sofia/2009/09/06/100-godishnina-na-sinagogata-v-sofiia.77248 100-годишнина на синагогата в София], dnes.bg, September 6, 2009</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="145px">
File:Jerus-n4i.jpg|A model of [[Herod's Temple]] adjacent to the [[Shrine of the Book]] exhibit at the [[Israel Museum]], Jerusalem.
File:Kenessa Vilnius (5970197134).jpg|The Kenesa in [[Vilnius]], [[Lithuania]].
</gallery>