Synagogue services as a significant practice in Judaism: HSC Studies of Religion

What this dot point is asking

In the Judaism depth study you study ONE significant practice from death and mourning, marriage or synagogue services. The syllabus asks you to:

1. Describe the practice.
2. Demonstrate how it expresses the beliefs of Judaism.
3. Analyse its significance for both the individual and the Jewish community.

This page covers synagogue services. (Marriage is covered on marriage as a significant practice.) The practice question appears every year in both courses: a 5-mark "analyse the importance" in 2023, an 8-mark "explain how the practice expresses the beliefs" with a stimulus in 2024, and a 3-mark "describe how one practice expresses one belief" in 2025.

The answer

What the synagogue is

The word synagogue comes from the Greek for "assembly". Its Hebrew names show its three functions:

• Beit knesset, house of assembly: the community's centre.
• Beit tefillah, house of prayer: the place of communal worship.
• Beit midrash, house of study: Torah learning is itself a form of worship.

Ashkenazi Jews often call it shul (Yiddish), and some Progressive congregations use temple. Synagogues probably developed during and after the Babylonian exile. After the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in 70 CE, sacrifice ended and the synagogue, with prayer and study, became the centre of Jewish religious life. The rabbis taught that the prayer services correspond to the daily Temple offerings (Talmud, Berakhot 26b), echoing Hosea's call to "take with you words" and offer prayer in place of sacrificial bulls (Hosea 14:2).

Inside the synagogue

• Aron Hakodesh (Holy Ark). A cabinet on the wall facing Jerusalem that houses the Sefer Torah scrolls, handwritten in Hebrew on parchment by a trained scribe (sofer). It recalls the Ark of the Covenant.
• Ner tamid (eternal light). A lamp that always burns above the Ark, recalling the lamp kept burning in the Tabernacle and Temple (Exodus 27:20).
• Bimah. The raised platform from which the Torah is read and the service is often led.
• Seating. Orthodox synagogues separate men and women with a mechitzah (partition) or gallery; Masorti (Conservative) and Progressive (Reform) synagogues generally have mixed seating.

Worship leaders. A service may be led by any knowledgeable adult Jew. Many congregations have a rabbi (teacher and interpreter of Jewish law, who often gives a sermon) and a chazzan (cantor) who leads the chanted prayers; a gabbai organises the Torah reading and honours.

Dress. Many worshippers wear a kippah (skullcap); in morning services a tallit (prayer shawl) with tzitzit (fringes) that remind the wearer of the commandments (Numbers 15:38 to 39); and on weekday mornings tefillin, small leather boxes containing Torah passages, bound on the arm and head (Deuteronomy 6:8). Orthodox practice applies these obligations to men; in many Masorti and Progressive communities women may also wear them.

Describing the services

The daily pattern

Jews pray three times a day: Shacharit (morning), Mincha (afternoon) and Ma'ariv or Arvit (evening). Berakhot 26b attributes them to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and links them to the Temple offerings. On Shabbat, festivals and new months an additional service, Musaf, recalls the additional Temple offering. Prayers are said from the siddur (prayer book).

The minyan

Certain prayers are said only with a minyan, a quorum of ten adult Jews: the call to prayer (Barechu), the public repetition of the Amidah with the Kedushah, the Kaddish and the Torah reading. The Talmud teaches that when ten pray together, the Divine Presence (Shekhinah) is with them (Berakhot 6a). Orthodox communities count ten men over bar mitzvah age; Masorti communities are often egalitarian and Progressive communities count women and men equally.

The core prayers

1. Barechu, the leader's call to bless God, which opens the formal service.
2. The Shema and its blessings. "Hear, O Israel: the LORD is our God, the LORD is one" (Deuteronomy 6:4), followed by Deuteronomy 6:5 to 9, 11:13 to 21 and Numbers 15:37 to 41, recited morning and evening. Worshippers often cover their eyes for the first line to concentrate.
3. The Amidah ("standing prayer", also Shemoneh Esreh, "eighteen", although it now has nineteen blessings on weekdays). Said silently while standing with feet together, facing Jerusalem. On weekdays it contains praise, petitions (for wisdom, forgiveness, healing, the restoration of Jerusalem and the coming of the Messiah) and thanksgiving; on Shabbat the petitions are replaced by a blessing for the holiness of the day. In Orthodox and many Masorti congregations the leader then repeats it aloud with the Kedushah.
4. Kaddish. An Aramaic prayer praising God's name, in several forms. The Mourner's Kaddish is recited by mourners for eleven months after the death of a parent and on the anniversary (yahrzeit); it requires a minyan.
5. Aleinu, a closing prayer affirming God's sovereignty and the hope that all humanity will recognise God.

