Hezekiah’s prayer on behalf of the city of Jerusalem described in II Kings and
Isaiah 37. These scholars claim that the synagogue succeeded the city gate
(shaar ha’ir) as the focal point of communal prayer. Finally, scholars disagree
as to whether the primary function of the synagogue was communal prayer
and study, or more literally as a place where Jews assembled for a much wider
array of reasons: communal administration, commerce, socializing, in addi-
tion to praying and studying. Whatever the case, by the first century B.C.E.
the synagogue was the principal place where communal prayers were recited;
and synagogues were located in virtually every major Jewish community in
the diaspora and in many communities in the Land of Israel.
The liturgy of the synagogue service took shape gradually, and it is not
entirely clear what exactly comprised the liturgy. Clearly, the heart of the ser-
vice was a public recitation of passages of the Pentateuch. Originally this
meant reciting on each festival the biblical origins of the festival and the bib-
lical instructions on how to observe it. The story of the Exodus from Egypt
and the laws of Passover, for example, were read on Passover. The annual com-
pletion of the Torah reading came much later. As with the observance of
Judaism in general, the canonization of the liturgy and the homogenization of
the synagogue service would not crystallize for another thousand years.
As a new institution, moreover, the synagogue at times blurred the bound-
ary between men and women, and provided greater opportunity for women.
Women such as Rufina of Smyrna figured among the principal donors, offi-
cers, and leaders of the synagogue service. In the Temple, by sharp contrast,
no women were ever allowed to offer a sacrifice or perform any other priestly
duty. As a new focal point of a new form of worship and communal assembly,
the synagogue was a spiritual frontier that opened possibilities that a male-
dominated Jewish hierarchy would have to engage with and define for the
next millennium. As the synagogue became a more established institution, it
also became an increasingly male-dominated institution, however. The
women’s gallery and the male-led service, apparently absent from the syna-
gogue at the time of its inception, became hallmarks of synagogue life by the
time of the Talmud.
The centrality of personal prayer in the Pharisaic outlook, coupled with
its non-Jerusalemite, extra-Temple orientation, made the synagogue into a
natural Pharisaic institution. It also cemented and perpetuated the connec-
tion between the Pharisaic elite that spent time in Jerusalem and in the
Sanhedrin, and the sect’s grassroots following. As a rule, Hasmonean rulers
needed support from either the Pharisees or the Sadducees. It was difficult, if
not impossible, to win support from both sects simultaneously. John
Hyrcanus, Aristobulus I, and Alexander Jannai favored the Sadducees, thus
alienating the Pharisees. Salome Alexandra favored the Pharisees. At times,
sectarian tensions grew violent. In one case, the conflict led to a popular
uprising against the king–high priest, leading to royal troops killing thou-
sands of protestors.
The challenge of Hellenism 33