כנסת

כְּנֶסֶתf. (preced.) 1) gathering, storage. Y.B. Bath.IV, 14c bot. בית הכ׳ שלעצים a store-house for wood (= אוֹצָר). 2) assembly, community, congregation, esp. congregation of worshippers. Ex. R. s. 21 (interch. with preced. w.); Yalk. Ps. 840, v. preced.בית הכ׳ (abbr. בה״כ) synagogue. Ber.6a. Meg.III, 1 (25b); a. fr.Sot.VII, 7 חזן הכ׳ the sexton of the synagogue within the Temple precincts; Succ.51b of the synagogue of Alexandria, v. חַזָּן; a. fr.כ׳ ישראל (abbrev. כ״י) the congregation of Israel, the Ecclesia, (often personified as a woman betrothed to the Lord). Cant. R. to I, 4; a. fr.כ׳ הגדולה (abbr. כה״ג) the Great Assembly, Ecclesia or Synagoga Magna, a supreme authority established under Ezra and Nehemiah. Ab. I, 1, a. fr. אנשי כ׳ הג׳ the men of the original Great Synagogue. Ib. 2 שיריכה״ג the last members of the Great Synagogue.Pl. כְּנֵסִיּוֹת, כְּנֵיסִ׳. Lam. R. introd. (R. Yitsḥ. 3) בני כְּנֵסִיּוֹתָיו his fellow-members in the royal council; (Yalk. Is. 318 בני המלך).בתי כ׳ synagogues. Meg.6a. Y. ib. III, beg.73d ארבע … ב׳ כ׳וכ׳ there were four hundred and eighty synagogues in Jerusalem, and each had a school Ḥull.51a מפטיר כ׳ janitor at meetings of scholars in college. Pes.49b ראשי כ׳ chiefs of congregations or synagogues.