Synagogue. This term is a Greek one (synagōgē, place of assembly) applied to Jewish places of worship and instruction. When the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed in 587 BCE, resulting in the diaspora (dispersion) of the Jews, a temple-centered worship was no longer possible. The synagogue was an expedient devised as a substitute, probably at first consisting simply of a gathering in one of the larger private homes in the community. By New Testament times it had become a distinct building set aside for worship. Wherever there was a community of Jews, in Palestine or elsewhere, there would be a synagogue. It was administered as a lay organization, ruled by certain officers but with no priestly functions such as had been performed in the Temple. While it was indeed a mere substitute for the latter, it was sociologically the most potent factor in the survival of Judaism. It was a meeting place for Jews that preserved for them their identity as a people. From the standpoint of Christians of a later age it was much more like a Protestant church (e.g., a Congregationalist or Presbyterian one) than like a Roman Catholic or Anglican or Eastern Orthodox one. Not only was the synagogue the focus of much of the life of Jesus himself and of Paul and the other apostles ( Paul began his preaching at the Damascus synagogue, as reported in Acts 9.20); it was from synagogal worship that Christian worship was gradually evolved, although with many transformations due to greater Gentile Christian acceptance of Hellenistic attitudes and culture.

Geddes MacGregor, Dictionary of Religion and Philosophy, New York: Paragon House, 1989

synagogue : (nt.) Yādava-devāyatana.

A.P. Buddhadatta Mahathera, Concise Pali-English and English-Pali Dictionary [available as digital version from Metta Net, Sri Lanka]