Temple and Synagogue in Late Antiquity -- DCLY 2016/2017, 341-364 (original) (raw)
Related papers
2020
The study of ancient Judaism has enjoyed a steep rise in interest and publications in recent decades. However, much of this study has focused on the ideas and beliefs represented in ancient texts, with only limited study regarding the daily lives and material culture of Jewish individuals and their communities. The nascent institution of the synagogue formed an increasingly important venue for communal gathering and daily or weekly practice. This collection of essays is intended to bring together a broad spectrum of new archaeological and textual data with various emergent theories and interpretive methods in order to address the need to understand the place of the synagogue in the daily and weekly procedures, community frameworks, and theological structures in which Judaeans, Galileans, and Jewish people in the Diaspora lived and gathered. The interdisciplinary studies will be of great significance for anyone studying ancient Jewish belief, practice, and community formation.
ANCIENT SYNAGOGUES: THE CONTINUING DIALECTIC BETWEEN TWO MAJOR VIEWS
To many the very idea of asking what a synagogue was is ridiculous. Everyone knows that they were the Jewish houses of worship. But is that the kind of thing one can know? And, what would such ‘knowing’ involve? What would count as evidence for the existence of ‘ancient synagogues’? Over what time span would it apply? Does any such evidence exist? Is the evidence clear, or fragmentary, or disputed or all of these? These are the questions central to the debate about the nature of the ‘ancient synagogue’. In response to these questions the parties engaged in the debate give different answers and also disagree about the relative likelihood of there being definite, or probable or even tentative, answers. This paper will attempt to clarify the current state of the debate about the nature of ‘ancient synagogues’, a debate that is currently becoming more and more sharply focused. Subsequently, the matter will be set within a context of wider debates upon which it impinges.
The Rise of Synagogues in Biblical Times
Bible and Spade, 2020
This article explores the synagogues which emerged during the time between the Old and New Testaments and continued to be used into the first century AD. What happened in those nearly 400 years that changed how and where the Jews gathered for worship and ceremony? How did Greco-Roman influence impact worship, freedoms, and the spread of Jewish teachings? Is there evidence that Jews were worshiping in distant synagogues during the Second Temple period before the Romans finally destroyed the Jerusalem Temple in 70 AD?
Sacred Realm: The Emergence of the Synagogue in the Ancient World, 1996, Entire manuscript!
The rich tradition and profound spirituality of Judaism has touched people the world over for thousands of years. With the arrival in the Near East of Alexander the Great and the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, the synagogue came to represent a new era of this powerful religion, one which witnessed a greater emphasis on shared religious experience and prayer. In turn, the synagogue, derived from the Greek, meaning an "assembly," has come to mean the Jewish house of worship, evolving into a "sacred realm," in which the Torah came to play a central role linking the biblical past with the messianic future. Of course, the synagogue has been much more that a house of worship--it served the Jewish people as a place of learning, a community center, and often as the official seat of Jewish self-government. Indeed, it is the institution most closely associated with the development of post-biblical Judaism throughout the ages. Sacred Realm: The Emergence of the Synagogue in the Ancient World offers the first comprehensive history of the architectural and archaeological development of the synagogue from the third century BCE to 700 CE. Telling the story of over one hundred ancient synagogues throughout the world and their place in the history of Judaism and of Western civilization, this book provides a fascinating representation of the cultural, intellectual, and artistic achievements of three thousand years of Jewish experience. Informative essays detail every aspect of the ancient synagogue, while beautiful illustrations and maps take the reader to the actual historic site. Sacred Realm is an accompaniment to a monumental exhibition organized by the Yeshiva University Museum in New York. Borrowing from museums in North America, Europe, and Israel, the exhibition presents a unique collection of artifacts and manuscripts--including many pieces never before displayed in the United States--and will depict for the first time an in-depth history of the synagogue during the Greco-Roman period. From fourth-century Egyptian incense burners and inscribed bowl fragments to fifth-century Gaza mosaics decorated with Menorah and Shofar, Piyyut (liturgical poetry) manuscripts, and assorted textile, column, and pottery fragments, this collection is the most significant presentation of ancient Jewish religious life ever assembled in the United States. Lavishly illustrated with both color and black and white photographs of the artifacts, manuscripts, maps, site diagrams, and reconstructions, Sacred Realm is not only a detailed record of this historic exhibit, but a guide to the evolution of Judaism's most sacred institution.
Levine, Weiss and Leibner, Ancient Synagogues Revealed 1981-2022, Jerusalem
This companion volume to Ancient Synagogues Revealed, published in 1981, apprises the reader of the latest archaeological and historical data culled from the excavations of ancient synagogues since that date. The articles, written by the excavators of these sites, reveal a plethora of synagogue buildings, artistic remains, inscriptions, and small finds that shed light on many aspects of this ancient institution and increase the number and range of scholarly interpretations and theories regarding the synagogue in the first millennium of its existence. Diverse aspects of the ancient synagogue-archaeology, history, art, epigraphy, language, and literature-allow for new and creative interpretations of these intriguing archaeological finds. FRONT COVER Tower of Babel mosaic panel, Ḥuqoq synagogue (photo: Jim Haberman; courtesy of Jodi Magness) BACK COVER Close-up of the reconstructed aedicula of the Torah shrine, Umm el-Qanatir (photo: Yehoshua Dray and Ilana Gonen, Restoration of Ancient Technology)
The First-Century Synagogue. New Perspectives
Svensk Teologisk Kvartalskrift, 2001
Intresset fö r antiken har ökat kraftigt inom många discipliner. Även den antika synagogan be handlas av allt fle r forskare. «Den antika synagogan: Födelseplats fö r två världsreligioner» är idag temat fö r ett större projekt i Lund. Lee I. Levine, professor i «Archeology o f the Mishnaic and Talmudic Periods» vid The Hebrew University i Jerusalem, har skrivit den stora handboken i ämnet. Han blev hedersdoktor vid Teologiska fakulteten i Lund den 25 maj 2000 och höll då en föreläsning som i en något reviderad form publiceras här.