The Encyclopedia of World Religions

436 S synagogue

and mother figures. The specifics may vary: In one tradition the tree may be the tree of the knowl edge of good and evil in the garden of Eden and a poetic name for the cross on which C HRIST died, in another it may be the central pillar connecting HEAVEN and earth, or a place where gods descend. But always it is connected with life, wisdom, and reaching to heaven, as water is with purity and rebirth. As the theologian Paul Tillich said, a sym bol participates in that which it symbolizes. See also M OON AND RELIGION , THE ; S UN AND RELI GION , THE ; WATER AND RELIGION . synagogue Jewish place of WORSHIP . Reform and occasionally Conservative Jews may call a syna gogue a temple. In the late Second Temple period (200 B . C . E .– C . E . 70) Jews worshipped in two different kinds of place. One was the Temple, where G OD ’s presence dwelled. The other was the synagogue, where one studied the T ORAH . But in C . E . 70 the future Roman emperor Titus destroyed the Temple in J ERUSALEM . From that time on, the synagogue has been the

main worship place in J UDAISM . It is a place of PRAYER , a place of study, and a place of fellowship. No hard and fast rules prescribe what a syna gogue must look like, but synagogues tend to have several features. On the far wall, opposite the doorway, is an elevated chest called the ark. It contains Torah scrolls. Above the ark is an eternal flame, tradition ally an oil lamp. Another feature of the synagogue is the bimah, an elevated place from which the Torah is read. Traditionally it is in the center of the room. In more liberal congregations it is against the wall where the ark is. In that case, the bimah looks something like a stage. Although in some respects synagogues may resemble churches, there are many features often found in churches that would never be found in a synagogue. For example, a synagogue would never contain symbols of C HRISTIANITY , such as a CROSS or crucifix. In more traditional synagogues, men and women sit separately. Women sit either in balco nies or in the back.