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.
A Torah ark is an ornamental chamber in the synagogue that houses the Torah scrolls.
Synagogue architecture often follows styles in vogue at the place and time of construction. There is no set blueprint for synagogues and the architectural shapes and interior designs of synagogues vary greatly. According to tradition, the Shekhinah or divine presence can be found wherever there is a minyan, a quorum, of ten. A synagogue always contains an Torah ark where the Torah scrolls are kept, called the aron qodesh by Ashkenazi Jews and the hekhal by Sephardic Jews.
Abraham Zacuto was a Castilian astronomer, astrologer, mathematician, rabbi and historian who served as Royal Astronomer to King John II of Portugal.
Castelo de Vide is a municipality in Portugal, with a population of 3,407 inhabitants in 2011, in an area of 264.91 square kilometres (102.28 sq mi).
The Synagogue of Santa María la Blanca, also known as the Ibn Shoshan Synagogue, is a former Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 4 Calle Reyes Católicos, in the historic old city of Toledo, in the province of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain. Erected in the late twelfth or early thirteenth century, it is disputably considered the oldest synagogue building in Europe still standing. The building was converted to a Catholic church in the early 15th century.
The Synagogue of Tomar is a former Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 73 Rua Dr. Joaquim Jaquinto, in the historic center of the city of Tomar, in the Santarém District of Portugal. The medieval synagogue was completed in the Gothic style by c. 1460, and was active as a synagogue until 1496, when Jews were expelled from Portugal.
The Portuguese Synagogue, also known as the Esnoga, or Snoge, is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at Mr. Visserplein 3 in Central Amsterdam, Amsterdam, in the North Holland region of The Netherlands. The synagogue was completed in 1675. Esnoga is the word for synagogue in Judaeo-Spanish, the traditional Judaeo-Spanish language of Sephardi Jews.
The Synagogue of El Tránsito, also known as the Synagogue of Samuel ha-Levi or Halevi, is a former Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at on Calle Samuel Levi, in the historic old city of Toledo, in the province of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain.
Maribor Synagogue is a former Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in what was the center of the medieval Maribor ghetto Židovska ulica, in the city of Maribor, Slovenia. The former congregation was established in the 14th century and worshiped in the Ashkenazi rite.
The Lisbon Synagogue, formally the Synagogue Shaaré Tikvah, is a Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 59 Rua Alexandre Herculano, in the civil parish of Santo António, in the municipality of Lisbon, Portugal.
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.
The Scolanova Synagogue is a Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at Via Sinagoga 47, in the town of Trani, Puglia in Italy. Built by the Italian–Jewish community of Apulia during the Middle Ages, the building was acquired by the Roman Catholic Church in 1380 during a wave of antisemitism and served as St. Maria's Church until it was deconsecrated and returned to the Jewish community in 2006.
Tomar, also known in English as Thomar, is a city and a municipality in the Santarém district of Portugal. The town proper has a population of about 20,000. The municipality population in 2011 was 40,677, in an area of 351.20 km2 (135.60 sq mi).
The Siena Synagogue is a notable, historic Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at via delle Scotte 14, in Siena, Tuscany, Italy. The building also houses the Jewish Museum of Siena, a Jewish museum. Designed by Giuseppe del Rosso in the Neoclassical style with extensive Rococo features, the synagogue was completed in May 1786.
The Historic Synagogue Justo Sierra 71, formerly known as Nidjei Israel Synagogue, is an Orthodox Jewish congregation, synagogue, and cultural center, located at Justo Sierra 71, in the historic center of Mexico City, in Mexico. The building was completed in 1941 and serves both as a synagogue and cultural center of the Ashkenazi Jewish community.
Samuel Schwarz, or Samuel Szwarc, was a Polish-Portuguese Jewish mining engineer, archaeologist, and historian of the Jewish diaspora, specifically of the Sephardic and crypto-Jewish communities of Portugal and Spain. He is known for his rediscovery of the Jews of Belmonte, Portugal, and restoration of the Synagogue of Tomar.
The Valencia de Alcántara Synagogue is a former Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in Valencia de Alcántara, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain.
The Rijeka Orthodox Synagogue is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, located on Ivan Filipović Street, formerly Galvani Street, in Rijeka in Croatia. The synagogue was built in a Rationalist style in 1931. It is one of the very few synagogues in Croatian territory to have survived the destruction of the Nazi period.
