What are the similarities between a church and a synagogue?

Answer 1

In churches, everyone sits together, and is expected to dress up.

In Orthodox synagogues, men and women sit separately, but the other branches of Judaism allows everyone to sit together. In most Reform synagogues, men and women will only dress up during holidays and lifecycle events.

Answer 2

The synagogue is a place for prayer, reflection, reading, and teaching of individual Jewish communities and exist (like churches) all around the world. The Temple was the singular massive place for worship and forgiveness of sins with sacrifices in Jerusalem. Although many Jews and Non-Jews refer to synagogues as temples, this is not correct nomenclature.

Answer 3

A:Prior to its destruction in 70 CE, the Temple was the centre of worship for Palestinian Jews. The most important form of worship in Second Temple Judaism was the offering of animal sacrifices to God. Yom Kippur was an important celebration, but largely confined to the Temple precincts. The Passover involved the sacrifice of a lamb in the Temple, and each household was bidden to participate in the Passover meal in the Temple precincts or anywhere in Jerusalem.

Louis H. Feldman

(Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism:A Parallel History of Their Origins and Early Development,Palestinian and Diaspora Judaism in the First Century) says that even the Temple had a synagogue. T

he synagogues were places where Torah readings took place, but not prayer. Only after 70 was prayer developed and instituted on a daily basis.

After the destruction of the Temple, the synagogues became the centres of Judaic worship, as the new Rabbinic Judaism evolved. There could no longer be sacrifices to God and, in consequence, the Passover seder meal became a matter of home observance.

Answer 4

A synagogue is a place where Jewish people worship God (Yaweh). In ancient times there were various "courts", partitioned off areas where people would gather eg. the court of women, the court of men leading into the inner most area (The Holy Of Holies) where the sacred texts were kept. Only Jewish clerics would enter this area. In modern times, the various courts are separated by low railings. In Orthodox Judaism, women are separated from the men and with the exception of young girls, must have their heads covered.

A mosque is a building were Muslims go to pray and worship God (Allah). There is no seating in a mosque. The men spread the prayer mats on the floor to go through their obligatory prayers lead by the Imam (Islamic cleric). Women also attend the mosque but are separated from the men by a partition. This is done for propriety so that men may worship without the distraction of looking at any part of women's bodies, particularly their backsides. Outside the entrance to the mosque, there is also a pool of water or some running water for ritual cleansing.

Answer 5

A synagogue (as called a shul) is a place for communal prayer. Jew's pray three time a day every day. In smaller communities only the Shabbos prayer service may be done at the synagogue and the others done individually. A synagogue building may also be used for Torah study and other community activities.

The Jewish Temple, located in Jerusalem, was a place where the scarifies described in the Torah were offered. People were permitted to attend the offering of the communal scarifies. Those who could not make it to Jerusalem would gather together in there own communities at the same time the scarifies was being offered. This also became a place for prayer, a synagogue.

Since the destruction of the Temple we can no longer offer scarifies but we still gather together in synagogues to acknowledge the offerings that should be made and to offer prayers instead.

The Reform, Reconstructionist, and Messianic Movements call their places of prayer a temple. However the concept of any temple other then the one Jerusalem is problematic in normative Jewish theology.

Answer 6

I've never been inside a synagogue but I know the temple was a permanent building, the tabernacle was the same design but portable and was used as the Jewish people traveled from Egypt to Canaan. The details are in the book of Exodus. Outside was an alter of sacrifice; the most important part of the whole structure was the inner most room called the Holy of Holies with walls of beaten gold and the only thing in there was the ark of the covenant. A synagogue does not have those parts.

Synagogues are the post Temple places of worship, gathering, and study for Jews.

Answer 7

It's a place where people go to worship.

Answer 8

Both are houses of worship where congregations gather for prayers and to listen to sermons. Both have a lectern or equivalent place where someone can be seen by the congregation while giving a sermon. Neither should contain idols or statuary that could be confused with idols. Neither is likely to be decorated with Christian symbols. In both, there is a traditional direction for people to face during prayer: Mosques usually contain fairly accurate marks indicating the direction of Mecca, synagogues usually face Jerusalem, but in many cases, that's just defined as facing east. (Mosques are more precise because Islam spread after the development of reasonably precise Maps.)

Answer 9

Churches and synagogues typically have sanctuaries, which are rooms large enough to hold a congregation at worship. They frequently also have social halls where the congregation can gather for refreshment, conversation and similar activities. The sanctuary of either usually has pews or rows of chairs where the congregation can sit when not standing for hymns or prayer.