Patrick Comerford
A recent video posted by the World Jewish Congress looked at the life of the Jewish Community in Greece, particularly in Athens, and it was a reminder that so many words that are an intimate to Jewish life are of Greek origin, including the words Bible (τὰ βιβλία), Pentateuch (πεντάτευχος pentáteukhos), Septuagint (Ἡ μετάφρασις τῶν Ἑβδομήκοντα, Hē metáphrasis tôn Hebdomḗkonta, the Translation of the Seventy), Pentecost (πεντηκοστή, pentēkostē, ‘fiftieth’), synagogue (συναγωγή), Diaspora (from the verb διασπείρω, diaspeirō, ‘I scatter’) and Bimah (βῆμα), the word used for the reading platform found in all synagogues.
All synagogues have a bimah or large, raised, reader’s platform or dais, although among Romaniote Jews and the Sephardim, the traditional, historic Jewish communities in Greece, as the teḇah (reading dais) by Sephardim. This is the raised place where the Torah scroll is placed to be read, and it usually serves too as the prayer leader’s reading desk.
The Ancient Greek word bēma (βῆμα) means both a ‘platform’ and a ‘step’, and it is derived from word (βαίνειν, bainein), ‘to go'’. The original use of the bema in Athens was as a tribunal from which orators addressed the citizens as well as the courts of law, for instance, in the Pnyx. In Greek law courts, the two parties to a dispute presented their arguments each from a separate bema.
As a figure of speech, the word bema also came to refer to a place of judgment, perhaps because of the raised seat of a judge, and even as the seat of the Roman emperor when speaking in judgment.
The post-Biblical Hebrew bima (בּימה), meaning a ‘platform’ or ‘pulpit’ seems to be derived from this Ancient Greek word bema (βῆμα), although a philological link has been suggested to the Biblical Hebrew bama (בּמה), a ‘high place’.
The bimah (plural, bimot) in synagogues is also known as the almemar or almemor among some Ashkenazi Jews. This word comes from the Arabic minbar, meaning a pulpit.
In antiquity, the bimah was made of stone, but in modern times it is usually a rectangular wooden platform approached by steps. The raised nature of the bimah emphasises the importance of the Torah reader when it is being read, but it also makes it easier for the Torah to be heard. A typical bimah in a synagogue is up two or three steps, and generally has a railing as a practical and safety measure.
In Ashkenazic Orthodox synagogues, the bimah is located in the centre, separate from the Torah ark or Aron haKodesh. In many other synagogues, the bimah and the Ark are joined together, and in Reform Judaism the bimah is close to or around the Torah ark.
Following the Romaniote tradition, synagogues in Greece have their own layout. The bimah is known as the tevah or migdal-etz (‘tower of wood’), and is on a raised dais at the west wall, facing the Aron haKodesh at the other end on the east wall, with wide aisle in between.
The word tevah means a box, of case. The Hebrew version of this word, meaning ‘ark’ (תֵּבָה tebah) is only used in two places in the Bible: for Noah’s ark and for Moses’ baby basket.
Throughout the years, I have searched but failed to find any archaeological evidence for the synagogues that must have been in the mediaeval Jewish communities in Crete, including the Jewish quarters in Retymnon and in Iraklion.
The only synagogue in Crete today is the Etz Hayyim synagogue in Chania, and there the bimah or tevah is in the traditional Romaniote and Sephardic location, in a prominent place at the west wall.
Shabbat Shalom, שבת שלום
Chag Pesach Sameach, חג פסח שמח
Last word: 50, Metamorphosis, Μεταμόρφωσις
Next word: 52, Diaspora
Previous words in this series:
1, Neologism, Νεολογισμός.
2, Welcoming the stranger, Φιλοξενία.
3, Bread, Ψωμί.
4, Wine, Οίνος and Κρασί.
5, Yogurt, Γιαούρτι.
6, Orthodoxy, Ορθοδοξία.
7, Sea, Θᾰ́λᾰσσᾰ.
8,Theology, Θεολογία.
9, Icon, Εἰκών.
10, Philosophy, Φιλοσοφία.
11, Chaos, Χάος.
12, Liturgy, Λειτουργία.
13, Greeks, Ἕλληνες or Ρωμαίοι.
14, Mañana, Αύριο.
15, Europe, Εὐρώπη.
16, Architecture, Αρχιτεκτονική.
17, The missing words.
18, Theatre, θέατρον, and Drama, Δρᾶμα.
19, Pharmacy, Φᾰρμᾰκείᾱ.
20, Rhapsody, Ραψῳδός.
21, Holocaust, Ολοκαύτωμα.
22, Hygiene, Υγιεινή.
23, Laconic, Λακωνικός.
24, Telephone, Τηλέφωνο.
25, Asthma, Ασθμα.
26, Synagogue, Συναγωγή.
27, Diaspora, Διασπορά.
28, School, Σχολείο.
29, Muse, Μούσα.
30, Monastery, Μοναστήρι.
31, Olympian, Ολύμπιος.
32, Hypocrite, Υποκριτής.
33, Genocide, Γενοκτονία.
34, Cinema, Κινημα.
35, autopsy and biopsy
36, Exodus, ἔξοδος
37, Bishop, ἐπίσκοπος
38, Socratic, Σωκρατικὸς
39, Odyssey, Ὀδύσσεια
40, Practice, πρᾶξις
41, Idiotic, Ιδιωτικός
42, Pentecost, Πεντηκοστή
43, Apostrophe, ἀποστροφή
44, catastrophe, καταστροφή
45, democracy, δημοκρατία
46, ‘Αρχή, beginning, Τέλος, end
47, ‘Αποκάλυψις, Apocalypse
48, ‘Απόκρυφα, Apocrypha
49, Ἠλεκτρον (Elektron), electric
50, Metamorphosis, Μεταμόρφωσις
51, Bimah, βῆμα
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