Welcome to the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, in Bevis Marks, here in the City of London:
the oldest surviving synagogue in this country, that is still in daily use.
Our synagogue was built in 1701.
It was built during the rebuilding of the City of London, after the Great Fire, and
it was built by Joseph Avis, a church builder who was employed so that the building would
blend in with the other places of worship in the area.
The last thing the community wanted was to stand out, so he was asked to ensure that
the building looked just like a church from outside.
The reason the synagogue is located where it is, is because when the planning permission
was applied for, the authorities insisted that the synagogue should not be visible from
the street.
So, it’s hidden away in this courtyard and has been for over three centuries now.
There are two types of Jews.
You have Sephardic Jews, who are descended from those who escaped from the Spanish Inquisition,
which is what we are.
And you have Ashkenazi Jews, who are more descended from Eastern European, Germany,
Russia, Poland, etc.
So this is a Sephardic synagogue.
The word ‘synagogue’ actually means ‘meeting room’, so somewhere where Jewish people
come together to pray.
There’s no actual ritual involved with the preparation for prayer.
The principal thing you do when you come in, for men, is to cover their head.
You show respect to God by having your head covered.
Services are held in the synagogue every single day.
So, you have an early morning service midweek, for those who work in the City of London,
and of course on the Sabbath and festivals the services are longer.
But there are services here every day of the week, 365 days a year.
The services are held in the main body of the synagogue.
There’s a central reading platform, called the Tevah, which is where the service is conducted
from.
The reason the reading desk is in the centre is very much a Sephardi tradition.
Early Sephardi synagogues are based on the layout of the temple in Jerusalem, where the
reading desk was in the centre.
Now, more modern synagogues will have the reading desk in front of the Ark, so that
all the seats can face forward.
As you’ll notice, our seats face inwards, and that’s so that we don’t have our back
to the reading while it’s taking place.
Men and women pray separately, much the same as they do in Islam; so the men are downstairs,
the ladies are in the gallery.
. But during the services, we pray alone.
When you stand in front of the Almighty, you’re alone – whatever your partner has done or
not done is irrelevant really.
You’re the one that’s judged.
The centre of all Judaism is the Torah, of course.
It’s the law, it’s the five books of Moses, and that’s the basis of the Jewish faith.
All synagogues have an ark, because you must have the Torah, and it’s got to be kept
in a place that is appropriate, and it’s got to be treated with an incredible amount
of respect.
In the majority of synagogues in the world, you will see above the Ark, something representing
the Ten Commandments.
There are actually seven chandeliers in the synagogue and they represent the seven days
of the week.
There’s a larger one in the centre, which represents the Shabbat ¬– the Sabbath.
There’s no religious significance in the candles – we do light them, but for effect
these days, for things like weddings and festivals and special occasions, because it looks so
amazing.
And actually, there’s one other numerical thing in the synagogue and that’s the number
of columns that support the ladies’ gallery.
There are twelve of them, and they represent the twelve tribes of Israel.