Appropriate Behavior In A Shul

(1) One should not behave in a frivolous manner in a synagogue or house of study, by cracking jokes there, for instance, or by indulging in humorous or pointless gossip. One should not eat or drink there nor should one adorn oneself there or walk about there. One should not enter there in summer to cool off or in winter to seek shelter from the rain. In an emergency, scholars and their disciples are permitted to eat and drink there. No monetary calculations should be made there unless they are for religious purposes, collecting money for charity, for example, or for the redemption of captives. No funeral orations should be delivered there unless it is for one of the leading citizens of the city when all assemble there for the purpose. If a man finds it necessary to enter there for his own needs, to call someone, for instance, he should read or study something and then call him so that it should not appear as if he has entered for his own needs.... It is forbidden to have even a short nap in a synagogue but this is permitted in a house of study.

(4) It is permitted to eat and sleep in the synagogue if it is for religious purposes. For this reason [of religious purpose overriding the prohibition] one may sleep in the synagogue on Yom Kippur.

(6) There must be no light behaviour in synagogues and houses of study; no jesting, no mockery or idle talk. One may not eat or drink, indulge in physical recreation or promenade there. One may not enter, during the summer, to seek relief from the heat; or, in the winter, to obtain shelter from the rain.

(7) Nor are calculations to be made in them, unless these are in connection with a religious duty; for example, counting the contents of the charity box or the proceeds of a collection for redemption of captives etc. Funeral addresses are only delivered in them when these are of public interest, as for example for the great religious authorities of the city, which would be attended by the entire community.

(8) Where a synagogue or house of study has two doors, one may not use it as a passage, entering at one door and leaving by the other to shorten a journey, since it is forbidden to enter these buildings except to fulfill a religious duty.

(9) If one has occasion to go into a synagogue to call a child or other person, he may go in, but should read some portion of Scripture or recite a traditional dictum, so that his entry shall not be for the sake of his private affairs only. If he has no knowledge he should say to one of the children, "Recite to me the verse which you are now reading" or he should stay a while in the synagogue and then leave, for staying there is also a religious act, as it is said, "Happy are they that dwell in Thy house" (Psalms 84:5).

(10) One who entered a synagogue to pray or read Scripture may leave at the opposite door to that by which he entered, in order to take a short cut. A person may go into a synagogue with his staff, shoes, moneybelt and with dust on his feet. If he has need to do so, he may expectorate in the synagogue.