Editing Synagogue (section)

== History ==
[[File:Synagogue de la Ghriba Djerba 11.jpg|thumb|[[El Ghriba Synagogue]] in [[Djerba]], Tunisia]]
In the earliest period, Jewish communal worship primarily revolved around the [[Temple in Jerusalem]], serving as a central focal point and significant symbol for the entire Jewish nation. As such, it was the destination for Jews making pilgrimages during the [[Three Pilgrimage Festivals|three major annual festivals]] commanded by the [[Torah]]: [[Passover]], [[Shavuot]] and [[Sukkot]]. There are several known cases of Jewish communities in Egypt with their own temples, such as the [[Elephantine papyri and ostraca#Jewish temple at Elephantine|Temple at Elephantine]] established by refugees from the [[Kingdom of Judah]] during the [[Twenty-seventh Dynasty of Egypt]], and a few centuries later, the [[Temple of Onias]] in the [[Heliopolite Nome]].

The first synagogues emerged in the [[Jewish diaspora]], several centuries before their introduction to the [[Land of Israel]]. Evidence points to their existence as early as the [[Hellenistic period]], notably in [[Alexandria]], [[Ptolemaic Kingdom|Ptolemaic Egypt]], the world's foremost Greek-speaking city at the time. There, the first ''proseukhái'' ({{langx|grc-x-koine|προσευχαί||places of prayer}}; singular {{lang|grc|προσευχή}} ''proseukhē'') were built to provide a place for communal prayer and reading and studying the [[Torah]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fine |first1=Steven |title=This Holy Place: On the Sanctity of the Synagogue During the Greco-Roman Period |date=2016 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-5326-0926-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cbxyDQAAQBAJ&q=this+holy+place |language=en}}</ref> Alexandrian Jews also made a Koine Greek translation of the Torah, the [[Septuagint]].{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}} The earliest archaeological evidence for the existence of synagogues is stone dedication inscriptions from the third century BCE prove that ''proseukhái'' existed by that date.<ref name="JIGRE 22">{{cite sign |type=22. Plaque, dedication of a Schedian proseuche, 246{{ndash}}221 BCE |quote=υπέρ βασιλέως {{!}} Πτολεμαίου και {{!}} βασιλίσσης {{!}} Βερενίκης άδελ {{!}} φης καί γυναικδς καί {{!!}} των τέκνων {{!}} τήν προσευχήν {{!}} οί 'Ιουδαίοι. |trans-quote=On behalf of king Ptolemy and queen Berenice his sister and wife and their children, the Jews (dedicated) the proseuche. |editor-last1=Horbury |editor-first1=William |editor-last2=Noy |editor-first2=David |title=Jewish Inscriptions of Graeco-Roman Egypt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cCRC-wTphoYC&pg=PA35 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1992 |pages=35{{ndash}}37 |isbn=978-0-521-41870-6}}</ref><ref name="JIGRE 117">{{cite sign |type=117. Stele, dedication of an Arsinoëan-Crocodilopolitan proseuche, 246{{ndash}}221 BCE |quote=υπέρ βασιλέως {{!}} Πτολεμαίου τοΰ {{!}} Πτολεμαίου καί {{!}} βοκηλίσσης {{!}} Βερενίκης της {{!!}} γυναικδς καί {{!}} άδελφης καί των {{!}} τέκνων οΐ έν Κροκ[ο] {{!}} δίλων πόλει *Ιου[δαΐ] {{!}} ον την προ[σευχήν] {{!!}} [ · · · · ] |trans-quote=On behalf of king Ptolemy, son of Ptolemy, and queen Berenice his wife and sister and their children, the Jews in Crocodilopolis (dedicated) the proseuche ..... |editor-last1=Horbury |editor-first1=William |editor-last2=Noy |editor-first2=David |title=Jewish Inscriptions of Graeco-Roman Egypt|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cCRC-wTphoYC&pg=PA201 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1992 |pages=201{{ndash}}203 |isbn=978-0-521-41870-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Pfeiffer|first=Stefan|title=Griechische und lateinische Inschriften zum Ptolemäerreich und zur römischen Provinz Aegyptus|series=Einführungen und Quellentexte zur Ägyptologie|volume=9|publisher=Lit|location=Münster|year=2015|language=German|pages=100–102}}</ref> [[Philo]] and [[Josephus]] mention lavishly-adorned synagogues in Alexandria and in [[Antioch]], respectively.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fine |first1=Steven |title=This Holy Place: On the Sanctity of the Synagogue During the Greco-Roman Period |date=2016 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-5326-0926-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cbxyDQAAQBAJ&q=this+holy+place |page=45}}</ref>

