SYNAGOGUE, denotes either a con gregation of Jews (avvayoyy, lit. "assem bly"), or their place of worship, or, more generally, Judaism as contrasted with Christianity; the last sense is exemplified by the famous pair of statues, Church and Synagogue, in the porch of Strasbourg cathedral. (Illustrations and explanation of the allegory on pp. xii., xxxvi. of Legacy of Israel, 1927.) The usual Hebrew term for synagogue is ri.7?; or (Kene seth or Beth hak-Keneseth): in Ps. lxxiv., 8, `Pt.47.1v.jb (assemblies of God) is assumed to refer to synagogues. There can be no doubt but that the synagogue, Ezra's main work, grew up with the Temple and developed from it. By the time of the fall of the Temple, synagogues were well established, for differences of synagogal and Temple liturgy are known and when the Tem ple fell, the synagogue remained unaffected : it had long be come an independent institution. The synagogue was the place of study: the law was read on Sabbaths (Acts xv., 21), Festivals and market days in an annual, and also in a triennial cycle (on this see articles in Jew. Quart. Rev. by A. Biichler [v. 42o-68: vi., 1-73] and by J. Abrahams [xvi., 579-83] and "Triennial Cycle" in Jew. Enc.). The lessons from the Pentateuch were translated by a Meturgeman or translator (from the same root as Targum and dragoman qqv.) : lessons from the prophets (see Hafteira) concluded the service, in which preaching and exposi tion were included. On Jesus and the synagogue, see I. Abrahams (Studies, I. I , 1917).
The synagogue was not limited to Palestine, it has, in fact, been termed the "child of the dispersion," but this does not im ply that it was the product of the Hellenic diaspora exclusively.
In Egypt there are references to three altars or temples, that at Assouan in the 5th cent. B.C., which Cambyses spared when he invaded the country (on this see A. Cowley's Aramaic Papyri [Oxford, 1923], especially p. 113) ; the altar and the pillar named in Is. xix., 19; and the Onias Temple built at Leontopolis about 154 B.C. (on this see S. A. Hirsch, pp. 39 Ng. in Jews' Coll. Jub. Vol.; London, 1906). It is most unlikely that at these sacred places, services were not held. Congregations existed in most parts of the Roman empire. Acts xv., 21, speaks of "synagogues in every city from generations of old": from Cicero's Pro Flacco, the rich contributions to the Temple in 62 B.C. from the syna gogues of Apamea, Laodicea and Pergamon—towns in Asia Minor—are known. Under the term Proseuche place of prayer), Roman authors speak of synagogues, and their allu sions show that these places were common. .The officials of the synagogue were the ezpxtavvIcyco-yot Luke 14 ; Acts xiii., 15; the gabba'im or treasurers who collected charitable contribu tions in cash and kind (Quppaii and Tamhui) ; the inrriprns (Luke xiii., 14) or klazzcin (lit. overseer, ) a teacher, reader or beadle who inflicted scourging (Malqfith, Matt. x., 17) when decreed by the elders (rpEagin-epot, yEpovoict) through their iipxovresor chief members. Major disciplinary punishments were excommunication (Herem) and exclusion (Niddui). The ancient Galilean synagogues ran north and south (modern build ings are orientated) and possessed a nave and twin aisles.