Editing Synagogue architecture (section)

==Considerations==
[[File:Lille_synagogue.jpg|thumb|[[Lille Synagogue]], France. An eclectic hybrid with Moorish, [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]], classical and Baroque elements, 1892.]]
[[File:Exterior of kaifeng synagogue.JPG|thumb|Synagogue of the [[Kaifeng Jews|Kaifeng Jewish community]] in China|alt=]]

The ark may be more or less elaborate, even a cabinet not structurally integral to the building or a portable arrangement whereby a Torah is brought into a space temporarily used for worship. There must also be a table, often on a raised platform, from which the Torah is read. The table/platform, called ''[[Bema#Judaism|bimah]]'' by eastern Ashkenazim, ''almemmar'' (or ''balemmer'') by Central and Western Ashkenazim and ''tebah'' by Sephardim, where the Torah is read (and from where the services are conducted in Sephardi synagogues) can range from an elaborate platform integral to the building (many early modern synagogues of central Europe featured bimahs with pillars that rose to support the ceiling), to elaborate free-standing raised platforms, to simple tables. A ''[[ner tamid]]'', a constantly lit light as a reminder of the constantly lit ''[[Menorah (Temple)|menorah]]'' of the [[Temple in Jerusalem]]. Many synagogues, mainly in Ashkenazi communities, feature a pulpit facing the congregation from which to address the assembled. All synagogues require an ''amud'' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] for "post" or "column"), a desk facing the Ark from which the ''[[Hazzan]]'' (reader, or prayer leader) leads the prayers.

A synagogue may or may not have artwork; synagogues range from simple, unadorned prayer rooms to elaborately decorated buildings in every architectural style.

The synagogue, or if it is a multi-purpose building, prayer sanctuaries within the synagogue, are typically designed to have their congregation face towards [[Jerusalem]]. Thus sanctuaries in the Western world generally have their congregation face east, while those east of Israel have their congregation face west. Congregations of sanctuaries in Israel face towards Jerusalem. But this orientation need not be exact, and occasionally synagogues face other directions for structural reasons, in which case the community may face Jerusalem when standing for prayers.