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, b'nai mitzvah, 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.
A sanctuary lamp, chancel lamp, altar lamp, everlasting light, or eternal flame is a light that shines before the altar of sanctuaries in many Jewish and Christian places of worship. Prescribed in Exodus 27:20-21 of the Torah, this icon has taken on different meanings in each of the religions that have adopted it. The passage, which refers to prescriptions for the tabernacle, states:
And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always. In the tabernacle of the congregation without the veil, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the LORD: it shall be a statute for ever unto their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel. (KJV)
The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), formerly known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) until 2003, founded in 1873 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the congregational arm of Reform Judaism in North America. The other two arms established by Rabbi Wise are the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and the Central Conference of American Rabbis. The current president of the URJ is Rabbi Rick Jacobs.
The Holy Blossom Temple is a Reform synagogue located at 1950 Bathurst Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the oldest Jewish congregation in Toronto. Founded in 1856, it has more than 7,000 members. W. Gunther Plaut, who died on 8 February 2012 at the age of 99, was a long time Senior Rabbi for this synagogue. Notable members and supporters include Heather Reisman and Gerald Schwartz who made donations to create the Gerald Schwartz/Heather Reisman Centre for Jewish Learning at Holy Blossom Temple.
The Liberal Jewish Synagogue, or LJS, is a house of prayer in St John's Wood, London, founded in 1911. It is the oldest and largest member of Britain's Liberal Judaism, a constituent member of the World Union for Progressive Judaism.
Temple Emanu-El of West Essex is a former Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue that was located at 264 West Northfield Road, in Livingston, in the West Essex section of New Jersey, in the United States. Founded in 1955, the congregation merged with Temple Sinai in Summit in 2018, due to financial reasons.
The Wilshire Boulevard Temple, known from 1862 to 1933 as Congregation B'nai B'rith, is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 3663 Wilshire Boulevard, in the Wilshire Center district of Los Angeles, California, in the United States. Founded in 1862, it is the oldest Jewish congregation in Los Angeles.
Congregation Beth Israel is an egalitarian Conservative synagogue and congregation located at 15 Jamesbury Drive in Worcester, Massachusetts, in the United States. Founded in 1924 as an Orthodox synagogue, the congregation formally affiliated with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism in 1949, and describes itself as the "leading Conservative congregation in Central Massachusetts."
Congregation Beth Israel Ner Tamid is an egalitarian Conservative synagogue located at 6880 North Green Bay Road in Glendale, a suburb north of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the United States.
Congregation Beth Yeshurun is a Conservative synagogue at 4525 Beechnut Street, Houston, Texas, in the United States.
Temple Beth-El is a Reform Jewish synagogue located at 2419 Kennedy Boulevard in the Bergen Section of Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, in the United States.
Anshei Glen Wild Synagogue is a small former Orthodox Jewish synagogue located on Glen Wild Road, Sullivan County Route 58, in the unincorporated community of Glen Wild, New York, in the United States. The congregation was founded in 1913 by a local family and never had its own rabbi. The former synagogue is preserved virtually intact from the time of its construction in 1923. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.
The Temple Society of Concord, commonly referred to as Temple Concord, is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 910 Madison Street, in Syracuse, Onondaga County, New York, in the United States.
Temple Israel is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 2004 East 22nd Place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the United States. Founded in 1914, the congregation affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism in 1915, and constructed its first building on the corner of 14th and Cheyenne Streets in 1919. Early rabbis included Jacob Menkes, Charles Latz, Samuel Kaplan, Jacob Krohngold, and Benjamin Kelsen.
Beit Shalom Jewish Community is a Reform Jewish shared synagogue located at 2215 East Kimberly Road, on the east side of Davenport, Iowa, in the United States. The shared community facility was established in 2019 and is home to two congregations, Temple Emanuel, established in 1861, and Congregation Beth Israel, established in 1936. Temple Emanuel is the oldest Jewish congregation in Iowa and both congregation are affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism.
Congregation Gemiluth Chassodim known locally as "The Jewish Temple" is an historic Jewish synagogue located in Alexandria, Louisiana, in the United States. Founded in 1859 by Jews from the Alsace region of France, it is one of the oldest congregations in Louisiana and one of the original founding members of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, now known as the Union for Reform Judaism.
Congregation Beth Adam is a Humanistic Jewish synagogue located in Loveland, Ohio. Beth Adam gives voice to Judaism with a humanistic perspective. The congregation was founded by Rabbi Robert B. Barr in 1980.
Ahavas Shalom Reform Temple ) is an historic former Reform Jewish synagogue building located at 503 Main Street, in Ligonier, Noble County, Indiana, in the United States.
The Great Park Synagogue is an Orthodox synagogue situated in Houghton, Johannesburg. The present building was consecrated in 2000, after the congregation vacated their long-time home, the Great Synagogue on Wolmarans Street, Hillbrow in 1994, after eighty years. The Wolmarans Street synagogue came to be known as the city's mother synagogue and "the crown jewel of Orthodox Judaism in South Africa." All large-scale Jewish events in Johannesburg were held in the building, and throughout its existence it was the seat of the country's chief rabbi. Northward migration by congregation members led to the synagogue closing its doors in 1994. The relocated synagogue was built on the model of the Great Synagogue, whose own architecture in turn was inspired by the Hagia Sophia. Great Park Synagogue was also the original name of the synagogue on Wolmarans Street before it became the Great Synagogue.
The Reconstructionist Synagogue of the North Shore is a Reconstructionist Jewish synagogue located in the Incorporated Village of Plandome in the Town of North Hempstead, in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States.
