ABSTRACT
By the time the earliest synagogues were built, as far as we know at the end of the third century Bc, Jewish philosophers and theologians were constantly asking the same set of questions. They were all directly or indirectly concerned with the way in which earth was related to heaven. This relationship affects both synagogue architecture and the services themselves. This chapter will also explore some parts of the theology of the services, with their practical results. Earlier Scriptures relating earth and heaven were considered, for instance Ezekiel’s vision of God on his throne, surrounded by cherubim, 1 or Isaiah’s description of the qedushah. the seraphic hymn ‘Holy, holy, holy’. 2 In this period there were new accounts of men journeying into heaven, and seeing the angelic beings worshipping God. The next chapter will explain how, in terms of design, this has an effect on the proportions.
