Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on August 30, 2015

A synagogue, also spelled synagog (from Greek , transliterated synagog, meaning assembly; Hebrew: beth knesset, meaning house of assembly; beth tfila, meaning house of prayer; shul; esnoga; kahal), is a Jewish house of prayer.

Synagogues have a large hall for prayer (the main sanctuary), and may also have smaller rooms for study and sometimes a social hall and offices. Some have a separate room for Torah study, called the beth midrash (Sefaradi) beis midrash (Ashkenazi) (House of Study).

Synagogues are consecrated spaces that can be used only for the purpose of prayer; however a synagogue is not necessary for worship. Communal Jewish worship can be carried out wherever ten Jews (a minyan) assemble. Worship can also be carried out alone or with fewer than ten people assembled together. However there are certain prayers that are communal prayers and therefore can be recited only by a minyan. The synagogue does not replace the long-since destroyed Temple in Jerusalem.

Israelis use the Hebrew term beyt knesset (house of assembly). Jews of Ashkenazi descent have traditionally used the Yiddish term shul(cognate with the German Schule, school) in everyday speech. Sephardi Jews and Romaniote Jews generally use the term kal (from the Hebrew kahal, meaning community). Spanish Jews call the synagoge a sinagoga and Portuguese Jews call it an esnoga. Persian Jews and Karaite Jews use the term kenesa, which is derived from Aramaic, and some Arabic-speaking Jews use knis. Reform and some Conservative Jews use the word temple. The Greek word synagogue is a good all-around term, used in English (and German and French), to cover the preceding possibilities.[1]

Although synagogues existed a long time before the destruction of the 2nd Temple in 70 CE, communal worship in the time while the Temple still stood centered around the korbanot (sacrificial offerings) brought by the kohanim (priests) in the Holy Temple. The all-day Yom Kippur service, in fact, was an event in which the congregation both observed the movements of the kohen gadol (the high priest) as he offered the days sacrifices and prayed for his success.

During the Babylonian captivity (586537BCE) the Men of the Great Assembly formalized and standardized the language of the Jewish prayers. Prior to that people prayed as they saw fit, with each individual praying in his or her own way, and there were no standard prayers that were recited. Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai, one of the leaders at the end of the Second Temple era, promulgated the idea of creating individual houses of worship in whatever locale Jews found themselves. This contributed to the continuity of the Jewish people by maintaining a unique identity and a portable way of worship despite the destruction of the Temple, according to many historians.

Synagogues in the sense of purpose-built spaces for worship, or rooms originally constructed for some other purpose but reserved for formal, communal prayer, however, existed long before the destruction of the Second Temple.[2] The earliest archaeological evidence for the existence of very early synagogues comes from Egypt, where stone synagogue dedication inscriptions dating from the 3rd century BCE prove that synagogues existed by that date.[3] A synagogue dating from between 75 and 50BCE has been uncovered at a Hasmonean-era winter palace near Jericho.[4][5] More than a dozen Second Temple era synagogues have been identified by archaeologists.[2]

Any Jew or group of Jews can build a synagogue. Synagogues have been constructed by ancient Jewish kings, by wealthy patrons, as part of a wide range of human institutions including secular educational institutions, governments, and hotels, by the entire community of Jews living in a particular place, or by sub-groups of Jews arrayed according to occupation, ethnicity (i.e. the Sephardic, Polish or Persian Jews of a town), style of religious observance (i.e., a Reform or an Orthodox synagogue), or by the followers of a particular rabbi.

There is no set blueprint for synagogues and the architectural shapes and interior designs of synagogues vary greatly. In fact, the influence from other local religious buildings can often be seen in synagogue arches, domes and towers.

Historically, synagogues were built in the prevailing architectural style of their time and place. Thus, the synagogue in Kaifeng, China looked very like Chinese temples of that region and era, with its outer wall and open garden in which several buildings were arranged. The styles of the earliest synagogues resembled the temples of other sects of the eastern Roman Empire. The surviving synagogues of medieval Spain are embellished with mudjar plasterwork. The surviving medieval synagogues in Budapest and Prague are typical Gothic structures.

