Synagogue Spaces Around the World

Show photos of synagogues worldwide (Ethiopian, Indian, Italian, Reform, Orthodox).

Children wonder and discover; you facilitate more than you lecture.

• What are synagogues used for?
• What do all synagogues share?
• How do synagogues differ?

A synagogue is a beit t’filah (house of prayer), beit midrash (house of study), and beit knesset (house of gathering). They look wildly different but share an ark, Torah, and ner tamid.

• Beit knesset — synagogue
• Aron kodesh — holy ark
• Ner tamid — eternal light

“Why do they look so different?”

Jews live all over the world and build beautiful synagogues in their local style.

• Children understand the synagogue as a place of worship, learning, and gathering.
• Children see synagogues from many places and denominations.

Diverse synagogue images are a powerful ‘window’ — show the global, multiracial Jewish world.

Folktale. The Golem of Prague (Ashkenazi legend) — a clay protector made of holy words guards the old synagogue of Prague.

Changemaker. Sir Moses Montefiore — traveled the world building and protecting synagogues and Jewish communities.

How are synagogues around the world the same and different — and why?

“We toured synagogues around the world. Try at home: look up a synagogue in another country together.”