Synagogue

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A synagogue or synagog, 'Beit Kneset'—"house of gathering" in Hebrew, also called a shul (meaning school in Yiddish) or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews or Samaritans. It serves as a house of prayer. It includes a main sanctuary with the Torah ark where the Torah scrolls are kept (called an Holy Closet aron qodesh (Hebrew: אָרוֹן קׄדֶש) by Ashkenazi Jews and a hekhal (היכל) by Sephardic Jews), and a stage called bema in front of it as well as raised galleries for female worshipers. Synagogues have religious services or ceremonies such as Daily prayers, Shabbat prayers (Saturday) weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs. Synagogues often also contain study rooms, social halls, administrative and charitable offices, classrooms for religious and Hebrew studies, and spaces for community gatherings. They frequently display commemorative, historic, or modern artwork alongside items of Jewish historical significance or exhibits about the synagogue itself. Synagogues are buildings used for Jewish...

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