SYNAfiO(;UE, THE Great (post- Biblical Hebrew, '^V"'"'?" ^^.'r; Aramaic, Xnil Sn;r23; late Greek and Latin, arvayioy)) jutyaX?;, Symujo'ja Ma(/n(i), the Great A.-!Simhli/, or the Great Synod, acconliiig to Jew- ish tradition, denotes the conncil tirst appointed after the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity to reorganize the religious life, institutions, and litera- ture of the people. (We here substantially adopt Gins- burg's article in Kitto's Cydopcedia.)
I. Name and its Signification, — Though the verb 033, to gather, to assemble, occurs in the Old Test. (Esth. iv, 16; 1 Chron. xxii, 2; Ezek. xxii, 21 ; xxxix, 28; Psa. cxlvii, 2), yet the noun rOJS, assembly, syna- gogue, does not occur in Biblical Hebrew. In the He- brew Scriptures the terms ■^2?!;?, hilp, and ns^OX are useil for congregation, assembly [see Ecci.esiastes], and there can be but little doubt that the non-Biblical rD33 is designedly emjiloj-ed to distinguish this assem- bly from all other gatherings. See Synagogue. This is also the reason why the article is prefixed to the ad- jective alone, and not also to the noun — viz. £1033 n^")nsn, the Great Synagogue — inasmuch as this sin- gles it out from the other synagogues, provincial or lo- cal, both great and small, which obtained at the same time, and which were designed for different objects. When Ewald asserts that "in the INIishnic language the sul)stantive and the adjective neverhaxQ the article together {Lehrbnch, § 293 a, note), we need only refer to Sabbath, xvii, 4 ; Yoma, iv, 3 ; Taanith, iii, 7 ; Ke- thuboth, vi, 7; Nedarim, iii, 11; Nazir, viii, 1; Baba Bathra, iv, 3; and to innumerable other passages, in refutation of this assertion. Accordiug to the most an- cient tra<lition, this assembly or synagogue was styled great because of the great work it effected in restoring the divine law to its former greatness, and because of the great authority and reputation which it enjoyed (Jerusalem Megillah, iii, 7; Babylon jifegillah, 13 b; Yo}na,69 b; EruUn, 13 b; Zebachim, 102; Sanhedrin, 14 a). The enactments of the (ireat Svnasosue are often quoted in the name of n?1"I5>l np33 it:J3X, the men of the Great A ssembly, or those who successivelv constituted its members during the long period of its existence. The abbreviated forms of these two names to be met with in Jewish literature are n'2 = 71033
r^h^'^^n and n'bx, sn'rs = nbiijn no33 iir3x.
Sometimes this assembly is also designated the 120 el- ders (D"^3pT Qi-i-^ri-l nx-2, Megillah, 17 b, 18 b).
H. Origin, Date, and Development of the Great Syna- gogue.— It is supposed by many tliat Ezra was the founder of the Great Synagogue, and that he, in fact, •was its president. Griitz, however, has adduced the following arguments to prove that Nehemiah originated it after the death of Ezra: 1. The very name of Ezra is not even mentioned in the Biblical register of the rep- resentatives (Nell, ix; Ezra v), and it is inconceivable to suppose that the originator would liavo been omit- ted; and, 2. Xehcmiah, as is well known, went twice from Shushan to Jerusalem to restore order — viz. in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes's reign (B.C. 446), and considerably after the thirty-second year of his reign (B.C. cir. 410). On his second arrival he found Jerusa- lem in a most deplorable condition: the chiefs of the families had formed alliances with Sanballat the Ho- rouite and Tobiali the Ammonite, enemies of the Jews;
the Sabbath was desecrated, and the law of God and of the sanctuary were disregarded (Neh. xiii,6-ol ). Now the convention of the Great Synagogue was held ex- pressly fur tlie removal of these very evils; and since the rei)resentatives distinctly bouiul themselves by a most solemn oatli to abstain from mixed marriages, to keep the Sabbath lutly, and to attend sacredly to the sanctuary and its requirements, there can be no doid)t that the synod was convened by Neliemiah after his second visit to Jerusalem to devise means in order to meet these perplexing points, and that because these evils disturbed tlie order of the commimity, therefore they were made the principal and express objects of the first synod. It is the position of ch. x recording the convention of the Great Synagogue which has caused this error. But it is well known that the book of Nehemiah is not put together in chronological order, (iriitz has shown a position of tlie diflerent chapters in accordance witli the above view (Frankel,J/o«(//*\«c/i /■//?, vi, 62). See Ezra. It is obvious, hov.-ever, that Ne- hemiah acted in perfect concert with Ezra, and hence there is no substantial error in attributing the Great Synagogue to the latter.
As to its dale, the convention of this Great Syna- gogue was most probably one of Nehemiah's last acts, and it must have taken place after tlie death of Arta- xerxes, else Nehemiah could not have remained in Je- rusalem, since even the second permission to visit that city was granted to him on condition that he shoulil return to Shushan. It could not therefore have taken place before B.C. 424. The Great Synagogue was most probably held a few years after the above date of Ne- hemiah's second visit. Ezra was doubtless then dead, and this is the reason whj- his name does not occur in the register of the representatives. The whole period of the (ireat Synagogue embraces about 104 years (B.C. 404-300), or from the latter days of Nehemiah to the death of Simon the Just (q. v.), who was the last link of the chain constituting the synod (Aboth, i, 2). It then passed into the Sanhedrim, when the whole of its constitution was changed. See Sanhedrim.