A synagogue A synagogue will look like any other building from the outside: the only sign you might get from the outside is the star of David which is called magen David in the Hebrew language. There may also be a sign outside stating the name of the synagogue. There are many names for asinagogue such as; shul - meaning school in Hebrew, bet haknesset, meaning house of assembly - is used only by Sephardim, who are Eastern Jews. A synagogue is primarily a place of worship but also functions as a community center for Jews. The building is so important that the entire Jewish community that worships there will revolve around the building. It is used as a teaching school for Jewish children where they will be taught the Hebrew alphabet, Hebrew numbers and their faith. This school is the Jewish equivalent of a Christian "Sunday school". If you go in now, you would see that the synagogue is rectangular, and even if you don't realize it, the entire synagogue is built facing Israel, if possible, Jerusalem. There will be a sink where the congregation will wash their hands and feet before praying or worshiping. You will also notice that there are separate seats. This is because in Orthodox synagogues men sit on the ground floor and pray, while women sit in the gallery. There is a good reason for this - and not because Jews are sexist - but because in Judaism men take on the role of worshipers and women are expected to take care of the home and children, so if people delay (the women). This could be because they had to change the baby or something, so instead of disturbing... middle of paper... yes and the hymns and songs are sung without the help or support of music. In a liberal or reform synagogue, however, things would be very different, for example, there is a great possibility that a female rabbi will lead the service, the man and women are more "equal", as they sit together and worship together as one great mass. The bimah could be at the forefront, which, in my opinion, gives the sense of preaching and I think that the Jews know their religion, they don't need to be educated about it, they just want to worship God. There could also be an organ to accompany songs and hymns because music is permitted in Reform synagogues. There would also be a little less Hebrew spoken. So this synagogue that I described to you is an Orthodox synagogue. Orthodox translates to “right faith” and is considered traditional Judaism.