Religious and Educational Use of the Synagogue

The synagogue preserved and passed down the heritage of the Hebrew Bible and developed as an educational institution for the transmission of Jewish rabbinic tradition. In the Old Testament it is impossible to separate religion from education. No ancient society subscribed to the modern notion of the "secular. " The Jewish community as a whole was responsible for the education of children and youth, which took place in the synagogue. The later instruction of youth in the Bible and the Talmud was carried on in the yshivot, the special schools for prerabbinical studies. In the earlier periods such usage of the sanctuary was frowned on, but as the Hebrew language and learning began to fade from daily life, the preservation of the ancient heritage became a sacred mission, and the synagogue was used for this purpose. Since the primary responsibility of the adult Jew in the corporate synagogue service was to read, reading the unpointed Hebrew text of the Torah was the goal of synagogue educ…