Synagogue
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A synagogue (from Greek: συναγωγή, transliterated synagogē, "assembly"; בית כנסת beit knesset, "house of assembly"; שול or בית תפילה beit tefila, "house of prayer", shul; אסנוגה, esnoga) is a Jewish house of prayer.
Synagogues usually have a large hall for prayer (the main sanctuary), smaller rooms for study and sometimes a social hall and offices. Some have a separate room for Torah study, called the Beit midrash — בית מדרש ("House of Study").
Synagogues are not consecrated spaces, nor is a synagogue necessary for collective worship. Jewish worship can be carried out wherever ten Jews (a minyan) assemble. A synagogue is not in the strictest sense a temple; it does not replace the true, long since destroyed, Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
Many Jews in English-speaking countries use the Yiddish term "shul" in everyday speech. Spanish and Portuguese Jews call the synagogue an esnoga. Persian Jews and Karaite Jews use the term Kenesa, which is derived from Aramaic, and some Arab Jews use knis. Reform and some Conservative congregations in the United States sometimes use the word "temple."
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