Eshtemoa synagogue

{{Short description|Former ancient synagogue in Hebron, West Bank, Palestine}}

{{Infobox religious building

| name = Eshtemoa Synagogue

| native_name = {{langx|he|אשׁתמע}}

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| image = The old Synagogue Eshtemoa.jpg

| image_upright = 1.4

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| caption = Ruins of the Eshtemoa site, in 1975

| religious_affiliation = Judaism {{small|(former)}}

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| organisational_status = {{ubl|Ancient synagogue|Archeological site}}

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| functional_status = Ruins

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| location = South of Hebron, as-Samu, West Bank

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| country = State of Palestine

| map_type = West Bank

| map_size = 250

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| map_caption = Location of the former ancient synagogue in the West Bank

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| coordinates = {{coord|31.400792|35.067075|type:landmark_region:PS|format=dms|display=it}}

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| architecture_type = Broadhouse

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| year_completed = 4th–5th century CE

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| excavations = 1934, 1969-70.

| archaeologists = {{ubl|Leo Aryeh Mayer|A. Reifenberg|Ze'ev Yeivin}}

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The Eshtemoa Synagogue was an ancient Jewish synagogue, now an archeological site, located {{cvt|15|km}} south of Hebron in as-Samu, West Bank, in the State of Palestine. The remains of the ancient Palestinian synagogue date from around the 4th–5th century CE.

History

File:Menorah from Eshtemoa Synagogue.jpg]]

Eshtemoa, identified as modern as-Samu, was an ancient city named in the Bible ({{bibleref|Joshua|21:14|HE}}). During Roman and Byzantine period, Eshtemoa was described as a large Jewish village.{{cite book |author1=Negev, Avraham Negev |author2=Gibson, Shimon |title=Archaeological encyclopedia of the Holy Land |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=27nq65cZUIgC&pg=PA168 |access-date=29 September 2010 |date=July 2005 |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-8264-8571-7 |pages=167–168}}

= Architecture and description =

The remains of the synagogue were identified by L. A. Mayer and A. Reifenberg in 1934,{{cite journal |author-last1=Mayer |author-first1=L. A. |author-link1=Leo Aryeh Mayer |author-last2=Reifenberg |author-first2=A. |title=The Synagogue of Eshtemoa - Preliminary Report |journal=Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society |volume=19 |pages=314–326 |date=1939 |oclc=873183425 }} in which site they describe a recess in the wall, once used as a Torah Ark ("Heikhal").{{Citation |contribution=אשתמוע |title=A Topographical-Historical Encyclopaedia of Palestine |editor-last1=Press |editor-first1=I. |editor-link=Isaiah Press |volume=1 |publisher=Rubin Mass |place=Jerusalem|page=26 (folio iii) |year=1951 }}{{cite book |author=Abel, F. M. |author-link=Félix-Marie Abel |title=Revue Biblique |volume=35 |year=1929 |pages=585–ff }}

In 1969–70, a full excavation of the site under the guidance of Ze'ev Yeivin revealed that the building occupied the most prominent site in the village. Ancillary buildings attached to the synagogue were removed in order to reveal the old structure.{{cite book |author=Amit, David |editor=Ben-Yosef, Sefi |contribution=es-Samua' |title=Israel Guide - Judaea (A useful encyclopedia for the knowledge of the country) |volume=9 |publisher=Keter Publishing House, in affiliation with the Israel Ministry of Defence |location=Jerusalem |year=n.d.|pages=146–149 |language=he |oclc=745203905 }}

The old synagogue was built in "broadhouse" style without columns and measured {{convert|13.3|by|21.3|m|ft}}.{{cite book |author=Stemberger, Günter |title=Jews and Christians in the Holy Land: Palestine in the fourth century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tu7esOXinfkC&pg=PA150 |access-date=29 September 2010 |year=2000 |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-567-08699-0 |page=150 |via=Google Books }} Entry was by any of three doors along its eastern side and one of the three niches recessed into the northern wall functioned as the Torah Ark. The building housed a mosaic floor and displayed external ornamental carvings. Four seven-branched menorahs were discovered carved onto door lintels and one of them is displayed in Jerusalem's Rockefeller Museum.{{cite book |author=Yarden, Léon |title=The tree of light: a study of the Menorah, the seven-branched lampstand |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=os0XAAAAIAAJ |access-date=29 September 2010 |year=1971 |publisher=East and West Library |page=151 |isbn=9780852222805 |via=Google Books }} Along the northern and southern walls of the synagogue were built two benches, one on top of the other, of which only remnants remain.

= Aftermath of the Islamic conquest =

After the Muslim conquest, the synagogue was converted into a mosque and a mihrab was added.{{cite book |author=El-Haj, Nadia Abu |title=Facts on the ground: archaeological practice and territorial self-fashioning in Israeli society |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TYxG-yvLh80C&pg=PA78 |via=Google Books |access-date=29 September 2010 |year=2001 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-00195-1 |page=78}} The mihrab was built in place of the bench that ran along its southern wall.

According to a local tradition, this addition was made during the conquest of Saladin (in the 12th century), rather than during the early Muslim conquest of the Levant. Robert Schick suggests that the conversion may have taken place in the 10th century instead of during the Umayyad period.{{cite book |author=Schick, Robert |title=The Christian Communities of Palestine from Byzantine to Islamic Rule: A Historical and Archaeological Study |series=Studies in Late Antiquity and Early Islam 2 |location=Princeton, NJ |publisher=The Darwin Press |year=1995 |isbn= }}

A Crusader church was constructed near the eastern side of the synagogue in the 12th century.

= Modern era =

The western wall is still standing to a height of {{convert|7|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}. Many architectural elements of the building have been reused in the modern village.{{cite book |author1=Greenberg, Raphael |author2=Keinan, Adi |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120929200333/https://www.tau.ac.il/humanities/abraham/publications/WBADB_sourcebook.pdf |title=Israeli Archaeological Activity in the West Bank 1967-2007: A Sourcebook |publisher=Ostracon |year=2009 |page=136 |isbn=978-965-91468-0-2 |access-date= }}

In 2024, the synagogue was the targeted in an arson attack. Local settler activists described it as an attempt to "erase Jewish identity".{{Cite news |author= |title=Fire targets synagogue in southern West Bank. Settler activists call it terrorist hate crime |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/fire-targets-synagogue-in-southern-west-bank-settler-activists-call-it-terrorist-hate-crime/ |work=The Times of Israel |date=2024 |access-date= }}