More than a dozen [[Second Temple period]] synagogues in use by Jews and [[Samaritans]] have been identified by archaeologists in [[Israel]] and other countries of the [[Hellenistic world]].<ref name="pohick">{{cite web |author=Donald D. Binder |url=http://www.pohick.org/sts/index.html |title=Second Temple Synagogues |access-date=2008-06-16 |archive-date=2015-09-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924074933/http://www.pohick.org/sts/index.html }}</ref> Following the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)|destruction of the Second Temple]] in 70 CE, Rabbi [[Yohanan ben Zakkai]], who is often credited with reformulating Judaism for the post-Temple era, advocated for the establishment of individual houses of worship since the Temple was no longer accessible.
[[File:Dohány Street Synagogue in Pest, Budapest - Hungary (5132509510).jpg|alt=Dohány Street Synagogue|thumb|299x299px|The [[Dohány Street Synagogue]], the biggest Synagogue in Europe. [[Budapest]] is known to be a central location in Jewish enlightenment.]]
[[File:PikiWiki Israel 6487 great belz synagogue.jpg|Belz Great Synagogue in Jerusalem, the biggest synagogue in the world.|thumb]]

It has been theorized that the synagogue became a place of worship in the region upon the destruction of the Second Temple during the [[First Jewish–Roman War]]; however, others speculate that there had been places of prayer, apart from the Temple, during the Hellenistic period. The popularization of prayer over sacrifice during the years prior to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE<ref>{{cite book|last1=Schiffman|first1=Lawrence|title=From Text to Tradition: A History of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism|date=March 1991|publisher=Ktav Pub Inc|isbn=0-88125-372-3|page=159|edition=1st}}</ref> had prepared the Jews for life in the diaspora, where prayer would serve as the focus of Jewish worship.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Schiffman|first1=Lawrence|title=From Text to Tradition: A History of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism|date=March 1991|publisher=Ktav Pub Inc|isbn=0-88125-372-3|page=164|edition=1st}}</ref>

Despite the certain existence of synagogue-like spaces prior to the First Jewish–Roman War,<ref>{{Cite book |title=Synagogues in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods: Archaeological Finds, New Methods, New Theories |publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht |year=2020 |isbn=978-3-647-52215-9 |page=191 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NvEfEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA191 |editor-last=Doering |editor-first=Lutz |editor-last2=Krause |editor-first2=Andrew R. |editor-last3=Löhr |editor-first3=Hermut}}</ref> the synagogue emerged as a focal point for Jewish worship upon the destruction of the Temple. For Jews living in the wake of the Revolt, the synagogue functioned as a "portable system of worship". Within the synagogue, Jews worshipped by way of prayer rather than sacrifices, which had previously served as the main form of worship within the Second Temple.<ref>{{cite book |last= Schiffman |first= Lawrence |title= From Text to Tradition: A History of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism |date= March 1991 |publisher= Ktav Pub Inc. |isbn= 0-88125-372-3 |page=164 |edition= 1st}}</ref>

=== Second Temple period ===
In 1995, Howard Clark Kee argued that synagogues were not a developed feature of Jewish life prior to the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE).<ref>Kee, Howard Clark. "Defining the First-Century CE Synagogue: Problems and Progress." New Testament Studies 41.4 (1995): 481-500.</ref> Kee interpreted his findings as evidence that the mentions of synagogues in the [[New Testament]], including Jesus's visitations of synagogues in various Jewish settlements in Israel, were anachronistic. However, by 2018, Mordechai Aviam reported that there were now at least nine synagogues excavated known to pre-date the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)|destruction of the Jerusalem Temple]] in 70&nbsp;CE, including in Magdala, Gamla, Masada, Herodium, Modi'in (Kh. Umm el-'Umdan), Qiryat Sepher (Kh. Bad 'Issa), and Kh. Diab. Aviam concluded that he thought almost every Jewish settlement at the time, whether it was a polis or a village, had a synagogue.<ref>Aviʿam, Mordekhai. "First-Century Galilee New Discoveries." ''Early Christianity'' 9.2 (2018): 219–226.</ref>

* [[Gamla]] – a synagogue was discovered near the city gate at Gamla, a site in the Golan northeast of the Sea of Galilee.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Levine, Lee I.|title=The Ancient Synagogue: The First Thousand Years|date=2000|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=0-300-07475-1|location=New Haven|oclc=40408825}}</ref> This city was destroyed by the Roman army in 67 CE and was never rebuilt.
* [[Masada]] – a synagogue was discovered on the western side of Masada, just south of the palace complex at the northern end of the site. One of the unique finds at this synagogue was a group of 14 scrolls, which included biblical, sectarian, and apocryphal documents.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Yadin, Yigael.|title=Masada: The Momentous Archaeological Discovery Revealing the Heroic Life and Struggle of the Jewish Zealots|date=1966|publisher=Random House|isbn=0-394-43542-7|edition=1st|location=New York, NY|pages=180–191|oclc=861644287}}</ref>
* [[Herodium]] – a synagogue from the 1st century was discovered in Herod's palace fortress at Herodium.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Herodium (BiblePlaces.com)|url=https://www.bibleplaces.com/herodium/|access-date=2020-07-11|website=BiblePlaces.com |language=en-US}}</ref>
* [[Migdal Synagogue|Magdala]] – also known as the Migdal Synagogue, this synagogue was discovered in 2009. One of the unique features of this synagogue, which is located on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, is an intricately carved stone [[Magdala stone|block]] that was found in the center of the main room.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ancient synagogue found in Israel |url=https://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/09/11/jerusalem.synagogue/index.html|access-date=2020-07-11|website=CNN}}</ref>
* Modi'in – Discovered between [[Modi'in]] and [[Latrun]] is the [[Oldest synagogues in the World|oldest synagogue]] within modern Israel that has been found to date, built during the second century BCE. It includes three rooms and a nearby [[mikve]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-09-22|title=Modi'in: Where the Maccabees Lived|url=https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/biblical-archaeology-sites/modiin-where-the-maccabees-lived/|access-date=2020-07-11|publisher=Biblical Archaeology Society|language=en}}</ref>
<gallery widths="200" heights="160">
File:Gamla Synagogue (7).JPG|First-century synagogue at Gamla
File:Masada 051013 Synagogue 01.jpg|First-century synagogue at Masada
File:Magdala-588.jpg|First-century synagogue at Magdala
File:Herodion Synagogue IMG 0708.JPG|First-century synagogue at Herodium
</gallery>

