Judaism & Public Worship (Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies B): Revision Note

Nature & purpose of Jewish public worship

• Worship is prayer and praise to a deity

• Jews worship God both at home and in public

• Public worship takes place in a synagogue at set times, with a community of Jewish worshippers called a congregation

  • For Orthodox Jews, the congregation should contain at least ten adult males for public worship to take place

  • This is said to form a minyan and is needed for the Shekhinah to be present

The purpose of Jewish public worship 

• Public worship has several purposes for Jews:

  • Worshipping with others gives a sense of belonging and community

  • It can help people to feel part of a global community

  • It can help people to make friends

  • It enables people to participate in prayers that can only be said in a congregation, for example, Shabbat prayers

  • The rabbis teach that there is more merit in praying with others than in praying alone

  • It fulfils the commandment that Jewish people should worship in public in the Temple, as well as in their home

    • This is commanded in the Psalm which says:

The nature of Jewish public worship

Shabbat services

• Shabbat services take place on Friday evening and Saturday morning

• The Friday service welcomes Shabbat and the rabbi takes a cup of wine and recites Kiddush

• The Saturday morning Shabbat service is a family service and the main service of the week

• Some of the main features of the Shabbat family service include:

  • The Sefer Torah being carried from the Ark to the Bimah 

  • The rabbi reading the sidra

  • The rabbi giving the sermon (after the Sefer Torah has been returned to the Ark)

• There are further prayers in the synagogue on Shabbat afternoon, where once again the Sefer Torah is taken from the Ark and read from

Nature & purpose of synagogue services

• The nature of synagogue services varies depending on the occasion

• As well as the Shabbat services, public worship in the synagogue also marks important Jewish festivals. Examples include:

  • Rosh Hashanah - In preparation for this festival, Jews attend synagogue daily during the month of Ellul

  • Yom Kippur - During this most important Jewish festival, five prayer services are held in the synagogue over the course of the day

  • Simchat Torah, a festival where the Sefer Torah must be paraded around the synagogue’s congregation

• There are some differences in the nature of synagogue services between different Jewish traditions

• In Orthodox Judaism synagogue services:

  • the services tend to be conducted mainly in Hebrew

  • there is very little music, although there is unaccompanied singing and chanting (playing musical instruments is banned as it is considered ‘work’)

  • men and women sit separately

  • men wear tefillin and tallit for the service

  • prayers are slightly different to reflect the more traditional beliefs of Orthodox Jews

• In Liberal and Reform Judaism synagogue services:

  • there is more content in the language of the country the synagogue is located in

  • there is singing accompanied by instruments or recorded music

  • men and women may sit together

  • the prayers are slightly different to reflect their beliefs and traditions

The importance of synagogue services

• Worship in the synagogue is important to unite the Jewish community

• Jews see it as a way to fulfil the command in the Torah:

• It enables Jews to serve God alongside others who share their beliefs and values

• It enables them to mark Shabbat and the most important festivals properly

• It allows the whole community to share important rites of passage such as Bar and Bat Mitzvahs and weddings

• For an individual Jew, synagogue services are important because:

  • They feel they belong to a local and a global community

  • It helps them to learn more about their faith through the teachings and sermons of the rabbi

  • It allows them to hear the Torah and Tenakh being read

  • It helps them to reflect on the important festivals and times of their own lives

  • It gives them order and purpose in their lives