A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It has a place for prayer where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, choir performances, and children's plays. They also have rooms for study, social halls, administrative and charitable offices, classrooms for religious and Hebrew studies, and many places to sit and congregate. They often display commemorative, historic, or modern artwork alongside items of Jewish historical significance or history about the synagogue itself.
Eldridge Street Synagogue in New York City, U.S.
Princes Road Synagogue in Liverpool, England
Yusef Abad Synagogue in Tehran, Iran
El Ghriba Synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia
A bar mitzvah (masc.) or bat mitzvah (fem.) is a coming-of-age ritual in Judaism. According to Jewish law, before children reach a certain age, the parents are responsible for their child's actions. Once Jewish children reach that age, they are said to "become" b'nai mitzvah, at which point they begin to be held accountable for their own actions. Traditionally, the father of a bar or bat mitzvah offers thanks to God that he is no longer punished for his child's sins.
Bar mitzvah boy wearing tallit and tefillin
Bar Mitzvah in a Synagogue by Oscar Rex
An 1839 description of an upcoming Manhattan bar mitzvah reported in the New York Herald
Bar mitzvah at the Western Wall in Jerusalem