The Centrality of the Synagogue

“The synagogue was one of Jewry’s greatest creations. It sustained the Jewish people through almost two thousand years of exile. It kept them together as the only nation ever to survive an extended period without a land, a country or political power, dispersed throughout the world. It was their spiritual home, educational citadel and welfare centre, and it connected them to all other Jews through time and space. Wherever ten Jews gathered and formed a community, it was as if they were the entire Jewish people in microcosm. Wherever they sat and studied it was as if they were back at Sinai.”

Radical Then, Radical Now pgs. 154-155