Ao Agadist of the 4th cenu attributes to the philosopher CEnomaus of Gatiara, known throuph his intercourse with the famous R. Meir, the sanni? that, so long as the * voice of Jacob' (Gn 27'^') sounds in synagoj,^e and sciiool, the ' hands of Esau' (Le. Rome) are powerless a^'ainst Israel (Gen. rob, 65 ; Pejiikta, l21aX— Al>ahu said ; * Seek the Eternal where he is to be found (Is 55*). Where is he to be found ? In the synagogTje and the achoot' (Jerus. Berakh, 8d, bottoraX — Levi said: 'While the descendants of Abraham sit in the syna^o^^c and the school, God's glory stands over them' [in allusion to Ps 82'] {Gen. raJb. 48; P^fikl'a, 4S^). — By 'your sanctuaries' (Lv 2G3') are to be understood rmat^ogue and school {Siphrdt ad loc 112a). — Jiftiak declared that by 'our dwelliri'.;^' (Jer 9iB)are meant qriiag'oguc and school (Echa rabba, Proojra., No. 8). — Samuel k Ji?t>ak interpreted the ' sanctuary Bi'3 ' (Ezk 11") of the srnagogues and schools of Babylonia {Meg. 29a)L — The ' holy j^ace ' (Ec 8*'') means synagogue and school {KoK rab. ad loc ; Tanchuma, ed. fiuber, Jithro, ad init.). — ' My" heart is awake' (Ca 62) in the synagogue and the school {Shir rab. ad ioc),~ln the allegorical interjiretation of the Song of Sonijs many other passages are alyo ap])li6d to the synagogue and the school {Shir rab. i>a>ix<)ii ; Bab Erub. 21& ; Pesach, 87a). — Jose b. Chonina (ord ct-ut.) discovers In the 'gardens' of Ca & the sjTiagogue and the school {Shir rab. ad Toe). — Attending syna- gogue and school is contnisted with attending theatre and cin;u8 (Jeriis. Berakh. Id^ (prayer of Nechunja U Uakkana in Ist cent) ; Gen, rab. 67 [Levi] ;" Kolt, rab. on Ee l?).— When David prays fPs 01^), ' May I dwell for ever in thy tent,' be means, * May it be vouchsafed to me that my words may l>e re- peated under my name in the school and the synagogue ' (Jerus. Berakh. ib\ — IThe 'refuge from generation to generation' of Ps 90^ is interpreted by ICaba (4th cent.) of synagogues and ■cbools. As a matter of fact, even in lat^r centuries, the^e were the refuge of Israel scattered through all land&
vii. LATE.ST Hl.STORY OF THE Synaooque. — In the present article regard has been had only to the synagogue of antifiuity, i.e. of the last years of the Second Temple and the first five centuries of the Christian era. But the synagogue survived also in the following periods, through the Middle Ages down to the present day, as the most notable institution of Judaism, the focus of the religious life of the Jewish community. A history of the synagogue in the Middle Ages and in modern tunes would be an integral part of the history of Judaism, from the point of view alike of its out- ward fortunes and its inner development. The manifold character which Jewish history displays in virtue of its having the whole of the inhabited plobe for ita stage of action and in virtue of the irillucnces exercised upon it by diflcrcnt forms of civilization, is exhibited also in the character of this Jewish institution, which is ancient indeed, bnt is ever renewing its youth. It may suffice to point out that in the most recent times, during something like the last 80 years, the synagogue
was the central point and also the principal object of Jewish attempts at reform, and that the im- portance of the institution has been marked evep externally by the synagogue buildings which have been everywhere reared, on both sides of the Atlantic — a testimony to the spontaneous effort of the builders and sometimes their almost exces sive love of splendour.
LiTERATURR. — As far as concerns articles on the Synagogae in the various Eucyclopaxlias, or the treatment of the subject in the works on the History of the Jews, on Biblical Archjeology, and the Histon.' of NT "Times, a general reference may suffice, Schilrer devotes a long section (GJ V^ it 127^64) to the Syna- gogue. Of the literature cited by him the following deser\e special notice ; Vitringa, De si/na^/otja vctere, libri tres (lOOt'O ; Leopold Low, • Der synagogale Ritus' {Monatsschrijt, \>r^i, Ge^atn. Schri/ten, iv. 1-7L In the 5th vol of the G^^am. Schhjten, pp. 21-33, are • Plan und CoUectaneen ' to a detailed account of * synagogalen Alterthiimer,' supplemented by the editor, Immanuel Low). We may mention also : K. Kohler, ' l-^)cr die Urspriinge und Grundfonnen der svnagogalen Liturgie ' {llonatsechrift, xx-xvii. [1893] 441-J51, 489-497) ; S. H. Goldfalin, 'Die Synaj^ogen der Talmudze^t' {JOd. Litteratur. blatt ron liahmer, xiii); J. Reifmann, ' IJber Synagogen und Lehrhiiufjcr zur talmudischer Zeit' (in N. Keller's lleb. peri- odic.ll Bikkurinit II. Theil, 1S60).— On the place of the synagogue in the Middle Ages, see L Abrahams, Jewish Life- in the Middle Ayei. 1896, pp. 1-S4. W. BaCHER.
SYNAGOGUE, THE GREAT. — An alleged col- lege or senate, whose founder and first president is said to have been Ezra, and which, according to tradition, exercised control over the Jewish com- munity, especially in religious matters, from about 450-200 B.C. Its membership is generally given as 120 {e.g. Jerus. Berakhuih ii. 4), but sometimes as 85 [e.g. Jerus. Meg. i. 7). The important part attributed by some to this institution in connexion with the forming of the Canon OF THE OT (see below) demands that we should examine, as briefly as possible, the evidence for its existence and activity.