How did Jews in the holy land worship when they could not get to the Temple?

[JBG]

How did Jews in the holy land worship when they could not get to the Temple?

During the days of the Jews lived in the holy land, both before 586 BCE, and after Cyrus allowed the Jews to return, most shoes did not live within a close radius of Jerusalem. In fact, the most fertile parts of that area where the gallery and the coastal areas, near modern Tel Aviv, and Haifa, as now.

The operative question is how Jews worshiped during other than those rare occasions that they could abandon foreman field or village life, and travel to Jerusalem? Even if they could get transportation, leaving large areas unguarded was flatly impossible. I doubted the Jews worshiped only every three or four years.

I’ve asked just about every Rabbi and Cantor that I’ve had meaningful contact with and nobody has a good answer. Does anyone else?

 

[Daisy]

3 times a year the men would travel to Jerusalem for the festivals held at the temple there...for day-to-day worship they had local synagogues to attend...

In the Greek Septuagint the two words ek·kle·siʹa, meaning “assembly” or “congregation,” and sy·na·go·geʹ (a bringing together) are used interchangeably. The word “synagogue” eventually took on the meaning of the place or building where the assembly was held. However, it did not completely lose its original meaning, for the Great Synagogue was not a large building but an assembly of noted scholars, credited with settling the Hebrew Scripture canon for the Palestinian Jews. It is said to have had its beginning in the days of Ezra or of Nehemiah and to have continued until the time of the Great Sanhedrin, about the third century B.C.E. James uses the word in the sense of a Christian meeting or public gathering.—Jas 2:2.

It is not known just when synagogues were instituted, but it seems to have been during the 70-year Babylonian exile when there was no temple in existence, or shortly following the return from exile, after Ezra the priest had so strongly stressed the need for knowledge of the Law.

In the days of Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry, each town of any size in Palestine had its own synagogue, and the larger cities had more than one. Jerusalem had many. There is even an instance in the Scriptures of a synagogue that was built for the Jews by a Roman army officer. (Lu 7:2, 5, 9)

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200004282

 

[JBG]

3 times a year the men would travel to Jerusalem for the festivals held at the temple there...for day-to-day worship they had local synagogues to attend...


https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200004282

Thanks. That leaves a few questions:

1. How did worship look prior to 56 BCE? and
2. How did farmers and villagers, en masse, abandon their fields without the risk of marauders?

The link was informative but I am curious on this issue. Thanks again for your efforts.

 

[Daisy]

Thanks. That leaves a few questions:

1. How did worship look prior to 56 BCE? and
2. How did farmers and villagers, en masse, abandon their fields without the risk of marauders?

The link was informative but I am curious on this issue. Thanks again for your efforts.

Jehovah promised, “Nobody will desire your land while you are going up to see the face of Jehovah your God three times in the year.” (Ex 34:24) Even though no men were left to guard the cities and the land, it proved true that no foreign nation ever came up to take the land of the Jews during their festivals prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. However, in 66 C.E., which was after the rejection of Christ by the Jewish nation, Cestius Gallus slew 50 persons at Lydda during the Festival of Tabernacles.
https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200001504

 

[joluoto]

People in the Northern Kingdom were not limited to only wopprship the Temple. The Northern kingdom (i.e. Israel) did not recognize Jerusalem's supremacy (naturally). The Northern kingdom was also more richer and powerful than the Southern Kingdom, until it's fall. The Southern Kingdom benefited from the fall of the North with many northerners moving to the South.

The supremacy of the Temple of Jerusalem was of course the rule of the Southern Kingdom (Judah), and you was not allowed to worship YHWH outside the Temple. Did everyone follow this? Probably not. And also since we are talking pre- Babylonian captivity, it's very possible other deities, or divine entities were worshipped too, and this worship would of course not happen in the Temple.

Synagogues was a post- Babylonian captivity development, but now we are talking about an era where the Temple's complete monopoly has eroded anyways.

 

[JBG]

People in the Northern Kingdom were not limited to only wopprship the Temple. The Northern kingdom (i.e. Israel) did not recognize Jerusalem's supremacy (naturally). The Northern kingdom was also more richer and powerful than the Southern Kingdom, until it's fall. The Southern Kingdom benefited from the fall of the North with many northerners moving to the South.

The supremacy of the Temple of Jerusalem was of course the rule of the Southern Kingdom (Judah), and you was not allowed to worship YHWH outside the Temple. Did everyone follow this? Probably not. And also since we are talking pre- Babylonian captivity, it's very possible other deities, or divine entities were worshipped too, and this worship would of course not happen in the Temple.

Synagogues was a post- Babylonian captivity development, but now we are talking about an era where the Temple's complete monopoly has eroded anyways.

Certainly interesting observations. Thank you.

 

[EdwinWillers]

How did Jews in the holy land worship when they could not get to the Temple?

During the days of the Jews lived in the holy land, both before 586 BCE, and after Cyrus allowed the Jews to return, most shoes did not live within a close radius of Jerusalem. In fact, the most fertile parts of that area where the gallery and the coastal areas, near modern Tel Aviv, and Haifa, as now.

The operative question is how Jews worshiped during other than those rare occasions that they could abandon foreman field or village life, and travel to Jerusalem? Even if they could get transportation, leaving large areas unguarded was flatly impossible. I doubted the Jews worshiped only every three or four years.

I’ve asked just about every Rabbi and Cantor that I’ve had meaningful contact with and nobody has a good answer. Does anyone else?

Here are several interesting links with some pertinent facts about the Temple and synagogues:

12 Things To Know About the Temple in Jerusalem | My Jewish Learning

Long ago, as prescribed by the Hebrew scriptures, Jewish worship revolved around the Temple in Jerusalem. For a thousand years, ...

www.myjewishlearning.com

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/74339/jewish/Who-Invented-the-Synagogue.htm

Generally, and this is just my layman's perspective, back when the temple was still around (<70 AD), people who didn't live in Jerusalem would only go there for special occasions/festivals and/or for special sacrifices, which was one of the primary purposes of the temple - sacrifices (sin/atonement, thanks, wave, guilt and peace offerings, etc.), and ceremonial cleansing, pilgrimages, etc.. And my understanding is that they could ONLY sacrifice in the temple, thus when the temple was destroyed, so too died their sacrificial system. The "prayer system" (my term) though never stopped and in effect, replaced the sacrificial system since the latter no longer existed.

Communal life and worship has always been part of the Jewish way of life, so the majority of "worship" was done communally, or locally in their synagogues ("gathering places").