Lesson video

Hi, everyone.

My name is Rabbi London.

Today we're going to talk about the synagogue.

Before we get started, I'm going to ask you to turn off any apps that might be open and finish any conversations you might be in the middle of, if you're able to.

Try to find a place that has the least amount of distractions to help with concentration today.

Today, we're going to talk about what does Jewish worship look like? And what actually is inside of a synagogue? And learn a little bit about some of the different Jewish denominations.

Today, you are going to need to have a pen or pencil and some paper or something to write on and something to write with.

If you don't have these things with you right now, press pause and press play to begin when you're ready.

Jewish worship.

We're going to use a number of terms, or I'll use a number of terms for the word synagogue, which is known as the house of worship.

Some people also use the word temple and some people will use the word shul.

All three of these words, synagogue, temple, and shul are referring to the Jewish house of worship.

Jewish worship can actually take place anywhere.

Many times, communal prayer or communal worship will take place in the synagogue, but prayer can also take place in someone's home and really, anywhere a Jewish person goes.

Some aspects of Jewish worship are daily prayers.

According to many opinions, Jewish prayer should take place three times a day.

And then there are blessings that are said on actions, such as eating or before, before doing certain mitzvah, like lighting candles on Friday night as Shabbat comes in.

And sometimes there are blessings on experiences, such as, if and when someone hears thunder or sees lightning or sees a rainbow.

All these aspects are forms of Jewish worship.

Be that set daily prayers, blessings on actions and blessings on experiences.

Jewish prayers takes place three times a day and the rabbis have a debate about why do we have three? So according to one opinion, it's to honour the forefathers.

being Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they bring proof texts from the Torah of why each one will associate with the morning, the afternoon, and the evening.

Another opinion in the Talmud is that the three times a day are in remembrance of the three times daily that there was worship and sacrifices during the time of the temple.

And in that today, there is no temple, we have created our worship through prayer.

The main place to find Jewish prayers is in what's called a Siddur.

It's a Jewish prayer book.

Most of the prayers are written in Hebrew.

Today, you can find many prayer books with translations into basically any language that you're looking for.

Most prayer services are done in Hebrew.

In Orthodox communities, they're always led in Hebrew.

In Reform communities, some parts might be led in English, least here in the United Kingdom, or in whatever language that community speaks.

Personal prayers, if someone is doing the traditional prayers, are also traditionally going to be said in Hebrew.

Although according to many Jewish opinions, a person is able to pray in whatever language makes sense to them, because there's a belief that God understands all languages and everything that anyone is experiencing.

Let's go over a little bit of what we've learned so far.

A synagogue can also be referred to a temple or a shul, a meeting room, Beit Mikdash or a Mishkan? A temple or a shul.

A synagogue can also be referred to as a temple or a shul.

According to the rabbis of the Talmud, a Jewish person should pray five times a day, two times a day, three times a day or 10 times a day? Three times a day.

According to the rabbis of the Talmud, a Jewish person should pray three times a day.

The Jewish prayer book is called the Talmud, the Tanakh, the Chumas or the Siddur? The Siddur.

The Jewish prayer book is called a Siddur.

Most Jewish prayers are written in English, Hebrew, Arabic, or French? Hebrew.

Most Jewish prayers are written in Hebrew.

Now we're going to go for some true or false.

Jewish prayers only take place in the synagogue.

That is false.

Jewish prayers can take place in a synagogue, in someone's home, or really any place that a Jewish person is.

Some Jewish people will make a blessing before and after they eat.

True or false? True.

Some Jewish people will make a blessing before and after they eat any food.

Most Jewish people believe that God only understands Hebrew.

True or false? False.

Most Jewish people believe that God understands every language.

As I said earlier, prayers can be said at home or in a synagogue, and prayers can be said alone, by myself, or with what's known as a minyan.

A minyan is a group of 10 adults.

And if we remember back a few lessons, an adult means someone who is over the age of a bar or bat mitzvah, meaning that they're around anywhere from 12 or 13 and older.

