“The Book of Mormon … lends credence to the idea that synagogues, at least as places of worship, were known to Israel before the departure of Lehi from Jerusalem. … Jacob Weingreen writes: ‘It would be natural to suppose that, following upon the enforcement of Josiah’s edict, religious services continued to be held outside Jerusalem, but now without sacrifices. … These must … have constituted the basis of the synagogue service of later times.’ …
“ … We do not know what Hebrew or other word the Nephites or Zoramites used in naming their places of worship” (Welch, “Synagogues in the Book of Mormon,” 194–95).