Beit Knesset
(The Synagogue)
The most common religious site in Israel.
A Beit Knesset (synagogue) is a place for prayer, gathering, and ceremonial assembly, found in every Jewish community across the globe.
In Israel, the self-defined state of the Jewish people - every city, every neighborhood, every village, or communal settlement has an accessible and special sacred building that holds the title: Beit Knesset. Here, a Jew can pray at least one of the three daily prayers prescribed by Jewish law and tradition.
In total, there are approximately 20,000 synagogues in Israel as of 2023. The vast majority belong to the Orthodox stream of Judaism, the dominant denomination in the Jewish state.
Even in kibbutzim which once symbolized declared secularism and fundamentally avoided establishing synagogues in their closed communities, most have now yielded to the traditional trend sweeping Israel in the early 21st century. The majority have already allocated a special space for Jewish prayer for anyone who desires it.
Even in places with large numbers of people, such as a mall or Ben Gurion Airport, the authorities designate a special room to serve as a place of prayer, with signs and directions for worshipers. The same goes for hotels, guesthouses, workplaces, and commercial centers.
Every Israeli (Jew) has visited a Beit Knesset at least a few times in their life.
For the religious and traditional, these visits are a regular occurrence, on a daily or weekly basis. For the secular, visits are tied to a specific traditional ceremony like a Bar Mitzvah, a Brit Milah, or a particularly festive prayer service.
The Beit Knesset sometimes plays an important role in determining where people live.
For example, in neighborhoods and communities built for a religious population, residential buildings will not be inhabited until a synagogue is standing. For residents in these areas, it is a fundamental part of their daily life and must therefore be included in the local master plan, just like other essential elements: a kindergarten, a parking lot, or food stores.
In cities populated by ultra-Orthodox families, such as Bnei Brak or Elad, there is more than one synagogue on every street, and many of them are bustling with activity for most of the day.
"Aram Tsova Synagogue" in Haifa, for prayers in the tradition of Jewish communities who immigrated from Syria and Lebanon.
There is no uniform model for the Beit Knesset building.
It can be a magnificent hall that accommodates a thousand worshipers or more, or a neighborhood building established by the municipality for a few hundred. It can also be a rented apartment that has been converted for this purpose or a bomb shelter that has been cleared of all discarded items.
The main thing is that the place is sanctified and equipped, and can gather at least ten people ("Minyan"), and a "Gabbai" who is responsible for its operation and maintenance. A local rabbi, who is their spiritual figure, usually serves the synagogue's congregation. He rules on matters of Jewish law, answers questions, and delivers a sermon to the worshipers on Shabbat and holidays.
What's inside a standard Beit Knesset?
The basic items found in every synagogue serve the congregation's prayer needs and the way they are conducted:
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Seating: Chairs or benches, arranged in rows, or in a U-shape, depending on the religious stream to which the synagogue belongs.
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Holy Ark ("Aron HaKodesh"): A wooden cabinet in which the Torah scrolls are kept. All are considered sacred items, as is the Ark itself. The Ark is at the front of the synagogue, hidden behind a cloth curtain ("Parochet"), and it is metaphorically elevated above all parts of the building. Prayers are directed toward it.
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Bimah: A small, defined area in the center of the building, around which the seating is arranged. On the Bimah, which is usually made of wood, the Torah scroll, which has been removed with great honor from the Holy Ark, is placed for the weekly portion to be read from it.
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Hazzan's Podium: Between the Holy Ark and the Bimah stands a wooden podium. Beside it stands the Hazzan, who serves as the prayer leader, singing the verses to special melodies in a unique style and drawing the congregation of worshippers after him.
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Prayer books ("Siddurim"): Every synagogue has shelves or cabinets containing prayer books for the worshipers.
Prayer by Gender
The Orthodox Beit Knesset is a place for men. They use it as worshipers, maintain the place, and determine its procedures.
Women are in a passive and hidden position. They have a small corner, or a separate back unit from the main space. This is called "Ezrat Nashim" (women's section). The separation can be by a partition or a curtain, or by a separate level where they sit and from which they look down on the main area where the men conduct the activity.
The Ezrat Nashim is mainly bustling on Shabbat and holidays, the days when women participate in prayer more prominently. On the other days of the week, they are almost never seen there.
The situation is different in Reform and Conservative synagogues.
There is no separation. Men and women pray together and maintain the site without distinction between the sexes. Because of their small proportion of the population—only a few percent—there are very few such synagogues in Israel.
The Great Synagogue in Tel Aviv,
on the left - the "Ezrat Nashim" (women's section).
What are the operating hours?
Most active "Beit Knesset"s are generally open at the times of the fixed prayers—in the morning and from the afternoon until the early evening hours. In neighborhoods with an ultra-Orthodox population, you can find synagogues that are open non-stop 24/7. At any hour of the day or night, you can find at least one group that has spontaneously organized for prayer or for studying and reviewing sacred Jewish texts.