The emancipation of Jews in European countries not only enabled Jews to enter fields of enterprise from which they were formerly barred, but gave them the right to build synagogues without needing special permissions, synagogue architecture blossomed. Large Jewish communities wished to show not only their wealth but also their newly acquired status as citizens by constructing magnificent synagogues. These were built across Europe and in the United States in all of the historicist or revival styles then in fashion. Thus there were Neoclassical, Neo-Byzantine, Romanesque Revival, Moorish Revival, Gothic Revival, and Greek Revival. There are Egyptian Revival synagogues and even one Mayan Revival synagogue. In the 19th century and early 20th century heyday of historicist architecture, however, most historicist synagogues, even the most magnificent ones, did not attempt a pure style, or even any particular style, and are best described as eclectic.

In the post-war era, synagogue architecture abandoned historicist styles for modernism.

All synagogues contain a bimah, a table from which the Torah is read, and a desk for the prayer leader.

The Torah Ark, (Hebrew: Aron Kodesh ) (called the heikhal [temple] by Sephardim) is a cabinet in which the Torah scrolls are kept.

The ark in a synagogue is almost always positioned in such a way such that those who face it are facing towards Jerusalem. Thus, sanctuary seating plans in the Western world generally face east, while those east of Israel face west. Sanctuaries in Israel face towards Jerusalem. Occasionally synagogues face other directions for structural reasons; in such cases, some individuals might turn to face Jerusalem when standing for prayers, but the congregation as a whole does not.

The Ark is reminiscent of the Ark of the Covenant which held the tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments. This is the holiest spot in a synagogue, equivalent to the Holy of Holies. The Ark is often closed with an ornate curtain, the parochet , which hangs outside or inside the ark doors.

A large, raised, readers platform called the bimah () by Ashkenazim and tebah by Sephardim, where the Torah scroll is placed to be read is a feature of all synagogues. In Sephardi synagogues it is also used as the prayer leaders reading desk.

Other traditional features include a continually lit lamp or lantern, usually electric in contemporary synagogues, called the ner tamid ( ), the Eternal Light, used as a reminder of the western lamp of the menorah of the Temple in Jerusalem, which remained miraculously lit perpetually. Many have an elaborate chair named for the prophet Elijah which is only sat upon during the ceremony of Brit milah. Many synagogues have a large seven-branched candelabrum commemorating the full Menorah. Most contemporary synagogues also feature a lectern for the rabbi.

A synagogue may be decorated with artwork, but in the Rabbinic and Orthodox tradition, three-dimensional sculptures and depictions of the human body are not allowed as these are considered akin to idolatry.

Until the 19th century, an Ashkenazi synagogue, all seats most often faced the Torah Ark. In a Sephardi synagogue, seats were usually arranged around the perimeter of the sanctuary, but when the worshipers stood up to pray, everyone faced the Ark. In Ashkenazi synagogues The Torah was read on a readers table located in the center of the room, while the leader of the prayer service, the Hazzan, stood at his own lectern or table, facing the Ark. In Sephardic synagogues, the table for reading the Torah was commonly placed at the opposite side of the room from the Torah Ark, leaving the center of the floor empty for the use of a ceremonial procession carrying the Torah between the Ark and the reading table.

Orthodox synagogues feature a partition (mechitzah) dividing the mens and womens seating areas, or a separate womens section located on a balcony.

The German Reform movement which arose in the early 19th century made many changes to the traditional look of the synagogue, keeping with its desire to simultaneously stay Jewish yet be accepted by the host culture.

The first Reform synagogue, which opened in Hamburg in 1811, introduced changes that made the synagogue look more like a church. These included: the installation of an organ to accompany the prayers (even on Shabbat, when musical instruments are proscribed by halakha), a choir to accompany the Hazzan, and vestments for the synagogue rabbi to wear.[6]

In following decades, the central readers table, the Bimah, was moved to the front of the Reform sanctuarypreviously unheard-of[citation needed] in Orthodox synagogues. The rabbi now delivered his sermon from the front, much as the Christian ministers delivered their sermons in a church. The synagogue was renamed a temple, to emphasize that the movement no longer looked forward to the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem.[citation needed]

Synagogues often take on a broader role in modern Jewish communities and may include additional facilities such as a catering hall, kosher kitchen, religious school, library, day care center and a smaller chapel for daily services.

