Great Synagogue

The Great Synagogue (Hebrew Knesset ha-Gedolah) was, according to Jewish tradition, a council of 120 men convened after the return from Babylon to reorganize and preserve Israel's religious life. Tradition names Ezra as its president and credits the body with collecting and editing the scriptures to complete the OT canon, composing key prayers of the synagogue liturgy (including portions of the Amidah), and transmitting the Oral Torah from the prophets to the scribes. The maxim attributed to them in Avot 1:1: "Be deliberate in judgment, raise up many disciples, and make a fence around the Torah."

Critical scholarship treats the Great Synagogue as a legendary construct rather than a historically verifiable institution, noting that the tradition is not attested before the Mishnah (c. A.D. 200) and that its 120 members likely reflect the 120 signatories of Nehemiah's covenant (Neh. 10). Whatever its historical form, the Great Synagogue tradition reflects the real importance of the scribal class in preserving and transmitting Scripture after the exile.