Bimah

A bimah (among Ashkenazim, derived from Hebrew בּמה, 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 from the Torah stands during the Torah reading service. The bimah is sometimes misdescribed as an altar or tower. The bimah was located in the centre of the synagogue most likely just as the temporary wooden bimah (this is the origin of the term) was central to the "women's courtyard" of the Temple in Jerusalem during the Hakhel ceremony. While the original meaning of the word referred to the platform, the table from which the Torah scroll is read can also be referred to as the bimah, even when it is not on a platform. This later became a sign of the Orthodox synagogue in the mid-nineteenth century. The Reform (Neolog) temples moved the bimah to the front of the temple facing the congregation. One of the well-known decrees of the Chatam Sofer was that the bimah must remain in the centre of an Orthodox synagogue.