(ii. § 2, ad mif.) regarding the synagogues of Jerusalem, each of these was provided with a sciiool for children and one for more advanced students. In a hyperbolical statement about Bethar, the capital of JudaBa in the time of Bar Cochba, it is sa'd {GH.tin, 58a) : 'There were 400 synagogues in Bethar, and in each of these there were 400 teachers (n'plj'n *nD'7D), each with 400 children under his instruction.'
vi. Other Uses of the Synagogue. — The synagogue was also the scene of legal decisions. ()f Abahu, the head of the school of Ciesarea (beginning of 4th cent.), it is expressly recorded that he lectured (Jerus. Berakk. da, bottom) in the ancient synagogue there (see above, ii. § 2), and also decided questions of law in it (Jerus. Sanked. 18a, bottom). In the same synagogue Jochanan the famous teacher of Abahu, also acted at one time as judge (Bab. Ycbamoth, 65a). From the NT we learn that the punishment of scourging was inflicted in the synagogues (Mt 10" 23**, Mk 13^ Ac 26"; cf. Lk 12'> 21'^ Ac 22i9, 2 Co 11"). It has already been mentioned (above, § iv.) thac the hazzdn carried out this sentence and acted in other ways as an officer of the law court. There is mention in Lev. rabba, 6, ad init., of an oath in a civil process being taken in the synagogue.
The mourning for a man who was lamented by the whole community was held in the synagogue (Tos. Meg. iii. 225- ; l>ab. Meg. 286 ; cf. tlie story of the funeral of Jehuda I. in Kuh. rabba on Ec 9'"). A Bab. Amora of the 5th cent, held the mourning for his daughter-in-law in the syna- gogue [Meg. 286).
At the time of the war against Rome, gatherings of a political character were lield in the great synagogue of Tiberias on the Sabbatli and the fol- lowing day (Jos. Vita, 54). R. Jochanan (3rd cent. ) gave express permission to deliherate about public affairs in the synagogues and schools on the Sabbath (Ketkuboth, 5a). After the destruc- tion of Jerusalem it was customary — so a Tannaite tradition tells us — to give out in the synagogues and schools a list of articles lost (Baba mezia, 286). Thefts were also intimated in the syna- gogue with a view to the detection of the per- petrator [Lev. rabba, 6, ad init.). For other announcements made in the synagogue, see Yeba- mot.h, 636. An Agadist of the 4th cent, once fol- lowed up an address in the synagogue by calling upon the congregation to contribute alms for a stranger [Lev. rab. 32, ad Jin.).
In a Tannaite rule, amongst the prescriptions concerning what is due to the dignity of the synagogue, tliere is one forbiddinj; eating and drinking in it {31cg. 28a, bottom). Nevertheless, common meals were held even in the s>Tiagogue (see on this point K. Kohler, 3IonatssckriJt, xxxvii. p. 494, who suggests a connexion between this custom and the meals of the Essenes). An anecdote from the 3rd cent, mentions a meal as held on the Sabbath evening in the synago^e of the Pal. Kephiir-Chittaja {Gen. rab. 65) ; while a testimony from the 4th cent, refers to a great meal in the school (Jerus. Berakk. lie, bottom). — Joshua b. Levi (3rd cent. ) laid down tlie principle that the synagogues and schools belong to the scribes and their pupils (Jerus. Meg. 74a*', cf. Bab. Meg. 286). His younger contemporary, Ammi, ordained that the schoolmasters (who at the same time filled the post of synagogue keeper) sliould provide quarters in the synagogue building for travellers who had the slightest acquaintance with the Torah (Jerus. Meg. lia^). Chija and Assi, the colleagues of Ammi, used to insist op quartering themselves in the synagogue {ib.). Measha and Samuel b. Ji?hak, Pal. Amoras of the beginning of the 4th cent., speak of eating in the synagogue (Jerus. Berakk. ch. ii. end [5a"], Shabbotk, Za "). In Babylonia also travellers were accommodated in the synagogue and there took
SYNAGOGUE
SY^JAGOGUE, THE GEEAT C43
their Sabliatli meal ; upon which is founded the rule that the blessing over the wine, which else- where is the introduction to the meal, is to be spoken also in the synagogue {Pesachim, lOlo).
In a great many passages of the Jewish tradition- literature (Talmud and Midrasli) the sjTiagogues are named along with the schools. They aj)- pear as the two institutions which are specially characteristic of Israel, and whoso extreme im- portance for Judaism finds expression in mani- fold ways. In order to see what the synagogue was in the life and thought of Israel during the first centuries of the Christian era, one must make acquaintance also with those sayings of the Tannaites and Amoras, in which synagogue and school are glorified as inseparable institutions. In these it must be observed that the sj-nagogxie means not only the place of ])ublic worship, but that of instruction for the young. As a rule, in these sayings the synagogue precedes the school (nipnD 'nzt nrci3 t:), a circumstance which indi- cates the higher repute in which the sj-nagogue stood. But the opposite view had also its repre- sentatives : from the 3rd cent, there has come down the saying of a Pal. scribe (Me(f. i'a), and from the 4th cent, that of a 15ab. scribe {ib. 266), according to which the school has a higlier rank than the synagogue. The following are some of these sayings about synagogue and school : —