A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It has a place for prayer where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, choir performances, and children's plays. They also have rooms for study, social halls, administrative and charitable offices, classrooms for religious and Hebrew studies, and many places to sit and congregate. They often display commemorative, historic, or modern artwork alongside items of Jewish historical significance or history about the synagogue itself.
Etrog is the yellow citron used by Jews during the weeklong holiday of Sukkot as one of the four species. Together with the lulav, hadass, and aravah, the etrog is taken in hand and held or waved during specific portions of the holiday prayers. Special care is often given to selecting an etrog for the performance of the Sukkot holiday rituals.
The four species are four plants—the etrog, lulav, hadass, and aravah—mentioned in the Torah as being relevant to the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. Observant Jews tie together three types of branches and one type of fruit and wave them in a special ceremony each day of the Sukkot holiday, excluding Shabbat. The waving of the four plants is a mitzvah prescribed by God in the Torah, and it contains symbolic allusions to a Jew's service of God.
The Jericho synagogue is a Jewish synagogue, located in Jericho, in the State of Palestine. The synagogue was built in the Byzantine Empire-era and is believed to date from the late 6th or early 7th century CE and was discovered in 1936. All that remains from the ancient prayer house is its mosaic floor, which contains an Aramaic inscription presenting thanks to the synagogue donors, and a well-preserved central medallion with the inscription "Shalom al Israel", meaning "Peace [up]on Israel". This led to the site also being known as Shalom Al Israel Synagogue.
Bova Marina is a comune (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about 120 kilometres (75 mi) southwest of Catanzaro and about 30 kilometres (19 mi) southeast of Reggio Calabria.
The Peki’in Synagogue, is a former Jewish congregation and synagogue located in the centre of Peki'in, in the Northern District of Israel. The current building was erected in 1873, on the site of older ones. Local tradition holds that it has two stones taken from the walls of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem built into its walls. The site is also said to be where Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah established his beth midrash in antiquity.
The Synagogue of Casale Monferrato is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at Vicolo Salomone Olper 44, in the Jewish quarter of Casale Monferrato, Province of Alessandria, in the region of Piedmont, Italy. Built in the Piedmontese Baroque and Mannerist styles, the synagogue was completed in 1595.
The Great Mosque of Gaza, also known as the Great Omari Mosque, was the largest and oldest mosque in all of Gaza, Palestine, located in Gaza City.
The Ancient Synagogue of Barcelona is believed to be an ancient Jewish synagogue located in the Jewish quarter of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Dating to as early as the 3rd century, the synagogue has been described as the oldest in Spain and one of the oldest synagogues in Europe. After many centuries of use for other purposes, the building re-opened as a synagogue and Jewish museum in 2002. No congregation prays regularly at the Ancient Synagogue, however it is used for festive occasions, such as B'nei Mitzvah and weddings.
Historic synagogues include synagogues that date back to ancient times and synagogues that represent the earliest Jewish presence in cities around the world. Some synagogues were destroyed and rebuilt several times on the same site. Others were converted into churches and mosques or used for other purposes.
Beth Alpha is an ancient former Jewish synagogue, located at the foot of the northern slopes of the Gilboa mountains near Beit She'an, in the Northern District of Israel. The synagogue was completed in the sixth-century CE and is now part of Bet Alfa Synagogue National Park and managed by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.
The history of the Jews in Calabria reaches back over two millennia. Calabria is at the very south of the Italian peninsula, to which it is connected by the Monte Pollino massif, while on the east, south and west it is surrounded by the Ionian and Tyrrhenian seas. Jews have had a presence in Calabria for at least 1600 years and possibly as much as 2300 years. Calabrian Jews have had notable influence on many areas of Jewish life and culture. The Jews of Calabria are virtually identical to the neighbouring Jews of Sicily but are considered separate. However, the Jews of Calabria and the Jews of Apulia are historically the same community, only today are considered separate. Occasionally, there is confusion with the southern Jewish community in Calabria and the northern Jewish community in Reggio Emilia. Both communities have always been entirely separate.
The Synagogue in the Agora of Athens is an ancient former Jewish synagogue, that was located in the Ancient Agora of Athens, in modern-day Greece.
The Tzippori Synagogue, also known as the Sepphoris Synagogue, is a former ancient Jewish synagogue, now an archaeological site and a national park, that was discovered in Sepphoris, a Roman-era Jewish city in the Galilee, in northwestern Israel.
The Maon Synagogue is a 6th-century Jewish synagogue and archaeological site, located in the western Negev desert, near Kibbutz Nirim and Kibbutz Nir Oz, in Israel. The former synagogue is noted for its "magnificent" mosaic floor.
Ancient synagogues in Palestine refers to synagogues and their remains in the Land of Israel/Palestine region, built by the Jewish and Samaritan communities from the time of the Hasmonean dynasty during the Late Hellenistic period, to the Late Byzantine period.
The Maoz Haim Synagogue was a former ancient Jewish synagogue and now archeological site, that is located near Maoz Haim, in the Beit She'an region, in the Jezreel Valley area of the Galilee district of northern Israel. Constructed in the third century as a simple Byzantine-era type basilica building, later apsidical, the ruins of which were discovered in February 1974 by A. Ya’aqobi during some unrelated digging near Maoz Haim.
The Vigna Randanini are Jewish Catacombs between the second and third miles of the Appian Way close to the Christian catacombs of Saint Sebastian, with which they were originally confused. The catacombs date between the 2nd and 5th-centuries CE, and take their name from the owners of the land when they were first formally discovered and from the fact that the land was used as a vineyard (vigna). While Vigna Randanini are just one of the two Jewish catacombs in Rome open to the public, they can only be visited by appointment. They are situated below a restaurant and a private villa and entrance is from the Via Appia Pignatelli side. These catacombs were discovered by accident in 1859, although there is evidence that they had been pillaged before then. They cover an area of 18,000 square metres and the tunnels are around 700 metres long, of which around 400 can be seen.
The Split Synagogue is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, located in Split, Croatia. Built in the early 1500s, the synagogue is one of the oldest Sefardic synagogues in use today.
Ancient Jewish art, is art created by Jews in both the Land of Israel and in the Diaspora prior to the Middle Ages. It features symbolic or figurative motifs often influenced by biblical themes, religious symbols, and the dominant cultures of the time, including Egyptian, Hellenistic, and Roman art.
