I want to ask you, maybe you can help me, if childrens in the days of Jesus, were alowed in the synagogues for the cult. The Organization tells that Jesus, since a litle boy, went to the synagogue with her parents. But I think, in all that I read, that childrens don't were alowed in the cult, only adults.
A Question about synagogues
by TJ Curioso 3 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Narkissos
Aren't you mixing up "synagogues" and "temple" maybe? I'm not sure what the WT has said, but the only Gospel references to Jesus' sharing in worship as a child are connected to the temple, not synagogues (Luke 2).
From a historical perspective, the development of synagogues in Galilee and the diaspora really became noteworthy after the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, with the Pharisaic takeover of Judaism. So most Gospel references to Pharisaic synagogues in the context of the first half of the 1st century may well be anachronistic.
Cf. http://www.mystae.com/restricted/reflections/messiah/xpharisee.html
However, afaik children do attend synagogue offices now.
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TJ Curioso
Yes, I'm talking about synagogues.
Here is the reference in the book 'Greatest Man'.
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gtchap.9Jesus’EarlyFamilyLife***The life of Joseph’s family is built around the worship of Jehovah God. In keeping with God’s Law, Joseph and Mary give their children spiritual instruction ‘when they sit in their house, when they walk on the road, when they lie down, and when they get up.’ There is a synagogue in Nazareth, and we can be sure that Joseph also regularly takes his family along to worship there. But no doubt they find their greatest enjoyment in regular trips to Jehovah’s temple in Jerusalem. Matthew13:55, 56;27:56;Mark15:40;6:3;Deuteronomy6:6-9.
Well, I read some bible dictionaries that womens were allowed in the synagogue, but separeted from men. But I never read that childrens were allowed in the cult. From the point of view of the Org., Jesus was a exemple even in assisting to the religiouses meetings from is childhood.
So my case, is that if the children don't were allowed to this meetings in the synagogue, this is incorrect information.
(sorry for my bad english ;) )
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Narkissos
In the synagogue services I happened to attend, there were plenty of children (although boys and girls were separated as were men and women)... btw, the general atmosphere was very different from traditional Western churches -- much noisier, people talking and joking aloud during the services. The only thing is that a boy doesn't actively share in public service (such as by reading from the Torah) until he becomes a bar mitzva ("son of the commandment"), usually at age 13. But hopefully Jewish posters will weigh in, and correct or expand.
The Synoptic Gospels do mention a synagogue in Nazareth/Nazara (Luke 4//), so on purely "scriptural" grounds the WT guess (which remains no more than a guess) may seem plausible. However, from a historical perspective this is particularly doubtful, since Nazareth was at best a tiny village in the 1st century AD. (Cf. my previous post and link on the development of Pharisaic synagogues in Galilee after 70 AD).