In Orthodox communities, this refers to only men.

So in an Orthodox community, a minyan is made up of 10 adult men.

In Masorti and Reformed communities, this is any person who is over the age of bar and bat mitzvah.

Now there are certain prayers of the service that can only be said if there's a minyan, but the majority of prayers can be said if there is a minyan or if there is not a minyan, which is why many people are able and are encouraged to be praying, even when they're all on their own.

Daily prayers.

As I said, we had three.

The Jewish people have three prayers a day.

The first prayer service is called Shacharit, which means the morning prayer.

The next prayer of the day is called Mincha, which is the afternoon prayer.

And finally, there's Ma'ariv, which is the evening prayer.

According to many Jewish opinions, a Jewish person should pray three times a day, every single day.

The morning prayer being Shacharit, the afternoon prayer being Mincha, and the evening prayer being Ma'ariv.

Shacharit is the morning prayer.

And it's made up of a number of things.

In general, it is the longest prayer of the day.

It starts off with prayers of thanksgiving to start the day.

So thanking God for being able to wake up, and having clothing to put on, and being able to walk or see or hear.

Then there's a number of Psalms that are said, and they were compiled by the rabbis.

And then there is the Shema prayer and the Amida.

And we're going to get to learning, what is this Amida? Because we're going to see it in every prayer service.

Things to note about Shacharit, the morning prayer.

It is during Shacharit that tefillin phylacteries, the boxes that have the Shema prayer written in them, that are worn between the forehead and on the arm, is worn.

Although when it's Shacharit on Shabbat or a holiday, a Jewish holiday, one does not wear tefillin.

It's also during Shacharit, the morning prayer, Shacharit, that the Torah is read.

During the week, the Torah is read on Monday and Thursday mornings.

The Torah is also read on Shabbat.

on Rosh Chodesh, the new moon, the new month, the first of a month, and on Jewish holidays.

So a lot happens during Shacharit prayers.

During Shacharit, there are prayers of thanksgiving, prayers of Psalms, the Shema is said, the Amida is said, many will wear tefillin, and it is when the Torah will be read.

The afternoon prayer is known as Mincha.

Mincha tends to be the shortest prayer of the day.

It starts out with Psalm 145, which is actually one of the Psalms that's said during Shacharit, followed by the Amida, and then a closing prayer.

On Shabbat, Mincha is a little bit special and has the Torah reading then, too.

So Mincha is the afternoon prayer.

It is generally the shortest prayer of the day, and consists primarily of Psalm 145 and the Amida, with the exception of Shabbat, when there's going to be Torah reading.

Finally, we get to Ma'ariv, the evening prayer.

Ma'ariv prayer is mainly consisted of the Shema, and blessings that come before the Shema, and the Amida.

What I'd like you to do now is to pause the video and complete the following task.

I'd like you to make a bullet point list and take about five minutes on this.

I'd like you to write the names of the three Jewish prayer services, and I'd like you to bullet point anything that you remember about each one.

I left a word bank with words like Shacharit, Mincha, Ma'ariv, tallit, tefillin, and Torah.

So pause the video to complete this task and press play to resume when you're finished.

How'd you get on? So here's some of my answers.

I'll start with Shacharit.

Shacharit is known as the morning prayer.

It is the longest prayer of the day.

It's when the Torah gets to be read, when tefillin and tallit are worn, and the Shema is said.

Then is Mincha, which is the afternoon prayer.

This prayer tends to be the shortest prayer of the day.

And on Shabbat, the Torah is read.

And Ma'ariv is the evening prayer.

And the Shema is said.

Great job so far.

So I know I said the word Amida probably, at least three times, but probably more.

And hopefully you're wondering, "What is this crazy thing that she's talking about?" Well the Amida is one of the central Jewish prayers said in each and every Jewish prayer service.

During the week, so Sunday through Friday, it has 19 blessings in it.

Now what's interesting about the Amida is that the first three blessings and the last three blessings are always the same.

