The remains of many ancient synagogues still exist in Galilee.[2] They are all constructed of large and good materials; but their style is somewhat paltry, in consequence of the profusion of floral ornaments, foliage, and twisted work, which characterize the Jewish buildings.[3] In the interior there were seats, a chair for public reading, and a closet to contain the sacred rolls.[4] These edifices, which had nothing of the character of a temple, were the centre of the whole Jewish life.

There the people assembled on the Sabbath for prayer, and reading of the law and the prophets.

As Judaism, except in Jerusalem, had, properly speaking, no clergy, the first comer stood up, gave the lessons of the day (_parasha_ and _haphtara_), and added thereto a _midrash_, or entirely personal commentary, in which he expressed his own ideas.[5] This was the origin of the "homily," the finished model of which we find in the small treatises of Philo.

The audience had the right of making objections and putting questions to the reader; so that the meeting soon degenerated into a kind of free assembly.

It had a president,[6] "elders,"[7] a _hazzan_, _i.e._, a recognized reader, or apparitor,[8] deputies,[9] who were secretaries or messengers, and conducted the correspondence between one synagogue and another, a _shammash_, or sacristan.[10] The synagogues were thus really little independent republics, having an extensive jurisdiction.