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To: Dr. Sivana
Re: "Probably a synagogue, NOT a temple."

When I was growing up in the 1950s, I lived in a neighborhood that was about one third Jewish.

I clearly recall that many of my class mates would say they were going to or had been to "Temple."

Perhaps the word has fallen out of fashion, or it is just used by specific Jewish groups?

11 posted on 09/08/2022 11:59:13 PM PDT by zeestephen
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To: zeestephen

‘Temple’ in America, with almost no exceptions, refers to Reform Movement places of their version of worship.

‘Temple’ is used to signify in English that the Jew in question does not believe in the Third Temple rebuilt in Jerusalem, or in a human Messiah. The Hebrew term for a gathering place for prayers is a Beit HaKnesset (‘synagogue’ in Greek), literally ‘House of Assembly’.


12 posted on 09/09/2022 12:15:45 AM PDT by jjotto ( Blessed are You LORD, who crushes enemies and subdues the wicked.)
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To: zeestephen
I clearly recall that many of my class mates would say they were going to or had been to "Temple."

Of course, the old saying that if you have three Jews in a room, you will have four different opinions might hold here.

I went to a Connecticut prep school that was about 20% Jewish, and about 10% or so at U of Chicago, but they were lightly observant.

From Wikipedia on "Temple":
Since the 18th Century, Jews in Western and Central Europe began to apply the name "temple", borrowed from the French where it was used to denote all non-Catholic prayer houses, to synagogues. The term became strongly associated with Reform institutions, in some of which both congregants and outsiders associated it with the elimination of the prayers for the restoration of the Jerusalem Temple, though this was not the original meaning—traditional synagogues named themselves "temple" over a century before the advent of Reform, and many continued to do so after.[15] In American parlance, "temple" is often synonymous with "synagogue", but especially non-Orthodox ones.
17 posted on 09/09/2022 7:52:10 AM PDT by Dr. Sivana (What was 35% of the Rep. Party is now 85%. And it’s too late to turn back—Mac Stipanovich )
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