How Lovely Are Your Tents: The Synagogue in Liturgical and Literary Texts

workshop by Tereza Gafna Váňová and Daniel Soukup

"Greetings to you, holy and peaceful dwelling, gracious sanctuary of the Lord!" Thus begins the prayer that the writer Fanny Neuda recommended devout women recite upon entering the synagogue. When she composed these words in the mid-19th century, she likely had in mind the picturesque synagogue standing on the edge of the fields in Loštice, where she lived alongside her husband, Rabbi Abraham Neuda. In her understanding, even the simplest rural synagogue was not only a place of prayer, peace, and contemplation, but also an image of the great Temple in Jerusalem and its daily sacrificial worship. In this interactive workshop, Hebraist Tereza Gafna Váňová and literary historian and Judaic scholar Daniel Soukup will explore how Jews have understood and imagined the synagogue in traditional religious, liturgical, and literary texts. Together, they will examine the rich symbolism associated with the synagogue and discuss its meaning within Judaism across different historical periods.

The workshop will be conducted in Czech.