The Torah service

On Monday and Thursday mornings, Shabbat morning and afternoon, festivals and new months, the Torah is read publicly:

• The Ark is opened and the Torah scroll is taken out and carried around the congregation, who may touch it with the fringe of the tallit or a siddur and then kiss it.
• On the bimah the reader chants the weekly portion (parashah) with a pointer (yad), so that the whole Torah is completed each year; the cycle ends and restarts on Simchat Torah.
• Members are called up for an aliyah ("going up") to recite blessings before and after each section. A young person's first aliyah is the heart of a bar or bat mitzvah.
• The scroll is lifted (hagbah) and rolled (gelilah), and on Shabbat and festivals a related reading from the Prophets, the haftarah, follows. The rabbi may give a sermon.

Shabbat services

Shabbat begins on Friday evening with Kabbalat Shabbat ("welcoming the Sabbath"), including the hymn Lekha Dodi by the 16th-century Safed kabbalist Shlomo Alkabetz, which welcomes the Sabbath as a bride, followed by Ma'ariv. Shabbat morning is the longest service of the week: Shacharit, the Torah service and Musaf. Many congregations then share a Kiddush (blessing over wine and refreshments).

Diversity within Judaism

The first Reform services, in early 19th-century Germany, shortened the liturgy and introduced vernacular prayers, sermons and organ music. Hasidic communities often pray in a small, informal shtiebel. Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities use different forms of the liturgy (nusach) and melodies. In Australia, examples include the Great Synagogue in Sydney (Orthodox, consecrated 1878) and the Hobart Synagogue (consecrated 1845), the oldest synagogue building in Australia.

How synagogue services express the beliefs of Judaism

1. One God (monotheism)

The Shema declares that God is one, and the whole service, from Barechu to Aleinu, is addressed to the one God. The Amidah addresses God directly as "Blessed are You", expressing a personal relationship with the creator.

2. The covenant (brit)

Prayer three times daily and the Shabbat services are the Jewish people's ongoing response to the covenant made with Abraham and confirmed at Sinai. The Shema commands Israel to love God and to teach the commandments to their children (Deuteronomy 6:5 to 7).

3. The Torah as revelation

The honour given to the Sefer Torah (kept in the Ark, carried in procession, kissed, read by hand-written scroll) expresses the belief that the Torah is God's revelation to Moses at Sinai. Reading all of it every year expresses the belief that it is the guide to the whole of life. The sermon and study reflect the belief that learning Torah (Talmud Torah) is itself worship.

4. The Temple and the land of Israel

The services correspond to the Temple offerings (Berakhot 26b); synagogues and worshippers face Jerusalem; the ner tamid recalls the Temple lamp; the Amidah prays for the rebuilding of Jerusalem. This expresses the belief that the covenant includes the people's bond with the land and the city.

5. Messianic hope and redemption

The Amidah prays for the coming of the Messiah and the ingathering of exiles; Aleinu looks to the day when all humanity recognises God. Services express the belief that history is moving toward redemption (tikkun).

6. Community and the holiness of time

The minyan expresses the belief that Israel meets God as a people (klal Yisrael), and the cycle of daily, Shabbat and festival services expresses the belief that time itself can be made holy, beginning with the Sabbath commanded in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:8).

Significance for the individual

• Relationship with God. Regular prayer shapes a personal relationship with God, with space for private petition in the silent Amidah.
• Sanctifying time. The daily and weekly rhythm, above all Shabbat, frames the individual's life around God rather than work.
• Learning and identity. Hearing and studying the Torah deepens understanding and identity; for young people, preparing to read Torah at a bar or bat mitzvah marks religious adulthood.
• Life-cycle support. Naming a daughter, an aufruf (calling a groom, and in some communities a couple, to the Torah before a wedding), and saying Kaddish in mourning all happen in the synagogue, supported by others.

Significance for the Jewish community

• Unity and identity. The synagogue is the centre of Jewish communal life, especially in the Diaspora. Shared liturgy links Jews across the world and across history.
• Mutual dependence. Mourners need a minyan to say Kaddish; the community needs members to form one. This embodies Hillel's teaching, "Do not separate yourself from the community" (Pirkei Avot 2:4).
• Education and continuity. Synagogues run Hebrew and religious schools, adult learning and youth programs, transmitting the tradition across generations.
• Welfare and social action. Congregations organise tzedakah (charity), care for the sick and bereaved, and social justice work (tikkun olam).
• Adaptation. The spread of Orthodox, Masorti and Progressive congregations shows a community adapting worship to modern life while keeping its core structure.

In one sentence

Synagogue services, from the daily Shacharit, Mincha and Ma'ariv to the Shabbat Torah reading, express Judaism's belief in one God, the covenant and the Torah, the memory of the Temple and the hope of redemption, sustaining both each Jew's relationship with God and the life, learning and unity of the Jewish community.

Try this

Q1. Outline the role of the minyan in synagogue services. (2 marks)

• What the marker wants. Definition (ten adult Jews) and the prayers that require it, with a note on denominational difference.

Q2. Demonstrate how the Torah service expresses the belief in revelation. (4 marks)

• What the marker wants. Accurate description of the Torah service linked to Sinai and the covenant.

Q3. Analyse the significance of synagogue services for the Jewish community in Australia. (5 marks)

• What the marker wants. Identity, education, mutual dependence (minyan, Kaddish) and diversity of congregations, with how these relate to individual observance.