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217 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Synagogue Synagogue, The Great tisches Gebetbueh, 2 vols., ib. 1870; J. M. Jost, Geschichte des Judentums and seiner Secten, Leipsie, 1857; M. Dusehak, Geschichte and Darstellung des jiidischen Cultus, Mannheim, 1866; Sieffert, in Beweis des Glaubens, 1876, pp. 3-11, 225-239; J. Hamburger, Real-Encyklopddie fur Bibel and Talmud, ii. 1142-47, Strelitz, 1883; A. Eders heim, Life and Times of.Jesus the Messiah, i. 430-450, London, 1884; I. Abrahams, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages, pp. 1-34, New York, 1896; Weinberg, in Monats schrift fur Geschichte and Wissenschaft des Judenthums, 1897, pp. 588 sqq., 639 sqq., 673 sqq.; L. Low, in Ge sammelte Schriften, iv. 1-71, Szegedin, 1898; J. Elbogen, Geschichte des Achtzehngebets, Breslau, 1903; idem, Stu dien zur Geschichle des jiidischen Gottesdienstes, Berlin, 1908; L. Stern, Die Vorschriften der Thora, 4th ed., Frank fort, 1904; A. Kistner, Der Kalender der Juden, Carls ruhe, 1905; P. Haupt, " Purim," in JBL, 1906, and Leipsic, 1906; 0. Holtzmann, Neutestamentliche Zeitgeschichte, 2d ed., Tiibingen, 1906; M. Rosenmann, Der Ursprung der Synagoge and ihre allmahliche Entwickelung, Berlin, 1907; W. O. E. Oesterley and G. H. Box, The Religion and Wor ship of the Synagogue: an. Introduction to the Study of Juda ism from the New Testament Period, New York, 1908; E. Sehiirer, Geschichte, ii. 427-463, Eng. transl., IL, ii. 52 89; Nowack, Archdologie, ii. 83 sqq.; DB, iv. 636-643; EB, iv. 4332-40; JE, xi. 619-640. The subject is dis cussed in many of the works on the history of the Jews (see under AHAB; and ISRAEL, HISTORY OF). On the worship consult: C. G. Bodenschatz, Kirchliche Verfassung der heutgen Juden, part ii., Leipsie, 1748; J. F. Sehr6der, Satzungen and Gebrauche des talmudi8ch rabbinischen Judenthums, Bremen, 1851; L. M. Lewin sohn, Geschichte and System des judischen Kalenderwesens, 1856; F. Delitzsch, Physiologic and Musik, pp. 44-57, Leipsic, 1868; M. H. Friedlander, Beitrdge zur Geschichte der synagogalen Gebete, Brfinn, .1869; Rothschild, Der Synagogalkultus in historisch-kritische Entwickelung, vol. i., Alzey, 1870; A. Schwarz, Der judische Kalendar, Breslau, 1872; J. Dessauer, Schlassel zum Gebetbuche, Budapest, 1878; H. Guedallah, Observations on the Jewish Ritual of the Present Time, London, 1885; J. Singer, Die Tonarten des traditionellen Synagogengesanges, Viehna, 1886; A. H. Lawatsch, Das Synagogenjahr, 2d ed., Reichenberg, 1887; L. Stern, Die Vorschriften der Thora, 3d ed., Frankfort, 1895; J. Winter and A. wfinsehe, Die judische Litteratur, iii. 477-529, Treves, 1896; J. M. Japhet, Die Accents der heiligen Schrift, pp. 167-184, Frankfort, 1896; E. Bres laur, Sind originale Synagogen- and Volksmelodien bei den Juden . . nachweisbar? Leipsic, 1898; L. N. Dembitz, Jewish Services in Synagogue and Home, Philadelphia, 1898 (popular): T. Scharf, Das gottesdienstliche Jahr bes den Juden, Leipsic, 1902; L. Zunz, ut sup.; also the works of Geiger, Duschak, Elbogen, Stem, Kistner, and Oesterley and Box in the preceding paragraph. SYNAGOGUE, THE GREAT: According to Talmudic and rabbinic tradition, a council estab lished in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, consisting of 120 members, and lasting till the beginning of the Greek period, which was concerned principally with the law and the ordering of life according to that law. Especially to this body were attributed the settling of the Canon of Scripture (q.v., L, 1, § 2), the masoretic marginal notes, the punctuation or pointing of the text, the composition of prayers, and directions respecting prayer and the like. As support for the theory of the existence of this body, the report in Neh. viii.-x. regarding the reading of the law by Ezra was cited, together with the assem bly in which the people obligated itself to keep per petually the law. The number 120 is found there (Neh. x. 128-comprising eighty-five subscribers to the obligation, with Ezra as the eighty-sixth) and the twenty-six (Neh. viii. 4, 7), who supported Ezra at the reading of the law, together with eight Levites (Neh. ix. 5-6) who prayed and sang. That from these three chapters no cogent proof for the exist ence of the Great Synagogue is deducible needs no
proof. The most complete assemblage of passages from Jewish literature bearing on the subject is found in Rau, Buxtorf, and Aurivillius (see bibliography).
