In ancient Judaism, an archisynagogue (Greek ; Hebrew ; "synagogue chief") was the officer who supervised matters pertaining to the religious services of the

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

Usage

Use of the term can be traced from the time of Jesus to about the year 300. It occurs several times in the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

. The name is borrowed from the Greek, and was therefore used by Jews throughout the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

, but not by Jews in Babylonia. Hence, the

Babylonian Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the centerpiece of Jewi ...

– when mentioning the archisynagogue – finds it necessary to translate the word by '' parnas''.

Role

The distinctive function of the archisynagogue was to select suitable men for the reading of the Law, the reciting of prayers, and for preaching; since in ancient times the synagogue did not have regularly appointed officers for the performance of these duties. From the

Jerusalem Talmud The Jerusalem Talmud (, often for short) or Palestinian Talmud, also known as the Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century Jewish oral tradition known as the Mishnah. Naming this version of the Talm ...

, it further appears that in cases of necessity the archisynagogue of a community had to act as its reader. In consonance with the nature of his office, the archisynagogue was chosen for his piety and good moral character, while in the case of an archon the essential requirements were social position and influence. The Pharisees therefore regarded the archisynagogues as inferior only to the scholars (). Like most of the offices of the

Pharisaic The Pharisees (; ) were a Jewish social movement and school of thought in the Levant during the time of Second Temple Judaism. Following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, Pharisaic beliefs became the foundational, liturgical, and ...

Jews, that of the archisynagogue was not limited in time, but was usually held for life, and not infrequently was hereditary; the Pharisees holdingSee

Torat Kohanim Sifra () is the Midrash halakha to the Book of Leviticus. It is frequently quoted in the Talmud and the study of it followed that of the Mishnah. Like Leviticus itself, the midrash is occasionally called Torat Kohanim, and in two passages ''Sifra ...

Aharei Mot 8, ed. Weiss, p. 83a that the son had a claim upon his father's office unless he had shown himself unworthy. This explains why the title "archisynagogue" was sometimes attached to the names of the wife and the children, as found on some Greek inscriptions. It was used, no doubt, to indicate that they were members of an archisynagogal family.

References

{{JewishEncyclopedia, title=ARCHISYNAGOGUE, url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1736-archisynagogue Its bibliography: * Schürer, Gesch. ii. 364-367, 519; * Gemeindeverfassung, pp. 25–28; * Weinberg, M. G. W. 1897, p. 657. Jewish religious occupations Ancient Jewish history Greek words and phrases in Jewish law

Usage

Role

See also

References