כְּנֶסֶת f. (preced.) 1) gathering, storage. Y. B. Bath. IV, 14ᶜ bot. בית הכ׳ שלעצים a store-house for wood (= אוֹצָר). —2) assembly, community, congregation, esp. congregation of worshippers. Ex. R. s. 21 (interch. with preced. w.); Yalk. Ps. 840, v. preced.—בית הכ׳ (abbr. בה"כ) synagogue. Ber. 6ᵃ. Meg. III, 1 (25ᵇ); a. fr.—Sot. VII, 7 חזן הכ׳ the sexton of the synagogue within the Temple precincts; Succ. 51ᵇ of the synagogue of Alexandria, v. חַזָּן; a. fr.—כ׳ ישראל (abbrev. כ"י) the congregation of Israel, the Ecclesia, (often personified as a woman betrothed to the Lord). Cant. R. to I, 4; a. fr.—כ׳ הגדולה (abbr. כה"ג) the Great Assembly, Ecclesia or Synagoga Magna, a supreme authority established under Ezra and Nehemiah. Ab. I, 1, a. fr. אנשי כ׳ הג׳ the men of the original Great Synagogue. Ib. 2 שירי כה"ג the last members of the Great Synagogue.—Pl. כְּנֵסִיּוֹת, כְּנֵיסִ׳. Lam. R. introd. (R. Yitsḥ. 3) בני כְּנֵסִיּוֹתָיו his fellow-members in the royal council; (Yalk. Is. 318 בני המלך).—בתי כ׳ synagogues. Meg. 6ᵃ. Y. ib. III, beg. 73ᵈ ארבע … ב׳ כ׳ וכ׳ there were four hundred and eighty synagogues in Jerusalem, and each had a school &c. Ḥull. 51ᵃ מפטיר כ׳ janitor at meetings of scholars in college. Pes. 49ᵇ ראשי כ׳ chiefs of congregations or synagogues.