charliehall (and others): tefillah ,in its present form, came to us quite late-certainly after the ‘anshei knesset hagedolah” and even afterwards if you know when “velamalshinim’ was instituted.For a long time ,we had the ‘bekki-im’ who repeated the tefillah for those who could not read. Hence, I am not sure whn regular minyanim were established and certainly, we don’t have any idea when “botei knesset’ were established. It strains credulity to think that “botei knesst” in their present form were established during the Bayis Hamikdosh’time.The architecture of synagogues date from the late geonic time, not before. I still think that the separation of sexes was pretty common but not necessariyl the mechitza. And -as charliehall notes- never i nall circumstances.
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