It doesn't matter what day of the week it is, whether it's Shabbat, or a holiday, or random Tuesday, or what time of day it is, whether it's the morning, the evening or at night.

It's the middle bit that's going to change.

Whether it's on Shabbat, or a holiday, or a regular day during the middle of the week.

Let's go over what's inside.

The first parts of the Amida are remember praising God and saying to remember the God of our forefathers, the Jewish peoples' forefathers, and in some communities, the foremothers.

The forefathers being Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the foremothers being Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah.

During the weekday, so Sunday through Fridays, the middle bit is going to be asking God for help, whether, or asking God for anything, whether that's asking for forgiveness, or asking for healing for someone, ourselves, or someone that we know and care for, or asking about praying for the rebuilding of Jerusalem.

On Shabbat and holidays, this middle section isn't going to be about asking God for things.

It's going to have verses from the Torah that have to do with that day.

Talking about the holiness of that day.

Following the middle bit, there's going to be a prayer of thanksgiving, thanking God for everything that God does in the world and thanking God for anything that I might feel God has given to me.

And finally is the prayer for peace.

Praying that there will be peace in the world, and those who are looking for peace will be able to find it.

What I'd like you to do now is to try to put the Amida prayer in order.

Here are some of the sections of the Amida.

Praying for thanksgiving, Shabbat and holiday verses from the Torah that have to do with the day, praising God, remember the God of the forefathers and foremothers, asking for God's help.

For example, forgiving, forgiveness, healing, rebuilding, and Jerusalem, and prayer for peace.

So put them back in the correct order of what comes first, all the way to what comes last.

I'd like you to pause the video to complete this task and press play when you're ready to resume.

All right, let's go over the order of the Amida.

First comes praising God and remembering the God of the forefathers and foremothers, meaning remembering the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah.

During the week, the next part would be about asking God for help, such as asking for forgiveness, or for healing, or rebuilding Jerusalem.

And on Shabbat and holidays, this middle bit is going to be about verses of the Torah that have to do with the holiness of the day.

Then there'll be a prayer for thanksgiving, thanking God for everything that God has given.

And then a prayer for peace, asking for peace on all of Earth.

You did a great job on prayer and understanding worship.

Let's get into the inner workings of a synagogue.

So we'll start with synagogue leaders.

First is the rabbi.

A rabbi is a religious leader of a Jewish community.

Rabbis do many, many different things.

Some of the things that they might do are, they might be the ones in charge of leading prayer services.

They might also be in charge of leading Jewish rituals, such as weddings or funerals or brit milah, or a bar or bat mitzvah.

They might also be the person that is answering Jewish law questions.

If someone is not sure what to do and needs a little bit of guidance, they know a lot of Jewish law, or at least know where to go look to find the answers.

They might also teach classes, whether that's in their synagogue to adults, or run classes for the children, or go teach in other places, Jewish studies.

They might also provide spiritual care.

So if someone is going through a difficult time and wants to think about what would Judaism say about this situation? Or searching for questions of where is God during whatever it is I'm going through? A rabbi is trained to be with people in all of these spaces.

In most Orthodox communities, only men can become rabbis.

Although there are some Orthodox communities that are allowing women to study and to become rabbis.

In Masorti and Reformed communities, anyone who wants to be a rabbi is allowed to train to be a rabbi.

In some communities, they have someone who's known as the hazzan.

The hazzan is a cantor.

They are specifically trained in Jewish liturgy, meaning the prayer services, and learning the tunes that are said, whether it's with Torah reading or with the prayers, prayer tunes.

In addition to learning about Jewish law and Jewish customs, they're also trained in vocal.

They're also trained in how to sing and how to project.

And so many, in many congregations that have a hazzan, the hazzan's job is to lead prayer services or to be the one to read the Torah.

And they're also part of the teaching and education team, teaching bar and bat mitzvah students to prepare for their bar and bat mitzvah or helping lead other educational programmes within the synagogue.

In most Orthodox communities, only men can become a hazzan.

And in most Reform and Masorti communities, anyone is able to become a hazzan.

