Search results
At the time, the national literacy level was low, and most Jews had to memorize the essential prayers; in almost every “oral” tradition such as this, music is used to aid memorization. We have no way of knowing what early prayer chanting sounded like.
- Nusah: The Music of Prayer
In the following article describes how the melodies differ...
- Synagogue Music
The practice of accompanying synagogue worship with music...
- Nusah: The Music of Prayer
- Types of Liturgy
- The Challenge of Liturgy
- Making Liturgy Relevant Today
Judaism has a broad range of liturgy: Worship in formal prayer in a synagogue at one of the appointed times with a quorum of at least ten adults (a minyan) is only one kind of Jewish liturgical expression, and it is not even the most common. The most common liturgical moments are the occasional blessings that a person recites upon performing certai...
The basic challenge of liturgy is that, on the one hand, we expect conversation with God to be intimate and real and spontaneous, as one might speak with a parent; on the other hand, we approach God with the images of royalty, and royalty has a defined protocol. Jewish law defines a requirement of three daily prayers with set liturgies, and it is v...
How does one make an ancient liturgical text “new and relevant”? Until modern times, each generation would supplement the traditional text; occasionally, materials would drop out, but the overall works grew. In modern times, editors subtract, add, and substitute, sometimes creating new materials and sometimes restoring materials “lost” to tradition...
- A Synagogue Is a Place for Prayer. The primary function of the synagogue is to serve as a place for prayer. Although you can speak to G‑d in private, praying in the synagogue is considered preferable, and prayers said as part of a congregation are more readily heard on high.
- It is Also Known as a Beit Knesset, Shul, or Shtiebel. Art by Zalman Kleinman | Courtesy Rosa Kleinman | Via Zev Markowitz / Chai Art Gallery. The original Hebrew term for synagogue is beit knesset, which means“house of gathering.”
- They Are Open on Shabbat—and Throughout the Week. Three daily prayers are held in the synagogue. On Shabbat and festivals, a fourth prayer is added, while on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year, the number is hiked up to five.
- They Are Centers of Jewish Life. A first-grader displays his project after learning how and where a Torah is kept. In addition to housing a sanctuary for services, synagogues (most notably Chabad centers) serve as a centerpoint of Jewish life.
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”).
A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It has a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, choir performances, and children's plays.
A cantor — hazzan (חזן) in Hebrew — is the person who chants worship services in the synagogue. Though the word is sometimes applied in a general way to anyone who leads services, it is more commonly used to denote someone who has completed professional musical training and been ordained as a cantor.
For many Jews, Jewish law governs all aspects of Jewish life, including how to worship, compulsory rituals and dietary laws. The Jewish place of worship is called the synagogue and it plays a ...
