A Tour of the Synagogue

The Synagogue (Shool)
A house of meditation, prayer and study.

G-d said to Noah: Come, you and your household, into the ark (7:1)

The Hebrew word for ark, 'teivah', also means 'word'. "Come into the word", says the Almighty, enter within the words of prayer and Torah study. Here you will find a sanctuary of wisdom, meaning and sanctity amidst the raging floodwaters of life. The Yiddish name shool comes from the word school, for this is where a Jew's most important education takes place.

Prayer

We are naturally inclined to relate to things that are of a physical nature; we are not naturally disposed towards spirituality. This is not because spirituality is not our true, natural state -- deep down that's really who we are, we're spiritual beings. But our spiritual identity is covered up with a body. The process of prayer is to help remove all of that which covers up and inhibits our soul from being one with G-d. And I should add that much of the problems, the psychological difficulties that we experience, especially stress, is because of the inflated expectations that we have of ourselves because of our ego. When there is a conflict because we don't seem to be able to live up to our inflated expectations, we have all these problems of stress. When we daven, we help lift ourselves up out of this and reveal our true identity; then, of course, the problems begin to dissolve.

The Partition (Mechitzah)
A divider separating the men's and women's sections of the synagogue.

Prayer is all about focus; focusing on your connection with G-d. Unfortunately, there are always many distractions, both from within and from without, which make it difficult to focus properly. What you really don't need is an additional distraction sitting in the chair right beside you. The synagogue must not be allowed to become a social scene.Socializing may be important (and perhaps that's why there's the Kiddush), but during prayers G-d deserves your undivided attention. The social dimension and distraction which sometimes accompanies mixed groups is therefore eliminated. The Mechitzah allows one to focus on the prayers rather than being focused on whether the girl sitting down the aisle likes your tie.

The Podium (Bimah)

The Bimah is the podium located in the center of the sanctuary, as was the altar in the Holy Temple, where sacrifices were brought. The Torah is read from the Bimah. Whenever the Torah is read at the podium, the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai is re-enacted, with the reader as Moses, and the congregation surrounding the podium as the People of Isreal who stood around the foot of the mountain. The Torah is the inheritance of every Jew. Therefore, it is not enough that one person read it to the rest. People take turns coming up to see it up close for themselves. They kiss it and make a blessing thanking G-d for have given us such a precious gift. If the reader makes a mistake, he is corrected by congregants who follow along in their own books. At the end of the reading, the Torah is held up for all to see. The entire Torah is read annually, one section a week. All of this ensures that we retain the exact same text that was given to Moses over 3,000 years ago.

The Holy Ark (Aaron Kodesh)

Situated in the front, the Ark is the holiest place in the Synagogue, for this is where the holy Torah Scrolls are kept. It is on the Eastern wall, so that when we face the ark, we are facing the holy city of Jerusalem, where the Holy Temple once stood.The ark is only opened during special prayers and when removing the Torah to read during prayer services. Whenever it is open, one should stand out of respect.