In some places, in the morning after the prayer ends and the worshipers have gone about their business, the synagogue opens for retirees who regularly gather to hear lectures on religious matters.
In many places in Israel, the synagogue is also a social and community center. Families from the surrounding religious or traditional community gather there. Especially on Shabbat and holidays—that's when they come in festive attire to pray and have a spiritual experience together, along with a large crowd. Before or after the prayer, they meet for "small talk," brief conversations about daily life.
The prayer on Shabbat and holidays, festive in itself, can last two hours or more. During this time, the worshipers will sing verses and hymns together to traditional melodies, participate in the escorting of the Torah scroll, and listen to the rabbi's "sermon." Afterward, if there's a reason to celebrate, they will prepare a small refreshment on tables (called a "Kiddush"). Everyone will snack on cookies or candies, continue to talk for a bit while the children play in the area, and go home after having fulfilled the commandments of prayer and social cohesion.
The "Yezekiel" Synagogue in the heart of Tel Aviv is bustling with Jewish immigrants and tourists from France
You can read about it by clicking the link here.
And there's also style...
"Beit Knesset"s are all, more or less, similar in their external shell.
Inside, in the human makeup of those who come to pray - each one has a different congregation with a common denominator that distinguishes them and the way they have chosen to conduct their prayer.
The variety is very wide:
there are synagogues for Ashkenazim, who came from Europe, and there are synagogues for Mizrachim, who came from Islamic countries in Asia and North Africa. There are synagogues for the Sephardic communities (from the Balkan countries—Bulgaria, Greece, etc.), for Yemenites, for the Bukharan community, and for the Kurdish community. There are also synagogues for Hasidim in the courts of their Rebbes, for Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox, and for other streams, factions, and sub-factions.
They all pray to the same God, using the same ancient Jewish prayer.
The prayer liturgy varies in small nuances from one synagogue to another. The melodies are also different, and there are differences in the seating arrangements of the worshipers and in the way the religious ceremonies are conducted.
But all of these are relatively minor subtleties within the overall format of the prayer, which has been uniform and unchanged for many hundreds of years.
And it is precisely these small subtleties that create the unique style of each synagogue, distinguishing it from the one located on the next street or in another city.
Someone who is not familiar with these subtleties won't understand why a Jew would travel far to pray in a synagogue that fits his style, even though there's a synagogue right near his home. Nor will they understand why one community builds a place of prayer next to an existing place of prayer for another community—as if these two are competing for the heart of the Shekhina (the Divine Presence).
And so, as Israel celebrates 75 years of existence, it is adorned in every corner with tens of thousands of synagogues, each one of them a distinct Jewish symbol.
And in each of them, they celebrate the existence of the Jewish state and offer prayers for its well-being in different liturgies—and the worshipers do not succeed in connecting to a single, agreed-upon liturgy that would serve all communities and streams.
The "Ohel Hanna" Synagogue in Ariel, for prayers in the tradition of the Yemenite community.
More on the Synagogue - you can read here on Wikipedia
And a little more internal information about Beit Knesset, from someone who knows and is familiar with the subject:
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Prayer in a Beit Knesset:
Jews pray wherever they can or feel the need—at home, on the road, or in some private place. Every such prayer, no matter how important, does not equal in its religious quality and power a prayer within a public setting, with at least ten people ("Minyan").
Prayer in a Beit Knesset is the best of all. It is a prayer that solidifies a community, connects people, and gives them a sense of belonging to the religious framework. It is the ultimate place for the fulfillment of prayer. It is the best of the best.
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Figures in the Beit Knesset:
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Hazzan: The person who leads the prayers, singing the verses to special melodies in a unique style and drawing the congregation of worshippers after him.
On weekdays, the Hazzan is one of the worshippers who have gathered for one of the regular prayers.
On Shabbat and holidays, when the prayers are particularly long, a Hazzan with suitable skills is appointed to lead the prayer with a pleasant voice and musical talent. Large synagogues also tend to hire a Hazzan for the High Holy Days, paying significant sums for his services. -
Gabbai: A kind of administrative manager responsible for managing the daily schedule and all the procedures that take place during, before, and after the prayers. It is usually a voluntary position, but one that comes with a lot of social power. The Gabbai has a decisive influence on the scenes that unfold in the synagogue, such as the names of the people who are called up to the Torah, or the appointment of the Hazzan. These scenes grant him importance and a senior status in the community that gathers around the Beit Knesset.
Large synagogues are not satisfied with just one Gabbai but have a team of several, among whom one is chosen to be the most senior and important.
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The business of a Beit Knesset:
Synagogues are partially subsidized by the state and partially by the worshipers. The worshipers' payment is made through the purchase of a permanent seat for the entire year, and also during the "Aliyah LaTorah" ceremony, in which everyone who is called up to the Torah commits to donating a certain amount to the synagogue.
Synagogues supplement their budget by allocating rooms for religious ceremonies, such as a Brit Milah or a Bar Mitzvah.
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