Understanding Synagogue Customs and Architectural Features

Rabbi Emma Kiple Ogman guides newcomers on what to expect in a synagogue, emphasizing rituals and community features.

### Exploring the Synagogue: A Guide with Rabbi Emma Kiple Ogman
* 🏛 Rabbi Emma Kiple Ogman welcomes us to KI, starting our journey in the lobby of the synagogue where we learn about **important customs and items** found there.
* 🧢 Outside the sanctuary, a basket of Kipas is available for visitors to **cover their heads as a sign of respect** before entering.
* 📜 Informational brochures about synagogue programs and a guide to help follow along during the **Shabbat morning service** are also located in the lobby.
* 🧣 Visitors will find a rack of prayer shawls, known as **Tallit**, which Jewish adults often wear during services, accompanied by a **blessing recited before donning them**.
* 🕯 Inside the sanctuary, architectural features include memorial plaques, pews, the **Bima stage**, and the **Ark where the Torah is kept**, topped with the **Eternal Light**.
* 📖 Attendees can find prayer books (Sidur) and Torah texts (Kumash) in the pews, allowing them to **follow along with prayers** and the **weekly Torah reading**.
* 🔍 The Torah is read from a scroll, and the reader uses a **Yad**, a hand-shaped pointer, to follow the text, emphasizing the **care and tradition** involved in these practices.
* 🙏 Rabbi Emma expresses gratitude for the opportunity to explore the sanctuary and invites everyone to **experience the community and services** at the synagogue.

We're here with Rabbi Emma Kiple Ogman, who's going to help us learn what to expect in a synagogue. Welcome to KI, thanks. So, we're standing here in the lobby, um, and we're going to take a look at some of the things that you'll see in the lobby before you actually walk into the sanctuary of the synagogue. Great. So, there's often a basket of Kipas, of kipot, outside a sanctuary because it's custom in Judaism for people before they go into the sanctuary, before they go into pre, to cover their head. It's a sign of respect. Outside the sanctuary, you'll also often find all sorts of information on programs that the synagogue has to offer, on information about what's going on every week. There's a whole brochure rack over there, um, and this one is really helpful too, which we'll see inside. There's page numbers to help you follow along during the Shabbat morning service. Also, outside the sanctuary on your way in, you'll often find a rack of prayer Shaws called

T um they're usually of various sizes and shapes. Here's a narrower one, here's a wider one. Um, and it's customary if you're coming into a Sho, if you're coming to a synagogue for a Shabbat morning service. Um, Jewish people will often, Jewish adults will often wear a Talis, wear a prayer Shaw. And before you put it on, you say a blessing. The blessing goes like this: the blessing means blessed are you, God, Sovereign of the universe, who has sanctified us with the commandments and commanded us to wrap ourselves in sit sit. Sit sit are the fringes that you can see on the corners of the garment. They're knotted in a very special way that actually indicates the oneness of God, all written into this garment that you're welcome, invited to put on as you go into a sanctuary on a Shabbat morning. So now we're going into the sanctuary where we're going to discover all sorts of architectural features and different components to the sanctuary at kth.

Israel in our Sanctuary. We have a number of plaques put up in memorium of members of our community who have died in years past, from the beginning of the synagogue. So, you can feel actually surrounded by the presence of many generations, even as we sit in the sanctuary today. And then we get to more of the Practical stuff. We have pews; some synagogues have chairs. We have the beima, which is the stage up front. We have the Ark in the Middle where the Torah is, and we have above it a little light. It's called the Narto, the Eternal Light that's always on. So, let's find a seat. Some people like to sit farther away; some people like to sit closer up. We're going to try sitting close in today and see what it feels like. So, as you sit down in the Pew, you might notice if you look down and around that there are books all tucked in in different ways.

some of those books are Sidur prayer books, and some of those books are Kashim, that uh, books with the five books of the Torah in it to follow along with the weekly reading that will be read in the middle of the service. So, let's take a look at Miss door and just open it and see what it looks like. Um, so the you can see in the Sidur that there are prayers in Hebrew and in English. There's a translation of everything as you go along. Um, and often the person leading the prayers, the rabbi, will be calling out as they go what page we're on. So, they'll say page 40, you turn to page 40, and you can follow along, or you can follow along yourself with a guide that lets you know, okay, if we're saying this prayer, here's the page that we're on in the prayer book. And many different synagogues have different kinds of ways of helping you follow along with the service. When we come to the Torah reading, which happens at the middle of

the service. You'll put away your SEO, actually, and open up a kumash, open up the book that has all of the Torah readings in it, and you'll turn to the weekly reading. So, this week's reading is Truma, as it happens. Each week, we read a different part of the Torah, starting with Genesis and finishing in Deuteronomy, so that each year we read through the entire cycle. You'll see that the portion for the week is in Hebrew and in English, with a lot of commentary below that you can read as you follow along with the reading. In some communities, the prayer leader faces the congregation, usually being up at the front on the bima, and in other communities, the leader faces in the same direction as the congregation, as Rabbi Emma is demonstrating for us right now. The person who's leading the service will stand here, facing forward, along with the rest of the community. And I'll show you what it

looks like in some other communities where somebody might stand facing the it might look more like this during Services. We both stand and sit depending on what prayer is being said. When the ark is opened, we all stand up as a sign of respect. So let's go take a look at what this Arc is all [Applause] about. So Rabbi Emma has just opened the ark, and as you can see, there are toras inside. So let's actually take out of saer Torah, a Torah scroll, and we'll take a look inside to see what it looks like. Great. We carry it almost like a baby. So you'll see on the saer Torah, you go around on the sa for Torah is what's called a Yad. This is a Yad. You can see it means in Hebrew hand, and you can see that it's actually shaped like a hand. This is the pointer that's used during the reading for the person who's reading from the Torah to be able to follow along with the words, and the Torah is dressed with a

cover. Do you want a hand? Uh, yeah. The Tor is dressed with a cover, and then on the inside, that's the squirrel is held closed with open. And we can take a look inside the tus s is um is made of parchment written with ink. And you can see the words of the words of this week's reading here written very carefully in a specific calligraphy that's used only for Holy writings. So, thank you for showing us the sanctuary and what to expect here in a synagogue, Rabbi Emma. It was really a pleasure, and I hope I'll see everybody here someday. Thanks.

What To Expect At A Synagogue - InterfaithFamily.com

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The lobby of a synagogue often has a basket of Kipas for head covering, a sign of respect before entering the sanctuary.

There is also a brochure rack with information on programs and page numbers to help follow the Shabbat morning service.

Prayer Shaws, or Talis, are available for use, and wearing one is customary for Jewish adults attending the service, accompanied by a special blessing.

The sanctuary is adorned with plaques in memory of community members, creating a sense of connection across generations.

Key features include pews, a beima (stage), the Ark with the Torah, and the Eternal Light (Narto) above.

The prayer books, Sidur and Kashim, are available to help attendees follow along with the prayers and weekly Torah reading.

The weekly Torah reading, known as Truma this week, is a central part of the service, with readings in both Hebrew and English.

The prayer leader's position varies between facing the congregation or standing in the same direction.

The ark, which holds the Torah scrolls, is opened with the community standing in respect, and the Torah is read using a pointer called a Yad.

Inside a Synagogue: A Tour with Rabbi Emma

The Torah is dressed with a cover and held closed with an open mechanism.

Inside, the Torah is made of parchment and written in a specific calligraphy used for Holy writings.

Rabbi Emma provides a glimpse of the sanctuary and expresses hope to see everyone there someday.