Since Orthodox Jews prefer to collect a minyan (a quorum of ten) rather than pray alone, they commonly assemble at pre-arranged times in offices, living rooms, or other spaces when these are more convenient than formal synagogue buildings. A room or building that is used this way can become a dedicated small synagogue or prayer room. Among Ashkenazi Jews they are traditionally called shtiebel (, pl. shtiebelekh or shtiebels, Yiddish for little house), and are found in Orthodox communities worldwide.

Another type of communal prayer group, favored by some contemporary Jews, is the Chavurah (, pl. chavurot, ), or prayer fellowship. These groups meet at a regular place and time, usually in a private home. In antiquity, the Pharisees lived near each other in chavurot and dined together to ensure that none of the food was unfit for consumption.[7]

During the 19th and early 20th century, it was fairly common for Jewish communities, particularly in Europe, to construct very large, showpiece synagogues. These edifices were intended not simply to accommodate worshipers, but to serve as emblems of Jewish participation in modern society. For this purpose, they were built to be not merely large, but architecturally impressive. Even small cities had elaborate synagogues of this type, albeit smaller than the synagogues of Vienna and New York. They are often designated as The Great Synagogue of, or, in Russia, The Choral Synagogue. These notable synagogues include:

The dome of the Hurva Synagogue dominated the skyline of the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem for more than 80 years, from 1864 when it was built until 1948 when it was bombed.

The remains of the Hurva Synagogue as they appeared from 1977 to 2003. The synagogue has recently been reconstructed.

Szkesfehrvr synagogue, Hungary (c. 1930s) The synagogue no longer exists, however, the memorial plaques were moved to a building at the citys Jewish cemetery.

The Ohev Sholom Talmud Torah, the National Synagogue, is a wondrous example of mid-century modern architecture employing expressionist overtones, located in Upper 16th Street, Washington, D.C.

Read the original here: Synagogue Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Dohny Street Synagogue (Hungarian: Dohny utcai zsinagga/nagy zsinagga, Hebrew: bet hakneset hagadol el budapet), also known as The Great Synagogue or Tabakgasse Synagogue, is a historical building in Erzsbetvros, the 7th district of Budapest, Hungary. It is the largest synagogue in Europe[1] and one of the largest in the world. It seats 3,000 people and is a centre of Neolog Judaism.

The synagogue was built between 1854 and 1859 in the Moorish Revival style, with the decoration based chiefly on Islamic models from North Africa and medieval Spain (the Alhambra). The synagogues Viennese architect, Ludwig Frster, believed that no distinctively Jewish architecture could be identified, and thus chose architectural forms that have been used by oriental ethnic groups that are related to the Israelite people, and in particular the Arabs.[2] The interior design is partly by Frigyes Feszl.

The Dohny Street Synagogue complex consists of the Great Synagogue, the Heroes Temple, the graveyard, the Memorial and the Jewish Museum, which was built on the site on which Theodore Herzls house of birth stood. Dohny Street itself, a leafy street in the city center, carries strong Holocaust connotations as it constituted the border of the Budapest Ghetto.[3]

Built in a residential area between 1854-1859 by the Jewish community of Pest according to the plans of Ludwig Frster, the monumental synagogue has a capacity of 2,964 seats (1,492 for men and 1,472 in the womens galleries) making it the largest in Europe and one of the largest working synagogues in the world (after the Beit Midrash of Ger in Jerusalem, the Belz Great Synagogue and Temple Emanu-el in New York City)[citation needed]. The consecration of the synagogue took place on 6 September 1859.

The synagogue was bombed by the Hungarian pro-Nazi Arrow Cross Party on 3 February 1939.[4] Used as a base for German Radio and also as a stable during World War II, the building suffered some severe damage from aerial raids during the Nazi Occupation but especially during the Siege of Budapest. During the Communist era the damaged structure became again a prayer house for the much-diminished Jewish community. Its restoration started in 1991 and ended in 1998. The restoration was financed by the state and by private donations.

The building is 75 metres (246ft) long and 27 metres (89ft) wide.[5] The style of the Dohny Street Synagogue is Moorish but its design also features a mixture of Byzantine, Romantic and Gothic elements. Two onion-shaped domes sit on the twin octagonal towers at 43 metres (141ft) height. A rose stained-glass window sits over the main entrance.

