bimah

variants or bima
Definition of bimahnext
as in altar
a raised platform in a synagogue from which the Torah is read He stepped up to the bimah for the reading.

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of bimah We were led by women instead of the all-male cast of rabbis that blanketed the other bimahs across town. Literary Hub, 1 Dec. 2025 Then, Fixler took to the bimah himself. The New York Times News Service Syndicate, The Denver Post, 8 Mar. 2025 The flags of the U.S. and Israel will both be displayed on the bimah, or raised platform, at the front of the sanctuary. Frank E. Lockwood, Arkansas Online, 13 Oct. 2023 Half was hidden in a safe under the bimah of a synagogue so that even the Germans could not find it. New York Times, 4 May 2022 On the bimah, Charlotte has shown her maturity — proving it even to herself. Kate Aurthur, Variety, 4 Feb. 2022 The discovery this week follows the 2019 unearthing of the Tuscan baroque-style bimah, the synagogue’s central prayer platform, in the same dig by a team of international scholars headed by Jon Seligman, director of the antiquities authority’s Excavations, Surveys and Research Department. Cnaan Liphshiz, sun-sentinel.com, 1 Sep. 2021 Excavations led by a joint Israeli and Lithuanian team uncovered the Torah ark, or Aron Kodesh—the cabinet that holds a synagogue’s sacred scroll—and the bimah, or raised prayer platform. Livia Gershon, Smithsonian Magazine, 30 Aug. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bimah
Noun
  • Esperanza makes an altar on the vanity and prepares the space for chanting, a prayer meeting but more unapologetic, ritualistic and communal.
    Celina Pereira, Los Angeles Times, 28 Jan. 2026
  • Where Wilson and Fischer really deepen Wills-Jones’ tale is in the private moments between the fisherwoman and her wicker husband, who awaits her at the altar in a handsome new suit and shoes borrowed from her neighbors — the tailor (Nabhaan Rizwan), shoemaker (Scott Alexander Yougng) and so on.
    Peter Debruge, Variety, 26 Jan. 2026
Noun
  • The pulpit where sermons were preached looked like an abstract disaster.
    Marvin Hurst, CBS News, 29 Jan. 2026
  • With her latest, Pearce puts forth a perspective of grace and faith, offering a rebuttal to shame, guilt, and judgmental messages that can too often flow from church pulpits and critical people.
    Jessica Nicholson, Billboard, 26 Jan. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Bimah.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bimah. Accessed 5 Feb. 2026.

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