All testimonies for the existence and activities (as outlined above) of this body are late. The oldest passages relatively are Pirke Aboth, i. 1-2 [cf. C. Taylor, Sayings of the Jewish Fathers, pp. 124-. 125, Cambridge, 1877], and Baba Bathra, 15a, in the Babylonian Talmud. In the first passage " the men of the Great Synagogue " appear simply as the mediators of the law (torah) between the prophets on the one side and Antigonus of Socho and his followers on the other. Simon the Just, i.e., probably the high-priest Simon I. at the beginning of the third century before Christ, is designated as belonging to the remnant of the Great Synagogue, so that with him or soon after him the body ceased to exist. Now, since the period between the rebuilding of the Temple and the overthrow of Persian rule in Palestine (516-331) is compressed to thirty-four years, the traditional conception of a body which continued for more than a century has here no firm basis. The passage from Baba Bathra reads: " The men of the Great Synagogue wrote Ezekiel, The Twelve, Daniel, and Esther. Ezra wrote his book and the genealogies in Chronicles up to his time." Of the closing of the canon there is here no mention; the subject dealt with is only the authorship (editing?) of the books which are recognized as the latest. From the nature of the relations existing and from some indications in the Bible (such as the reference to Ezra in Ezra vii. 6 as a ready scribe in the law of Moses) it may be concluded that activities corresponding to those attributed to the Great Synagogue actually were carried on. It is a fact that since the time of Ezra Jewish life was under the domination of the law and was characterized by that very fact. So that while the Great Synagogue can not be established as historical, yet the activities attributed to it were actually in operation through some medium then authoritative, and it is upon these activities that the tradition cited was in fact based.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: The modem hypothesis regarding the existence of this body depends upon J. Buxtorf's Tiberias, chap. x., Basel, 1665, and Elias Levita's Massoreth haMassoreth, ed. Ginsburg, pp. 112 sqq., London, 1867. That the question is now answered in the negative is due principally to H. E. Ryle, Canon of the O. T., Excursus A, pp. 250 sqq., London, 1892, and A. Kuenen, Over de mannen der groote Synagoge, Amsterdam, 1876, Germ. transl., Ueber die Manner der grossen Synagoge, in Gesammelte Abhandlungen, pp. 125-160, Freiburg, 1894. The subject will be found treated in most of the recent larger treatises on the introduction to the O. T. and on the canon-e.g., C. A. Briggs, Study of Holy Scripture, pp. 120-122, 252 sqq., New York, 1899. Consult further: J. E. Rau, Diatribe de synagoga magna, Utrecht, 1727; C. Aurivillius, Dissertationes, ed. J. D. Michaelis, pp. 139160, Leipsie, 1790; A. T. Hartmann, Die Verbindung des A. Ts. mit dem Neuen, pp. 120-166, Hamburg, 1831; M. Heidenheim, in TSK, 1553, pp. 93-100; L. Herzfeld Geschichte des Valkes Jisrael, ii. 22-24, 380 396, iii. 244245, 270-271, Nordhausen, 1855-57; J. M. Jost, Geschichte des Judenthums, i. 41-43, 91, 95-97, Leipsic, 1857; J. E. LSwy, Kritisch-talmudisches Lerikon, i. 241-261, Vienna, 1863; J. Derenbourg Essai sur Mistoire et la geographic de la Palestine, i. 29-40, Paris, 1867; J. S. Bloch, Studien zur Geschichte der Sammlung der althebrdischen Litteratur, pp. 100-132, Breslau, 1876; J. Hamburger, Real-Encyklopddie Air Bibel and Talmud, ii. 318-323, Strelitz, 1883;
