Bimah

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Bimah

A bimah (among Ashkenazim, derived from Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic Greece , Classical Greece , and Hellenistic civilization periods of ancient Greece and the classical antiquity....
), almemar (from Arabic al-minbar) or tebah (among Sephardim) is the elevated area or platform in a Jewish

Judaism

Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts....
synagogue

Synagogue

A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer.Synagogues usually have a large hall for prayer , smaller rooms for study and sometimes a social hall and offices....
which is intended to serve the place where the person reading aloud from the Torah

Torah

The term "Torah" , or Five Books of Moses or Pentateuch, refers to the entirety of Judaism's founding Halakha and ethical religious texts....
stands during the Torah reading service

Torah reading

Torah reading is a Judaism religion ritual that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Sefer Torah. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the Torah scroll from the ark , chanting the appropriate excerpt with special cantillation, and returning the scroll to the ark....
.

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A bimah (among Ashkenazim, derived from Greek

Ancient Greek

Judaism

Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts....
synagogue

Synagogue

Torah

The term "Torah" , or Five Books of Moses or Pentateuch, refers to the entirety of Judaism's founding Halakha and ethical religious texts....
stands during the Torah reading service

Torah reading

Altar

An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices and votive offerings are made for religion, or some other sacred place where ceremonies take place....
or tower

Tower

Towers are tall human-made structures that are always taller than they are wide, usually by a significant margin. Towers are generally built to take advantage of their height, and can stand alone or as part of a larger structure....
. The bimah was located in the centre of the synagogue most likely just as the temporary wooden bimah (this is the origin of the term) was central to the "women's courtyard" of the Temple in Jerusalem

Temple in Jerusalem

The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to a series of structures located on the Temple Mount in the old city of Jerusalem. Historically, two temples were built at this location, and a The Third Temple features in Jewish eschatology....
during the Hakhel

Hakhel

Hakhel refers to the Biblically-mandated practice of assembling all Jewish men, women and children to hear the reading of the Torah by the king of Israel once every seven years....
ceremony. While the original meaning of the word referred to the platform, the table from which the Torah scroll is read can also be referred to as the bimah, even when it is not on a platform. This later became a sign of the Orthodox

Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism is a Jewish denominations of Judaism that adheres to a relatively strict constructionist and application of the laws and ethics first canonized in the Talmudic texts and as subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and Acharonim....
synagogue in the mid-nineteenth century. The Reform

Reform Judaism

Reform Judaism refers to the spectrum of beliefs, practices and organizational infrastructure associated with Reform Judaism in Reform Judaism and in Reform Judaism ....
(Neolog) temples moved the bimah to the front of the temple facing the congregation. One of the well-known decrees of the Chatam Sofer was that the bimah must remain in the centre of an Orthodox synagogue.

The bimah is typically elevated by two or three steps, as was the bimah in the Temple. At the celebration of the Shavuot

Shavuot

is a Jewish holiday that occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan . Shavuot commemorates the anniversary of the day Names of God in Judaism#In English gave the Ten Commandments to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai....
holiday when synagogues are decorated with flowers, many synagogues have special arches that they place over the bimah and adorn with floral displays. The importance of the bimah is to show that the reader is the most important at that moment in time, and to make it easier to hear their reader of the Torah

Torah

The term "Torah" , or Five Books of Moses or Pentateuch, refers to the entirety of Judaism's founding Halakha and ethical religious texts....
. A raised bimah will typically have a railing. This was a religious requirement for safety in bimah more than 10 handbreaths high (somewhere between 83 and 127 centimeters). A lower bimah (even one step) will typically have a railing as a practical measure to prevent someone from inadvertently stepping off.

Bimah

See also