But though these three groups (viz. the Hymnal Group, the Shevia, and the Eighteen Benedictions) constituted the liturgy of the Jews when engaged in public or private devotion during the period of the second temple, yet there were other prayers which could only be recited at public worship when the legal number (j,PD) were properly assembled. The order of the public worship in the synagogue was as follows 2— (a.) Morning Service.—The congregation having washed their hands outside the synagogue, and being properly assembled, delegated one of their number to go before the ark and conduct public worship. This Legate of the congregation (11,7V), who like the rest of the congregation was arrayed in his fringed garment, and with the phylacteries -on his head and left arm [FRINGED GARMENT ; PHY LACTERIES], began with reciting the Kadish the people responding to certain parts, as fol lows :--4Exalted and hallowed be his great name in the world which he created according to his will ; let his kingdom come in your lifetime and in tbe lifetime of the whole house of Irsael very speedily. [Legate and congregation] Amen. Blessed be his great name, world without end. [Legate alone] Blessed and praised, celebrated and ex alted, extolled and adorned, magnified and wor shipped be thy holy name ; blessed be he far above all benedictions, hymns, thanks, pmises, and con solations which have been uttered in the world. [Legate and congregation] Amen. [Legate alone] May the prayers and supplications of all Ismel be graciously received before their Father in heaven. [Legate and congregation] Amen. [Legate alone] May perfect peace descend from heaven, and life upon us and all Israel. [Legate and congregation] Amen. May he who makes peace in his heaven confer peace upon us and all Israel. [Legate and cong,regation] Anien. The similarity between this very ancient .Kadirh and the Lord's prayer needs hardly to be pointed out. After this the legate recited in a loud voice the first sentence of the ..Shenza, the rest being recited quietly by him and the congregation. Then followed the eighteen benedictions, fur the third of which the Kedzesha (rvrip) was substituted in public worship. It is as follows :—` Hallowed be thy name on earth as it is hallowed in heaven above, as it is written by the prophet, and one calls to the other and says [congre gation], Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God of Se baotb, the whole earth is filled with his glory ! [Legate] Those who are opposite them respond : [congregation] Blessed be the glory of the etemal, each one in his station. [Legate] And in thy Holy Word it is written, thus saying : [congregation] The Lord shall reign for ever, thy God, 0 Zion, from generation to generation, Hallelujah [Leg,ate] From generation to generation we will disclose thy great ness, and for ever and ever celebrate thy holiness ; and thy praise shall not cease in our mouth, world without end, for thou, 0 Lord, art a great and holy king. Blessed art thou, holy God and king I' On Monday, Thursday, Sabbath, Feasts and Fasts, lessons from the law and prophets were read [HAPHTARA], and (with the exception of Monday and Thursday) discourses delivered by the Rab bins. The service concluded with the priests pro nouncing the benediction (Num. vi. 24-27).
(b.) The Afternoon ana' Evening Prayer.—Some of the Psalms in the Hymnal Group were omitted, othenvise the service was similar to that of the morning. The public worship of the feasts and fasts is described in the article on the respective festivals, and in the article HAPHTARA. The other prayers which now precede and follow the three ancient groups in the present liturgy of the syna gogue are not described in this article because they are of later origin.
6. The Authori, of the Synagogue. —As the offi cers of the synagogue were also the administrators of justice, the authority whia each assembly pos sessed extended to both civil and religious ques tions. The Rabbins, or the heads of the synagogue,
as it is to the present day, were both the teachers ol religion and the judges of their communities. Hence the tribunals were held in the synagogue (Luke xii. ; xxi. 12), and the Chatan or beadle who attended to the divine service had also to administer the stripes to offenders (Luke iv. 17-2o with Afishna Afaccoth, 111. 12 ; and Matt. x. ; xxiii. 34 ; Mark xiii. 9 ; Acts xxii. ; xxvi. The Rabbins who had diplomas from the Sanhe drim, and after the Sanhedrim ceased from the Gaonim of the respective colleges at Sora and Pumhadita [SANIIEDRIM ; SCRIBES], and who were chosen by the different congregations to be their spiritual heads with the consent of the as sembly, selected such of the members as were best qualified to aid them in the administration of the communal affairs. These constituted a local self governing and independent college ; they issued all the legal instruments, such as marriage-contracts, letters of divorce, bills of exchange, business con tracts, receipts, etc. etc. They had the power of inflicting corporal punishment on any offender, or to put out of the synagogue (= excommunicate) alto gether (Matt. xviii. 15-17 ; John ix. 22 ; Xii. 42 ; xVi. 2). The punishment of excommunication, how ever, was very seldom resorted to, as may be seen from the fact that though Christ and his apostles opposed and contradicted the heads of the syna gogue yet they were not put out of the synagogue.
7. Origin and development of the Synagogue.— According to tradition the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, instituted the prayers three times a-day (Berachoth, 26 b), and had places of worship (comp. the so-called Chaldee paraphrases of Onke los, Jonathan b. Uzziel, and the Jerusalem Targunt on Gen. xxiv. 62, 63 ; xxv. 27). We are assured that there were synagogues in the time of the pious kin Hezekialt (Sanhedrin, 94 b) ; that the great house 61,1 rpm) was a stupendous synagogue; that the many houses of Jerusalem (D'Ityri+ +113), which Nebuchadnezzar burned (2 Kings xxv. 9), were the celebrated 4So synagogues which existed in Jerusa lem (yeruserlein Meg/11,7, iii. and that in Babylon the synagogue was to be seen in which Daniel used to pray (Ernbin, 21 a). And we have the testimony of Benjamin of Tudela, the celebrated traveller of the middle ages, that he himself saw the synagogues built by Moses, David, Obadiah, Nahum, and Ezra (Itinerary, vol. i. pp. 90, 91, 92, 106, 153, ed. Ascher, London xS4o). It is in harmony with this tradition that St. James declares Moses of old time bath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day ' (Acts xv. 21 with Philo, ii. 167, 63o ; Joseph. cont. Apion. 18; Baba Kama, 82 a ; 'ern salmi Afegfila, iv. 1). But these are simply tra ditions, which love to invest everything with the halo of the remotest antiquity. In the O. T. itself we find no trace of meetings for worship in syna go,g-ues. Temporary altars, groves, and high-places were used alike by the Jewish saints aad sinners for the worship of God and idols. The only pre-exile instance which seems to indicate that the devout in lsrael were in the habit of resort ing to pious leaders for blessings and instruc tion on stated occasions is to be found in 2 Kings iv. 23, where the Shunammite's husband asks : Wherefore wilt thou go to him (Elisha) to day I It is neither new moon nor Sabbah.' Yet 2 Kings xxii. 8, etc. ; 2 Cbron. xxxiv. 14, etc., testify undoubtedly ag,ainst the existence of places of worship under the monarchy.' It is during the exile, whilst the temple-worship was in abeyance, that we find indubitable proof of the systematic meetings on fasts for devotion and instruction (Zech.