Similarly to basilicas, the building consists of three spacious richly decorated aisles, two balconies and, unusually, an organ. Its ark contains various torah scrolls taken from other synagogues destroyed during the Holocaust[citation needed].

The Central Synagogue in Manhattan, New York City is a near-exact copy of the Dohny Street Synagogue.[6]

The torah-ark and the internal frescoes made of colored and golden geometric shapes are the works of the famous Hungarian romantic architect Frigyes Feszl. A single-span cast iron supports the 12-metre-wide (39ft) nave. The seats on the ground-floor are for men, while the upper gallery, supported by steel ornamented poles, has seats for women.

Franz Liszt and Camille Saint-Sans played the original 5,000 pipe organ built in 1859.[7] A new mechanical organ with 63 voices and 4 manuals was built in 1996 by the German firm Jehmlich Orgelbau Dresden GmbH.[8] One of the important concerts in the Synagogues history was in 2002, played by the organ virtuoso Xaver Varnus. Four hours[citation needed] before the concert even standing places could hardly be found in the Synagogue, and 7,200[citation needed] people were sitting and standing to listen to the improvisors virtuosity.[9]

It was only in the 1990s, following the return to democracy in Hungary, that renovations could begin. The three-year program of reconstruction was largely funded by a US$5 million donation from Hungarian Jewish American Este Lauder and was completed in 1996.[10][11]

The Jewish Museum was constructed on the plot where Theodor Herzls two-story Classicist style house used to stand, adjoining the Dohny synagogue.[12] The Jewish Museum was built in 1930 in accordance with the synagogues architectural style and attached in 1931 to the main building. It holds the Jewish Religious and Historical Collection, a collection of religious relics of the Pest Hevrah Kaddishah (Jewish Burial Society), ritual objects of Shabbat and the High Holidays and a Holocaust room.

The arcade and the Heroes Temple, which seats 250 people and is used for religious services on weekdays and during the winter time, was added the Dohny Street Synagogue complex in 1931. The Heroes Temple was designed by Lzlo Vg and Ferenc Farag and serves as a memorial to Hungarian Jews who gave their lives during World War I.

In 1944, the Dohny Street Synagogue was part of the Jewish Ghetto for the city Jews and served as shelter for a lot of people. Over two thousand of those who died in the ghetto from hunger and cold during the winter 1944-1945 are buried in the courtyard of the synagogue.

It is not customary to have a cemetery next to a synagogue, the establishment of the 3000 m2 cemetery was the result of historical circumstances. In 1944, as a part of the Eichmann-plan, 70.000 Jews were relocated to the Ghetto of Pest. Until January 18, 1945, when the Russians liberated the ghetto, around 8-10.000 people had died, although, one part of the deceased were transferred to the Kozma Street Cemetery, but 2.000 people were buried in the makeshift cemetery. In memory of those who had died, there is a memorial by the sculptor, Imre Varga, depicting a weeping willow with the names and tattoo numbers of the dead and disappeared just behind the Synagogue, in the Raoul Wallenberg Holocaust Memorial Park.[13]

The Raoul Wallenberg Emlkpark (memory park) in the rear courtyard holds the Memorial of the Hungarian Jewish Martyrs at least 400,000 Hungarian Jews were murdered by the Nazis.[14] Made by Imre Varga, it resembles a weeping willow whose leaves bear inscriptions with the names of victims. There is also a memorial to Wallenberg and other Righteous Among the Nations, among them: Swiss Vice-consul Carl Lutz; Giorgio Perlasca, an Italian man who, with a strategic escamotage, declared himself the Spanish consul, releasing documents of protection and current passports to Jews in Budapest without distinction (he saved five thousand); Mons. Angelo Rotta, an Italian Prelate Bishop and Apostolic Nuncio of the State of Vatican City in Budapest, which issued protective sheets, misrepresentations of baptism (to save them from forced labor) and Vatican passports to Jews, without distinction of any kind present in Budapest (saving fifteen thousand), who saved, with his secretary Mons. Gennaro Verolino tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews during World War II. Carlos de Liz-Texeira Branquinho a Portuguese diplomat, serving as Portugals Charg dAffaires in Budapest in 1944, issued protective Passports to hundreds of Jewish families, altogether about 1,000 lives were saved due to his actions.[15]Carlos Sampaio Garrido the Portuguese Ambassador who resisted the Hungarian political police when the police raided his home arresting his guests. The Ambassador physically resisted the police and was also arrested but managed to have his guests released by invoking the extraterritorial legal rights of diplomatic legations; five of the guests were members from the famous Gabor family.

