Around the World

Marranos, also called crypto-Jews, held their services in their basements to avoid detection from the Church.  Kabbalists ventured out into the fields as dusk on Friday evenings.  Samaritans burnt animals on an altar, worshipping in biblical style.

For mainstream Jews synagogue architecture and decorum differs from place to place.  From Singapore to Hackensack sanctuaries are distinct.  Some have stained glass; others have marble floors and frescoed walls.  Torahs are positioned on wooded handles as in our synagogue, while Sephardic Torahs are encased in an adorned wooden case.  In Muslim countries they have woven rugs on the floor while on the islands they have sand.  Traveling through the Jewish world is like viewing a panoramic sweep of diverse cultures.

Despite the wide variety all synagogues contain the same five basic elements:

1.   A Torah to read and learn from.

2.   An Aron HaKodesh in which to keep the holy scroll(s).

3.   A shulchan or reader’s desk, from which the prayer leader acts as the focus for the community’s prayers and where the Torah is read.

4.   They face Israel.  In the west sanctuaries face east; in the east the face west; in Haifa it is oriented toward Jerusalem while in Beersheba they face north.

5.   Al synagogue must have windows.  Our tradition demands that we not pray in a sealed environment, apart from the outer world.