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A synagogue always contains an Torah ark where the Torah scrolls are kept, called the aron qodesh (Hebrew: אָרוֹן קׄדֶש) by Ashkenazi Jews and the hekhal by Sephardic Jews. Synagogues are buildings for congregational worship, and thus require a large central space (as do churches and mosques).
17 lut 2022 · Exploring contemporary Judaism through synagogue design, the following projects respect tradition while establishing new forms for gathering, study and prayer.
the place to argue the possible origins of church architecture, but several important observations can be made. Unlike the Jews, the Christians did have available to them examples of a variety of buildings that could accommodate a congregation gathered to par ticipate in a religious ritual: synagogues built throughout the Roman Empire.
But by degrees a certain type of building was evolved—that of the basilica—a rectangular structure, with or without columns, and without what is known in church architecture as transepts, the cruciform plan of the church and cathedral being naturally avoided by Jews.
In this way, the Christian faith was symbolized in terms of a building, the spaces that composed the interior, and the way light came into the building. The congregation had asked the right questions and a building form was created to symbolize the faith and life of the church community.
Because the New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews identifies Jesus with the Temple high priest, the Church always envisioned the risen and glorified Jesus as facing east when offering the Eucharistic sacrifice to the Father through the actions of the earthly priest.
In Jewish life today, services typically take place in a synagogue, a place designated for prayer. The word “synagogue” is Greek. Among Jews, the house of prayer is commonly known by its Yiddish name shul (related to the English word “school”) or by its Hebrew name beit knesset (“house of gathering”).
