The synagogue, as has been already: said, wa« called also aaff^areTov, because its principal purpose was to serve as the meeting-place of the congrega- tion for public worship ou Sabbaths (and festival
642
SYNAGOGUE
S YXAGOGU E
days). From the period when the temple and its sacrificial ciiltus still existed at Jerusalem, the tradition is preserved that the body of men (nsi'o) belonging to the division of priests in charge of the temple service for the week, assembled daily in tlie synagogue of their dwelling-place and read tlie Creation story of Gn 1 ( Tdnnith, iv. 2 ; Tos. Taanitk, iv. 219'8 ; Bab. Taanitk, 276). The second and fifth days of the week also saw from early times the congregation assembled in the synagogue, because on these daj'S there was reading fiom the Torali (Tos. Taanitk, ii. 217"). But tlie practice of daily service could prevail onlj' in larger towns where there were at least ten members unencumbered by business and thus able to give daily attendance at the synagogue (see p. 640"). Nevertheless, it was enjoined by the scribes tliat every one should, as far as was in his power, discharge his duty of prayer by taking part in the common prayer of the synagogue.
An early Tannaite, Eliezer b. Jakob (1st cent.), introduces bis pronouucement on prayer with the exhortatiuri to pray in the eynagopriie (Pesikta, ecL Buber, 15Sa). A Tannaite of unknown date, Abba Benjamin, derives from 1 K 8'^ the thesis that it is only prayer offered in the synagogue that is heard (BerakhMh, bb). Joshua b. Levi (3rd cenU) gives this instruction to liis eons : * (loinj; into the syna^'ogTie morning and evening prolongs life' {Berakh'tth, 8aX Jizhak, a great Agadist of the 3rd cent., says in a paraphrase to Is 5ui"- n : * If there is a man who is wont to go into the s\Tiagogue and on some particular day comes not, God inquires after him, saying, Where is the (Jod-fearing one who is wont to be among you? lie ought to have tnisted in the name of the Eternal and left himself in the hands of his God, and not have absented himself from the house of God for the eake of gain or any worhiiy end ' {lieraklt. {;'>). Another great Agadist of the 3rd cent., Levi, applying Jerlli^-*, says : 'The man in whose place of abode there is a synagogue and who does not frequent it is called an "evil neighbour" of God* {B>'rakh. Sa). Another Pal teacher of the 3rd cent, adopting an artificial ex- planation of Job 365, says: 'God does not leave unheard the prayer that is offered in company with the assembled congrega- tion' (BcrntA. 8a). A Pal. Agadist of the 4th cent., Jehuda b. Simon, makes Israel sing (Midrash, TekiUim on Ps 6) ; ' Behold, O God, to how much persecution and oppression I am subjected b.v Edom (t.e. Rome), to keep me from owning thee as my God and king. But we go daily into our synagogues and own thee in our confession of faith (the Shema*)as God and king.' The same Agadist applies to Pr 8^^ the oft-recurring idea that God's glory is ]iresent with the congregation assembled in the syna- gogue : ' Who ever came into the synagogue without finding my glory there' {Deut, rabba, 7)?
The above and similar sayings (cf. e.g. also Dererk Ercz zi'ita, 9, ad init.) show not only the importance attached to the prayer of the congre- gation in the synagogue, but also the constant need there was of warning the members against negligence in their attendance. In the 3rd cent. it was told in Palestine to the credit of the Baby- lonian Jews that they visited the synagogue every morning and evening (Berakh. 8a).
V. The Synagogue as an Elementary School. — The synagogue was not only the place of pulilic worship ; it embraced also the school in which the first instruction in the Holy Scriptures as the principal or the sole subject of education was given. As the betk hammidrash served for the studies of more advanced youths and adults, the synagogue was tln' place in which — perhaps in a special room— the children were taught.
In a homiletieal exposition of La 19 Abba b. Kahana (SM cent.) adds to the words of Jer 9-1 [Ileb.-O] 'to cut off the children from the street, the youths from the squares' the gloss 'but not from the synagogues and the schools' {Ecba Tabbattii, ad locX Joshua b. Levi himself conducted his grandson to the synagogue, i.6. to school (Kutdu^tu 30a). Chija b. Abba (3rd cent), aa he passed a synago^e of Sep- phoris, heard children being taught to repeat Gn 201, and maae this the subject of a remark (Gfii. raftba, 62), In an anecdote of the 4th cent we are told how a teacher in the synagogue punished a child excessively and was cursed for this by a woman who happened to be passing by (Jems. Moed katon. Hid**). Rab, the Hab. Amora, said that women gain special merit by conducting their children to the synagogue, ue. to school (Berakh. 17a). See also the sa^'ing of the Pal. Amora Simon (end of the 4th cent.) reported in Jems. Chalta, 57/yis. That in Babylonia the synagogue was the place of elementar>' education is evident from .Wcj?. 28* ; YehanwOt, 216, top ; liaba })athra, 21a. — According to the above-mentioned tradition