Bema
A bema was an elevated platform used as an orator's podium in ancient Athens. The term can refer to the raised area in a sanctuary. In Jewish synagogues, where it is used for Torah reading during services, the term used is bima or bimah.
Ancient Greece
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The Ancient Greek bēma (βῆμα) means both 'platform' and 'step', being derived from bainein (βαίνειν, 'to go').[1][2][3][4][5] 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 separate bemas.
By metonymy, bema was also a place of judgement, being the extension of the raised seat of the judge, as described in the New Testament, in Matthew 27:19 and John 19:13, and further, as the seat of the Roman emperor, in Acts 25:10, and of God, in Romans 14:10, when speaking in judgment.
Judaism
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (December 2021) |
Etymology
The post-Biblical Hebrew bima (בּימה), 'platform' or 'pulpit', is almost certainly derived from the Ancient Greek word for a raised platform, bema (βῆμα). A philological link to the Biblical Hebrew bama (בּמה), 'high place' has been suggested.
Alternative names
The bimah (Hebrew plural: bimot) in synagogues is also known as the almemar or almemor among some
Purpose
The importance of the bimah is to show that the reader is the most important at that moment in time, and to make it easier to hear their reader of the Torah.
Description and use
The bimah became a standard fixture in synagogues from which the weekly
In antiquity the bimah was made of stone, but in modern times it is usually a rectangular wooden platform approached by steps.[10]
The synagogue bimah is typically elevated by two or three steps, as was the bimah in the Temple. A raised bimah will typically have a railing. This was a religious requirement for safety in bimah more than 10
In
At the celebration of the Shavuot holiday when synagogues are decorated with flowers, many synagogues have special arches that they place over the bimah and adorn with floral displays.
Christianity
The ceremonial use of a bema carried over from Judaism into early Christian
In
do not normally step up onto the bema except to receive Holy Communion.Islam
In
See also
- Ambon (liturgy)
- High place, raised place of worship
- Peak sanctuaries
- Templon
- Tribune (architecture)
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7425-4387-4.
- ^ Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, Roderick McKenzie. A Greek-English Lexicon. Oxford: Clarendon, 1940, s.v. βῆμα Archived 2018-09-04 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Hjalmar Frisk. Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 1960, s.v. βαίνω (p. 208).
- ^ Pierre Chantraine. Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque. Paris: Klincksieck, 2009 [1968], s.v. βαίνω (p. 157).
- ^ Robert Beekes and Lucien van Beek. Etymological Dictionary of Greek. Leiden: Brill, 2010, s.v. βαίνω (p. 192).
- ^ almemar [ælˈmiːmɑː], Collins English Dictionary
- ^ However, a far more likely origin of almemar is the Arabic word al-ma'mur meaning 'judge' which is in keeping with our understanding of 'bimah'. "Almemar in Jewish Encyclopedia (1906)". Jewish Encyclopedia (1906). Retrieved 2013-11-13.
- ISBN 90-04-06893-7.
- ^ Wischnitzer, Rachel (1964). The architecture of the European synagogoue. Jewish Publication Society of America. p. 34.
- ^ a b Britannica Concise Encyclopædia: "bema"
- ISBN 978-1-4226-2232-2.
a bimah must be in the middle
External links
Media related to Bimot at Wikimedia Commons
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