firayer, in virtue of his office ; i.e. the word hazzdn las the character whicli it gained in the period of the Gaons, and which it has retained down to the present day (see also Soph. x. end, xi. ad init. ; Firke R. Eliezer, xiii. end).
Seeing that, as a rule, the instruction of children was also carried on in the synagogue, the hazzdn acted, furlher, as assistant to the schoolmaster, or was himself schoolmaster, in addition to his other duties {Shabb. i. 3 : c'Kiip n^pu'nn [3'.T .inn pn.i). He discharged the functions al.so of an officer of the law court, carrying out, for instance, a sentence of scourging (see Mukkoth, iii. 12 ; Tos. Makkotk, v. 444a). SI. cf ^1,0 xos. Sanhed. ix. 428-» [ = Jerus. Snnhed. 23'(^: ni'o;r '3in]i. li appears, however, that officers of the law court bore tlie title hazzdn, even when they were not at the same time syna- gogue attendants (see Jerus. Kiddtixhin, 6or '*, Sanhed. 19(-« and 23d"; Bab. Shabb. 56a, 139a, Makkoth, 23rt).— It is only in the Bab. Talmud (Kethuboth, 86) that we meet with the title 'Jin '.yi [the parallel passage of the Jerus. Talmud (Prsach. Ca) has nojDi ]in], Aram. Kno "Jin {liaba mezin, fj3b). Cf. Arakhin, 66 : Knn^ciBi 'jin.
The leader in prayer who as the representative of the congregation recited aloud the prayers in the synagogue, was called iirv Ci-^;^, ' delegate of the whole ' (iizy is the name of the collective body as.seMil)led in the synagogue, in opposition to the individual, Tn;). 'I'his leading in prayer wns a voluntary function discharged by members of the congregation who were qualified for it and invited to undertake it. According to a Tannaite tradi- tion, the formula addressed to the person .selected WBs not ' Come and pray,' but 'Come and oiler ' (ku VOL. IV.— 41
2-\pi, Jerus. Berakh. 86 "*). The uttering of prayer was considered the equivalent of the olienng of sacrifice ; hence the leader was called Kjnj (see Jerus. Berakh. Sr, bottom ; Leviticus rabb", ehs. 19. 20). — The leader in prayer stepped in front of tlie synagogue press ; Lence the function was known also as nz'nn ':sb •\2i: (see Berakh. v. 3, 4 ; Meg. iv. 3), Aram, unu'n -cip i2y (Jerus. Berakh. 9c **). The prayer is preceded by the reciting of the Shema and the Blessings connected with it ; this function was called I'ou' 'jy die [ons means pro- jieriy to break ofi' a piece of bread and ask a bless- ing over it ; in the expression before us it is used in the sense of to pronounce the Blessings attached to the Shema'].
A principal [)art of the jiublic worship of the synagogue is tlie reading from the Pentateuch and the Prophets. This office is discharged by mcmbera of the congregation, among a fixed number of whom the particular passageof the Pentateuch is portioned out. On the Sabbath the number of readers is seven, on festival days five, on the Day of Atone- ment six, at the New Moon and on the half-festival days of Passover and Feast of Booths four, on week days and on the afternoon of the Sabbath three (J/c7. iv. 1, 2). After the reading of the Penta- teuch lesson, a passage is read from the Prophets by one who may at the same time act as leader in prayer {ib. 5). When there is only one of the members of the synagogue who can read from the Scriptures, he reads the whole section (Tos. Mer/. iv. 226»).
The reading of the Scriptures was coupled with the translating of the Heb. text (in Palestine and Babj'lonia into Aramaic). The man who publicly gave the translation (Targum) in tlie synagogue was called ]'p,^, also i?;')'!' or i'^^ninp (see, on the correct pronunciation, IJacher, Die dltcste Tennin- olo(fie der jiid. Schriftauslegung, p. 206). The larger .synagogues would have a Targumist or Mrthorgcmdn of their own. There was one of this class at Janinia in the time of Gamaliel t. (1st cent.), namely Rabbi Cliu?pith, who was surnamed icjiin.i {Berakh. 276). In the 3i-d cent, there was a Rabbi Hoshaya in Palestine with the (Aram.) sur- name N;?j"lin {Gen. rabba, ch. 51, ad Jin.). But as a rule it was the schoolmasters, those who from their calling were familiar with the Bible and had a tra- ditional acquaintance with the Targum, that gave the translation. From the beginningof the 4th cent, comes a story of how .Samuel b. Jizhal> once came into a synagogue and saw that the schoolmaster read the translation from a written Targum (Jerus. Mi.g. 74(/" ij [0 KDunn bcid tsd ^^ non Nnco^ Swy KHD-D). But any one who was cajiable, even a minor, was entitled to give the Targum in the synagogue {Meg. iv. 6 ; Tos. Meg. iv. 227-').
The reading of the Scriptures was followed, when a competent person was present, by an exposition of the lesson, or, in otlicr words, by a sermon. It was customary to invite any stranger scribe who happened to be there, to deliver this address.
It is told of a Pak-^Unian Amora of the 4th cent, how he once came to a Htraiit;e place and followed up the lesson by a sennon (Lev. rahha, 8). Nuhiini b. Siniui, a Pal. teacher of the 3rd ceiiu prcorhed in Tarsus {Pettiktaraf>lial/ii, ch. 15, 78ft). In Midrash Tanchnma (Tfrtitna, 1, ed. Ruber, ii. p. 811) anane<Mlote is told of a scribe who, travelliii^r by sea in company with some merchants, was derided by thcin when he boasted of the wares which he hod by him, and which they soujjht in vain. When they landed, the men-hants hafl their poo<is taken from them by the custom-house olllcials. while the si^nbe went into the synajrotfue, preached there, and was loa^lcd W'ith honours and ^ifts. In like manner Jesua travelled about in Galilee, teachinir in »iie pvna^'opucs (^, ?«#•«*» i. r«'.< ».<i}>o-«^0 ; see Mt 4^, Lk 4i> ; and cf. Mk l'^> (fl, Lk e» 13i», JnuailS'*).