Assemble, Pray, Study: Synagogues Past and Present
Since the immemorial, humans have felt the need to pray, to communicate with the divine – What do we know about the jewish house of prayer? The hebrew term for the synagogue, Beit Knesset, comes from the root “to assemble”. The synagogue is where Jews assemble, where they come together to establish religious and cultural communities. The community prays together and the Torah is read to the public. The synagogue has always been a place of learning, where noth adults and children study the Torah.
The centrality of the synagogue lessened with modernity and secularism. More Jews became estranged from the synagogue whic was no longer automatically the hub of communal life. Jewish communities established new gathering places.