Prayer before the Destruction of the Temple

Where did Jews pray before the rise of synagogue buildings? We cannot be sure. Many scholars theorize that the synagogue had its origins in the Babylonian exile when the Jews first had to adapt to the lack of a Temple and animal sacrifice. Yet there is absolutely no evidence, literary or archaeological, for this theory. On the other hand, the history of postbiblical prayer begins early in the Hellenistic period, and perhaps even before. There must have been places for prayer, maybe in the town squares, but this is simply speculation.

Clearly, however, the concomitant development of the synagogue as an institution, along with the gradual ascendancy of prayer over sacrifice as a means of worship, prepared Judaism for the new situation brought about by the destruction of the Temple. By the time the Temple was taken away, its replacement had already been created. From that time on the daily prayers would serve in place of sacrifice, and the synagogue, the “Temple in miniature,” would replace the central sanctuary in Jerusalem. Jews would look forward to the rebuilding of the Temple and the restoration of its system of worship. But the Jewish people was equipped with a portable system of worship which it could carry throughout its wanderings, and which would preserve the closeness to God that had once been symbolized and embodied in the Jerusalem Temple.

Lawrence H. Schiffman, From Text to Tradition, Ktav Publishing House, Hoboken, NJ, 1991.