Jewish prayer services don't need to be led by the rabbi or the hazzan, although they can be.

Also in most Jewish communities, any person in the community who is considered an adult, so someone over the age of bar and bat mitzvah, who knows how to lead that service, is allowed to lead it.

Much of the prayer service, when one's in synagogue, is done quietly with the leader saying the last line.

So if one would go into a synagogue, you might see a lot of people sitting or standing in the pews with a prayer book in front of them.

And it might seem like they're just mumbling to themselves.

And then every so often you might hear one person say one line out loud.

That one line is then said so that everyone is more or less on the same part, point of the prayer service.

There are some parts of a service that might be sung out loud, either by everyone in the congregation or just by the prayer leader.

And all of this is dependent on this synagogue, who's leading the service, which service it is, and sometimes even what day of the week it is.

When there's a minyan, the Amida, the prayer that we went through, prayer will be repeated out loud by the leader.

So it'll be first said silently.

And then it'll be said out loud.

And there's an extra bit that gets added when there's a minyan and it's said out loud.

Additionally, when there's a minyan on Mondays and Thursdays, Shabbat and holidays, parts of the Torah will be read.

These are some of the things that are needed for the minyan, the group of 10 adults.

I'd like you to do now is to fill in the blanks.

There's a word box at the bottom.

The blank is the leader of a Jewish community.

They serve many roles, such as leading services, teaching Torah, providing pastoral care, answering Jewish law questions.

Some synagogues also have a blank who is also known as the cantor.

They are specially trained in liturgy and lead services and usually have a good voice.

In most synagogues, blank who knows how to, how is able to lead the service.

A blank is a group of 10 adults that are needed for some Jewish prayers.

In communities, a minyan is 10 men.

In blank and blank communities, anyone over the age of blank or blank blank is counted.

When there is a minyan, certain prayers such as the repetition of the blank or blank reading can be done.

So please fill in the blanks with the word below.

Press pause to complete this activity and press play to resume when you're finished.

Let's read it together.

The rabbi is the leader of a Jewish community.

They serve many roles, such as leading services, teaching Torah, providing pastoral care, answering Jewish law questions.

Some synagogues also have a hazzan who is also known as the cantor.

They are specially trained in liturgy and leading services, and usually have good voices.

In most synagogues, anyone who knows how is able to lead the service.

A minyan is a group of 10 adults that are needed for some Jewish prayers.

In Orthodox communities, a minyan is 10 men.

In Reform and Masorti communities, anyone over the age of bar or bat mitzvah is counted.

When there is a minyan, certain prayers, such as the repetition of the Amida or Torah reading, can also be done.

So how'd you do? So now we know within a synagogue structure, there is a rabbi, the congregational leader, and sometimes there's a hazzan, the cantor.

Now let's learn about what objects are inside a synagogue.

In general, in the front of a synagogue is what's called the Aron Kodesh.

Inside the Aron Kodesh is where the Torah scrolls are kept.

In many places, the front of a synagogue, or where the Aron Kodesh is, is going to face towards Jerusalem.

So here in the United Kingdom, that would be, in general, facing east.

The Torah scrolls are handwritten copies of the Torah, meaning the five books of Moses.

They're written on parchment with a quill, by a person who is specially trained in how to write Torahs and do special Jewish ritual writing.

Their name is a sofer.

So our Torah scroll is very valuable and takes a very long time to write.

Over the entire course of a year, the entire Torah is read, all the way from the first chapter of Genesis through the last chapter of Deuteronomy.

And then it gets to begin all over again.

In order to preserve the letters on the Torah, because it's very delicate, meaning because someone hand wrote it, a yad, or a pointer, is used to read the words.

That way, the oils of a person's hand won't get onto the parchment or onto the ink.

A Torah scroll actually can look differently, depending on which community a person is from.

On the left, we can see a Sephardic Torah.

They tend to stand upright when they're being read.

An Ashkenazi Torah, which is on the right side, when it's being read, it lays flat on a table.

The words are exactly the same.

