shulgoer

From shul (“Ashkenazi synagogue”) +‎ goer. Shul is borrowed from Yiddish שול (shul, “school; synagogue”), from Old High German scuola (“school”), from Latin schola (“school”), from Ancient Greek σχολή (skholḗ, “place for giving lectures, lecture hall, school”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seǵʰ- (“to overpower; to take hold of”). Piecewise doublet of schoolgoer.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈʃuːlˌɡəʊə/, /ʃʊl-/

• Audio (Southern England); /ˈʃuːlˌɡəʊə/:

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈʃulˌɡoʊəɹ/, /ʃʊl-/
• Hyphenation: shul‧goer

shulgoer (plural shulgoers)

1. (Judaism) One who attends shul (“a synagogue”); a practising Jew. [from 20th c.]

   Synonym: synagogue-goer

   Hypernyms: temple-goer < believer, religionist < person; see also Thesaurus:believer

   • 2000, Cyril Harris, For Heaven’s Sake: The Chief Rabbi’s Diary, Goodwood [Western Cape?], South Africa: Cyril Harris, →ISBN, page 136:

     [H]e was invited, on his first visit to my synagogue in St John's Wood, to choose between sitting in the wardens' box or occupying a prominent front row seat. As he is orthodox and a regular shulgoer, this was quite a quandary. He decided to sit in the wardens' box.

   • 2003, Yanky Fachler, “Hadassa Wine Company and Luton Kosher Foods”, in The Vow: Rebuilding the Fachler Tribe after the Holocaust […], [Dublin]: TAF Publishing, published 2010, →ISBN, page 224:

     He knew that some of his congregants, especially the regular Shulgoers (Synagogue worshipers), would not buy their meat from the local non-Jewish butcher, and came instead to Stern.

   • 2006, Terry Bookman, William Kahn, “Is this a Place You would Come If You Didn’t Already Belong Here?”, in This House We Build: Lessons for Healthy Synagogues and the People who Dwell There, Herndon, Va.: The Alban Institute, →ISBN, part 1 (Healthy Houses), page 52:

     Having greeters at the entrance of the worship space not only sends a message of welcome, but it allows newcomers to enter a little less nervously, take an appropriate seat, and ease into the worship experience itself. This is often an awkward moment, even for the veteran shulgoer; how much the more so for a new visitor, a non-Jew, or a recent Jew by choice.

   • 2012, Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, with Joel Segel, “At Home in Shul: The Synagogue Experience”, in Davening: A Guide to Meaningful Jewish Prayer, Nashville, Tenn.: Turner Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 139:

     If you're an occasional shul-goer and have not yet found a home, ask your friends, people you feel are on the same wavelength as you. Go shul hopping!

   • 2022 (date written), Larissa Denk, “Organising the Charitable Diaspora Community”, in Jubuntu: Giving and Belonging in the Jewish Diaspora of Cape Town, Berlin: J. B. Metzler, Springer-Verlag, published 2023, →DOI, →ISBN, page 177:

     Although Jonathan states that "schools and shuls", which seem to always appear as a pair, are entities with which South African Jews identify, most of my interlocutors did not seem to be avid shulgoers.

• shul-goer