=== Talmudic period ===
Following the destruction of the Temple, the synagogue became the focal point of Jewish worship and communal life.{{sfn|Cohen|1999|p=298}}{{sfn|Levine|2005|p=175}} Over time, prayers, rituals, and customs once performed in the Temple were adapted for synagogue use.{{sfn|Levine|2005|p=4}}{{sfn|Cohen|1999|p=320}} Traditional forms of synagogal worship, including sermons and the reading of scripture, were preserved, while new forms of worship, such as {{lang|he|[[piyyut]]}} and organized prayer, developed.{{sfn|Levine|2005|p=5}} Rabbinic instruction, however, maintained that certain practices should remain exclusive to the Temple.{{sfn|Cohen|1999|p=322}} The Mishnah directed prayers toward Jerusalem, and most synagogues face the Temple site rather than mirroring its orientation, establishing them as extensions of its sanctity, not replicas.{{sfn|Cohen|1999|p=321}}

During [[Late antiquity]] (third to seventh century CE), literary sources attest to the existence of a large number of synagogues across the [[Later Roman Empire|Roman]]-[[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] and [[Sasanian Empire]]s.<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Levine |first=Lee |title=Jewish archaeology in late antiquity: art, architecture, and inscriptions |date=2006 |work=The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 4: The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period |volume=4 |pages=526–527, 539–542 |editor-last=Katz |editor-first=Steven T. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-judaism/jewish-archaeology-in-late-antiquity-art-architecture-and-inscriptions/6C63D4648446995D245ACBBE9D7427CA |access-date=2024-05-06 |series=The Cambridge History of Judaism |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-77248-8}}</ref> Archaeological evidence indicates the presence of synagogues in at least thirteen places across the diaspora, spanning from [[Dura-Europos]] in [[Syria]] to [[Elche]] in [[Hispania]] (modern-day [[Spain]]). An especially sizable and monumental synagogue dating from this period is the [[Sardis Synagogue]]. Additionally, many inscriptions pertaining to synagogues and their officials have been discovered.<ref name=":0" />

In the Land of Israel, late antiquity witnessed a significant increase in synagogue construction, in [[Galilee]] and [[Golan Heights|Golan]] in the north and the [[Hebron Hills|southern hills]] of [[Judea]], in the south. Each synagogue was constructed according to the means and religious customs of the local community. Notable examples include [[Capernaum]], [[Kfar Bar'am synagogue|Bar'am]], [[Beth Alpha]], [[Maoz Haim Synagogue|Maoz Haim]], [[Meroth]] and [[Nabratein synagogue|Nabratein]] in the north, and [[Eshtemoa synagogue|Eshtemoa]], [[Susya]], [[Anim synagogue|Anim]], and [[Maon Synagogue|Maon]] in the south.<ref name=":0" />

=== Middle Ages ===
Rabbi and philosopher [[Maimonides]] (1138–1204) described the various customs in his day with respect to local synagogues:
{{blockquote|Synagogues and houses of study must be treated with respect. They are swept and sprinkled [with water] to lay the dust. In [[Spain]] and the [[Maghreb]], in [[Babylonia]] and in the [[Holy Land]], it is customary to kindle lamps in the synagogues and to spread mats on the floor upon which the worshippers sit. In the lands of Edom ([[Christendom]]), they sit in synagogues upon chairs [or benches].<ref>[[Maimonides]], ''[[Mishneh Torah]]'' (Hil. ''Tefillah Birkat kohanim'' 11:4)</ref>}}
<gallery widths="200" heights="160">
File:Sepphoris (Tzippori) 290314 12.jpg|Mosaic in the [[Tzippori Synagogue]]
File:Ruins of the Ancient Synagogue at Bar'am.jpg|Ruins of the ancient synagogue of [[Kfar Bar'am]]
File:Alte Synagoge Erfurt.JPG|The [[Old Synagogue (Erfurt)]] is the oldest intact synagogue building in [[Europe]], in parts around 1100 CE
File:Jewish Courtyard 3 Speyer.JPG|[[Jewish courtyard, Speyer|Speyer Synagogue]], a [[World Heritage Site]]
File:Anbau des vormaligen Frauenbethauses der Synagoge Worms (a).jpg|The [[Worms Synagogue]], a [[World Heritage Site]]
</gallery>