Religious Studies 1023E Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Israelites, Chuppah, Mezuzah

• School: Western University
• Department: Religious Studies
• Course: Religious Studies 1023E
• Professor: Jonathan Geen

Document Summary

Synagogue=the heart of the jewish religious community o. Place of prayer &study of sacred texts: venue for communal worship o. Board of directors made up of laypeople is responsible for supervising the synagogue &all its activities: also hiring a rabbi for the community. Synagogues doe not have to be a particular shape or size: no architectural style requirements. Cantor the liturgical specialist who leads the musical chants in synagogue services; hazzan in hebrew o. Leads the worship &faces the same direction as the congregation. Once the torah scrolls are opened, a pointer is used to aid in the reading o. Pointer is often in the shape of a hand and is call a yad. Pre-set (determined in advance, typically from the ancient period) Spontaneous (created on the spot by the individual jew) Every sabbath morning service includes readings from the torah and the prophets o. Latter readings are called haftarah (conclusion) because they conclude the worship service.