III. Site, Structure, Internal Arrangement, Use, and Sanctity of the Synufjogue.—l. Taking the Temple as the prototype, and following the traditional explana- tion of the passages in Prov. i, 21 and Ezra ix, 9, which are taken to mean that the voice of prayer is to be raised on heights (X"ipn ON"i3), and that the sanctu- ary was therefore erected on a summit (TX CC1"iP D'-nix ri"'^), the Jewish canons decreed that syna- gogues are to be built upon the most elevated ground in the neighborhood, and that no house is to be allowed to over- top them ( Tosiphta Megillah, iii ; Maimonides, lad Ha - Chezaka Hikhoth Tephila, xi, 2), So es- sential was this law deemed, and so strictly was it observed in Per- sia, even after the destruction of the Temple, that Kab (A.D. 1G5- 247) prophesied a speedy ruin of
Probiible Representa- tion of an Ancient Synagogue. ( From a stone in the ruined those cities in which houses were synagogue at Tell permitted to tower above the ^"^■^ s3'nagogiie, while rabbi Ashi de-
clared that the protection of Sora was owing to the ele- vated site of its synagogues (^Sabbat/i, 11 a). Lieut. Kitchener, however, states (Quar. Statement of the " Pal. l']xplor. Fund," July, 1878, p. 123 sq.) that the ruins of the fourteen specimens of ancient synagogues extant in Palestine (all in Galilee) do not correspond to these Tal- mudical requirements as to location, nor yet to those be- low as to position ; for they are frequently in rather a low site, and face the south if possible. Failing of a com- manding site, a tall pole rose from the roof to render it conspicuous (Leyrer, in Herzog's Real-Encyklop. s. v.).
The riverside outside the city was also deemed a suitable spot for building the synagogue, because, be- ing removed from the noise of the city, the people could worship God without distraction, and, at the same time, have the use of pure water for immersions and other religious exercises (Acts xvi, 13; Josephus, Ant. xiv, 10, 23 ; Juvenal, Sat. iii. 12, etc. ; see also the Chal- dee versions on Gen. xxiv, G2). See Pkoseucha.
The building was commonly erected at the cost of the district, whether by a church-rate levied for the purpose, or by free gifts, must remain uncertain (Vitrin- ga, De Si/nagor/. p. 229). Sometimes it was built by a rich Jew, or even, as in Luke vii, 5, by a friendly prose- lyte. In the later stages of Eastern Judaism it was
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Plan of Ruined Synagojjue at Tell Ham.
often erected, like the mosques of Mohammedans, near the tombs of famous rabbins or holy men.
2. The size of a synagogue, like that of a church or chapel, varied with the population. We have no rea- son for believing that there were any fixed laws of proportion for its dimensions, like those which are traced in the tabernacle and the Temple.
The building itself was generally in the form of a theatre ; the door was usually on the west, so that, on entering, the worshippers might at once face the front, which was turned towards Jerusalem, since the law is that "all the worshippers in Israel are to have their faces turned to that part of the world where Jerusalem, the Temple, and the Holy of Holies are" (Berakot/i,
30 a). This law, which is deduced from 1 Kings viii, 29; Psa. xxviii, 2, and the allegorical interpretation of Song of Songs iv, 4, also obtained among the early Christians (Origen, Hom. v. in Num. in 0pp. ii, 28-4) and the Mohammedans (Koran, c.ii). See Keulah. Hence all the windows are said to have been generally in the eastern wall, so that the worshippers might look towards the holy city, in accordance with Dan. vi, 10.
Like the Temple, the synagogue was frequently with- out a roof, as may be seen from the following remark of Epiphanius: "There were anciently places of prayer without the city, both among the Jews and the Samar- itans; . . . there was a place of prayer at Sichem, now called Neapolis, without the city in the fields, in the form of a theatre, open to the air, and without cover- ing, built by the Samaritans, who in all things imitated the Jews" {Contr. Uteres, lib. iii, hsr. 80). It was this, coupled with the fact that the Jews had no images, which gave rise to the satirical remark of Juvenal — "Nil prteter uubes et cosli uumen adoraut."
(,Sat. xiv, 98.)
In some places there were temporary summer and ivinter synagogues; they were pulled down and re-erect- ed at the beginning of each season, so that the style of building might be according to the period of the year {Baha Buthra, 3 b).
3. In the internal arrangement of the synagogue we trace an obvious analogy, mutatis mutandis, to the type of the tabernacle. At the wall opposite the entrance, or at the Jerusalem end, stood the wooden chest or ark (nnn) containing the scrolls of the law. It stood on a raised base with several steps (5GE5=««6«e^^/«w, Xail, Jerusalem Megillah, iii, 1), which the priests mounted when they pronounced the benediction (Numb, vi, 24-26) upon the congregation. Hence the phrase "pinb nb", which was retained after the destruction of the Temple to describe the act of giving the bene- diction to the people by the priests {Rosh Ha-Shanah,