The only difference, or the two big differences, are the way in which the scroll is laid when it's being read, and sometimes the way in which the letters are written.

But the words inside are exactly the same.

They're exactly the same five books of Moses.

In the front of the synagogue, or in some synagogues in the middle of the synagogue, is what's called the bimah.

The bimah is generally a raised area.

So it might be on a small platform, or it might be built in that way that it's higher than everywhere else.

In most places, this is where the Torah is going to be read during services that the Torah gets to be read in.

Sometimes this big area is where, this raised up area, is where a sermon or a speech might be said, and in certain prayer services, where the prayer leader will stand.

And finally, we'll talk about what's called a Ner Tamid.

This tends to be in the front of a synagogue.

And it's the symbol of an eternal light.

It's a symbol that says that God's presence will always be there.

This sometimes it looks like a candle or is a light bulb, or sometimes it's more decorative.

This object will be lit all the time.

It doesn't go out.

And it's a reminder, not only that God's presence will always be with the Jewish people while they're in synagogue, but it's also a reminder of God when God was the pillar of fire, protecting the Jewish people as they fled and left Egypt during the Exodus.

In an Orthodox synagogue, men and women don't sit together.

And so in an Orthodox synagogue, there'll be what's called a mechitza, which is a partition separating men and women.

Sometimes it'll be a wall because everyone's in on the same floor.

And in some synagogues, women might sit upstairs in a balcony.

And in some synagogues, Orthodox synagogues, there'll be a space, both on the main floor and in the balcony for women.

In Masorti and Reform synagogues, they don't have a mechitza.

In Masorti and Reform synagogues, men and sometimes women will wear what's known as a kippah and a tallit.

A kippah is a skull cap, or otherwise known as a yarmulke.

Sits on a person's head.

In Orthodox communities, only men are going to wear a kippah and tallit.

Sometimes in Orthodox synagogues, one might see a woman with her head covered with a hat, or a wig, or a scarf, or a headband, or a mixture of all those.

Generally speaking, in Orthodox synagogues, that's done for only married women will have their heads covered.

There are many Jewish people across all the denominations that will have their head covered all the time.

Not only during synagogue and prayer services.

And there are some Jewish people who will only cover their head when they're in synagogue and in prayer services.

I'd like you to now write in full sentences, write a definition of the following words and how they're used in a synagogue.

Press pause to complete the task and resume when you're finished.

And the words are bimah, Torah scroll, Ner Tamid, Aron Kodesh, yad, and mechitza.

Let's go over what these words mean.

The Aron Kodesh is generally in the front of the synagogue.

It is where the Torah scrolls are kept.

The bimah is a raised area in the synagogue.

This is the place where the Torah is read from.

The Torah scroll is a handwritten scroll of the five books of Moses.

Over the course of a year, the whole Torah is read in the synagogue.

A yad is a small hand that is used as a pointer when reading from the Torah.

It allows the reader to follow along without having to touch the parchment.

The Ner Tamid is known as the eternal light.

And it represents God's everlasting presence.

A mechitza is a partition.

In Orthodox synagogues, there is a mechitza to separate the men's section from the women's section.

We're now going to talk about some Jewish denominations.

These are not all the Jewish denominations.

These are just three.

You've probably heard me talking throughout this lesson and other lessons about Orthodox, Masorti, and Reform, or progressive and liberal denominations of Judaism.

These groups of Jews have slightly different interpretations of sacred texts of Judaism.

And then this leads to a slightly different teaching and practise.

So let's look more in-depth of what this can look like for some people who identify as Orthodox, or as Masorti, or as Reform.

The first denomination we'll look at is called Orthodox.

Most Orthodox Jewish people believe that the Torah was given to Moses and passed to the Jewish people.

And this chain has not been broken ever since.

This makes Jewish law more difficult to change and more, and the community is seen as more traditional or strict, in that, if they believe that the Torah was given to Moses from God, it's much harder to change or bend a rule.

Laws can get changed, but when laws get changed, it is through a systematic approach based on traditional texts.

