   Inside my synagogue
At the front there's a seat higher than the others where the priest sits - a Jewish priest is called a rabbi. There's also a decorated cupboard right in the centre - you can see it's meant to be somewhere special. When Jews come into a synagogue they bow towards this. It's called the Ark, and it's where the holy book - the Torah - is kept. Actually it's not really a book, it's a scroll, like it would have been way back in the past. It's wrapped in expensive material, and you're never supposed to touch it with your hands. There's a special table where the Torah is carried when it's going to be read. There are always some candlesticks, special ones with seven branches, and a lamp which is always kept burning.
This is what's called a reform synagogue, which means that it doesn't keep to some of the old ways of doing things. In orthodox synagogues, men and women sit separately (actually women have to sit up in a balcony), in this synagogue everyone sits together. |