bimah

bimah
/bee"meuh, bim"euh, bee mah"/, n.
a platform in a synagogue holding the reading table used when chanting or reading portions of the Torah and the Prophets.
Also, bema, bima. Also called almemar.
[( < Yiddish bime) < Heb bimah < Gk bêma BEMA]

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also spelled  Bima,  also called  Almemar, or Almemor 

      (from Arabic al-minbar, “platform”), in Jewish synagogues, a raised platform with a reading desk from which, in the Ashkenazi (German) ritual, the Torah and Hafṭarah (a reading from the prophets) are read on the Sabbath and festivals. In the Sephardic (Spanish) rite, the entire service is conducted from a platform called a teba (“box”). At an earlier date, when the bimah was positioned in the centre of the synagogue (as it still is in Sephardic and many Orthodox Ashkenazi synagogues), the attention of the congregation was divided between it and the Ark of the Law. Although Maimonides and others insisted on this location in the Middle Ages, many modern synagogues now place the bimah in front of the Ark. This arrangement conserves space, facilitates listening, and is, some feel, architecturally more pleasing.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • BIMAH — (Heb. בִּימָה; elevated place ), platform in the synagogue on which stands the desk from which the Torah is read. Occasionally, the rabbi delivers his sermon from the bimah, and on Rosh Ha Shanah the shofar is blown there. In Sephardi synagogues …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Bimah —   [hebräisch »Bühne«, »Podium«] die, / s, Almemor …   Universal-Lexikon

  • bimah — [bē′mə] n. a raised platform in a synagogue, from which the Torah is read …   English World dictionary

  • Bimah — A bimah (among Ashkenazim, derived from Greek polytonic|βῆμα), almemar (from Arabic al minbar ) or tebah (among Sephardim) is the elevated area or platform in a Jewish synagogue which is intended to serve the place where the person reading aloud… …   Wikipedia

  • Bimah —  Cet article traite de l estrade de lecture dans les synagogues. Pour l équivalent architectural dans les églises paléochrétiennes, voir bêma …   Wikipédia en Français

  • bimah — also bima noun Etymology: Yiddish & Late Hebrew; Yiddish bime, from Late Hebrew bīmāh, from Late Greek bēma raised platform more at bema Date: 1941 a raised platform in a synagogue from which the Torah is read …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Bimah — Die Bima, auch: Bimah, pl.: Bimot, von griechisch Βήμα, Bema, oder auch Almemor genannt, ist der Platz in einer Synagoge, von dem aus die Tora während des Gottesdienstes verlesen wird. Bima und Toraschrein bilden dabei die liturgisch funktionalen …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Bimah, Togo — Bimah or Binah is a prefecture located in the Kara Region of Togo. The prefecture seat is located in Pagouda.Towns and villagesAlemande, Aloumboukou, Assire, Boufale, Dewa, Farende, Kadianga, Kagnissi, Kawa, Kemerida, Ketao, Koloum, Konfesse,… …   Wikipedia

  • bimah — noun The elevated platform in a Jewish synagogue from which the Torah is read. Syn: almemar, tebah …   Wiktionary

  • bimah — bi·mah …   English syllables

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