heichal
Pronunciations
| heichal | (hay-CHAL) | listen |
Definitions
n. The ark in a synagogue which holds the Sifrei Torah.
Example Sentences
"After we do our hagba lesson we'll put the Sifrei Torah back in the heichal."
Languages of Origin
- Textual Hebrew
Etymology
Heb. היכל / הֵיכָל heichál, 'central sanctuary of the Holy Temple, (metonymically) the Holy Temple'
- Sephardim: Jews with Sephardi or Mizrahi heritage
- North America
- Great Britain
- The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).
- Dictionary of Jewish Usage: A Popular Guide to the Use of Jewish Terms, by Sol Steinmetz (Lanham, MD, 2005).
Who Uses This
Regions
Dictionaries
Alternative Spellings
heikhal, hechal, hekhal, heychal, heykhal
Notes
This is the common term among Sephardim/Mizrachim for what Ashkenazim call the aron kodesh or the ark.
"The heychal is most commonly located at the center of the eastern wall of the synagogue" (JPS).
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