tHE ORIGIN OF THE WORD
The word כְּנֵסֶת (knesset) is one of the Hebrew words that means “a gathering”. Of course today, in Modern Hebrew, this is the name of Israel’s legislative body. It communicates the idea of “congress of the people” and comes from biblical verb לִכְנוֹס (liknos) - to collect, to gather, to assemble. In the story of Esther, Mordechai was told to assemble and organize all Jews of Susa to fast jointly (Est. 4:16). In Nehemiah 12:22 the priests were commanded to gather the first fruits and tithes.
ONE MEANS - DIFFERENT ENDS
The word "synagogue" in Hebrew is very similar - כְּנֵסֶת בֵּית (beit knesset), literally meaning “a house of assembly”. The word "synagogue" itself is actually a Greek word with the same meaning. Another interesting fact is that the Modern Hebrew word for church is כְּנֵסִיָּה (knesiya), which also stands for “a place of gathering”. In Aramaic the word for church is כָּנִישְׁתָּא (kanista). All these words are related and built on the verb לִכְנוֹס (liknos), which means to “gather”. During the elections season in Israel it is common to hear the word כְּנֵסֶת (kneset) as people gather to decide the direction of the country.
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