The Masorti community, many people believe in a more historical understanding of the Jewish tradition.

Many believe that Jewish law didn't just come down from heaven.

It was developed over time in response to people's changing lives.

When someone from the Masorti community wants to change a Jewish law or adapt a Jewish law, they're more likely to take into technological and social change into the consideration of how to follow Jewish law.

Meaning that they're going to look at all the things that are going on in addition to Jewish law, to then make a decision of what is going to now happen.

The Reform community, many people believe that the Torah was created by humans.

It was written in the past and inspired by the authors, whoever it was that was writing, and their understanding of the world and the place place of God in their lives in that time.

Many people who are Reform believe that some laws are seen as eternal truths while others of the laws are seen as a product of their time.

A Reform belief is that Jewish law changes and adapts with the way that society is functioning.

Meaning that Jewish law is able and capable and needs to change with how everything is going on in the world.

So what does that mean practically? And how can we see that? Well, here's some examples that we looked at together when we were looking at the synagogue.

For example, synagogue seating.

In an Orthodox synagogue, men and women will sit separately.

In a Masorti synagogue, sometimes there's going to be mixed seating, and sometimes there's going to be separate seating.

And in Reform synagogues, everyone sits together.

Or if we look at the concept of minyan, of the quorum of 10 adults.

In an Orthodox minyan, they're only going to count adult males.

In Masorti and Reform communities, they're going to count anyone who's over the age of bar and bat mitzvah to count towards the 10, the adults that are needed in a minyan.

The wearing of a kippah, a yarmulke or a tallit, a prayer shawl, and tefillin phylacteries.

In Orthodox communities, generally only men will wear these.

In Masorti and Reform communities, all three of these items are going to be worn by men and women.

And finally of who's allowed to become a rabbi.

In most Orthodox communities, this is only men who are allowed to become a rabbi.

Although there are some Orthodox communities today that are training and allowing women to become rabbis, but it's very, very few and far between.

In the Masorti and the Reform community, men and women are both able to become rabbis and leaders of the community.

What I'd like you to do now is to create a chart of the three Jewish denominations that we spoke about.

I'd like you to list one belief of who wrote the Torah, list how that might affect how one Jewish law can change, list the difference of synagogue seating, and list the difference of who can count in a minyan.

Press pause to complete this task and press resume when you're finished.

How'd you do? All right, let's go over this together.

So who wrote the Torah? According to an Orthodox view, it is God who wrote the Torah.

God gave the message of the Torah to Moses.

A Masorti view is that Jewish law did not come from heaven.

The Reform idea is that the Torah was created by humans.

That there's less of a connection to God.

So how does this affect Jewish law, or how can it affect Jewish law? An Orthodox point of view is that the law comes directly from an unbroken line, starting with Moses at Sinai.

The Jewish law will change within the rules set by the system.

So Jewish law can change, but it has to change in a very specific way.

A Masorti idea is that they will take technological and sociological change, along with traditional Jewish texts, to create change.

And a Reform idea is that Jewish law changes to adapt to modern society.

Some examples that, of how this looks different, or how worship can look different, is that in Orthodox synagogues, men and women sit separately.

At Masorti synagogues, sometimes there's mixed seating and sometimes there's separate seating.

And in Reform synagogues, everyone will sit together.

And in a minyan, an Orthodox minyan, only adult men are counted towards the 10.

And in Masorti and Reform communities, both men and women will be counted towards the 10 needed for a minyan.

You did a great job today.

We learned so much.

We learned about Jewish forms of worship, and what happens inside a synagogue, and what are some of the ritual objects within a synagogue.

And then we looked at what are some of the beliefs of some of the Jewish denominations, mainly Orthodox, Masorti, and Reform.

I'd like you to take a moment and write down three things that you learned today.

Feel free to share those things with your parent, or carer, or friend, or teacher.

And please, don't forget to take the end of the lesson quiz.

And if you'd like to share your work with us at Oak National, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.

I hope you have a wonderful day and happy learning.