Dohny means tobacco in Hungarian, a loan word from Ottoman Turkish (duhn), itself borrowed from Arabic (dun). A similar Turkish loanword for tobacco is used throughout the Balkans (e.g. duhan in Bosnian).

Theodor Herzl in his speeches[16] and the Jewish Encyclopedia referred to the Dohny Street Synagogue as the Tabakgasse Synagogue. The Dohny Street Synagogue is also known under the name of the Tabak-Shul, the Yiddish translation of Dohny Synagogue.

On October 23, 2012, an Israeli flag was burned in front of a Budapest synagogue, reportedly by members of Jobbik, an ultranationalist Hungarian political party.[17][18]

Link: Dohny Street Synagogue Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

synagogue (sn`gg) [Gr.,=assembly], in Judaism, a place of assembly for worship, education, and communal affairs. The origins of the institution are unclear. One tradition dates it to the Babylonian exile of the 6th cent. B.C. The returnees may have brought back with them the basic structure that was to be developed by the 1st cent. A.D. into a well-defined institution around which Jewish religious, intellectual, and communal life was to be centered from this earliest period into the present. Other scholars believe the synagogue arose after the Hasmonean revolt (167164 B.C.) as a Pharisaic alternative to the Temple cult. The destruction of the Temple (A.D. 70) and the Diaspora over the following centuries increased the synagogues importance. Services in the synagogue were conducted in a simpler manner than in the Temple. There was no officially appointed priest, the services being conducted by a chazan (reader). The role the synagogue played in preserving Judaism intact through the centuries cannot be overestimated, nor can its influence as an intellectual and cultural force. In the modern period, the reform movement restricted its scope to almost purely religious purposes, although among the Orthodox Jews its purview did not diminish. In more recent times the synagogue has again taken on its former functions as a social and communal center. The architectural appearance of the synagogue has usually not differed from that of local non-Jewish forms. The interior includes an ark in which the Torah scrolls are held and a platform from which they are read. In modern times, a pulpit from which to preach has also become common, and in many synagogues the three are combined on one platform. In the United States, the national synagogue associations, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, the United Synagogue of America (Conservative), and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (Reform) are organized in the Synagogue Council of America. Bibliography

See U. Kaploun, ed., The Synagogue (1973); A. Eisenberg, The Synagogue through the Ages (1974); C. H. Krinsky, Synagogues of Europe (1987).

a.a building for Jewish religious services and usually also for religious instruction

b.(as modifier): synagogue services

2.a congregation of Jews who assemble for worship or religious study

3.the religion of Judaism as organized in such congregations

A place of assembly for Jewish worship.

A place of assembly, or a building for Jewish worship and religious instruction.

in Judaism, a community of believers and a house of worship. Synagogues originated in Palestine in the fourth century B.C. and in Egypt in the third century B.C. After the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70 and the expansion of the Diaspora, synagogues were established wherever Jews lived. The first synagogues were instrumental in the growth of monotheism.

Religious services take place in the synagogue, and the Bible and Talmud are read and discussed. In the Middle Ages, deviation from the dogmas of Judaism resulted in excommunication from the synagogue. Both Uriel Acosta and Spinoza were excommunicated.

The architecture of synagogues varies greatly. The common features are a rectangular shape, three or five aisles, an ark of the law at the eastern wall in which the scrolls of the Torah are kept and, in front of the ark, a raised platform for the reading of sacred texts.

Originally posted here: Synagogue | Article about Synagogue by The Free Dictionary

BIC (2000). Breast Cancer Information Core. Website.

Couch, F. J. et al. (1997). BRCA1 mutations in women attending clinics that evaluate the risk of breast cancer. N Engl J Med 336(20): 1409-15.

Dorum, A. et al. (1999). Three per cent of Norwegian ovarian cancers are caused by BRCA1 1675delA or 1135insA. Eur J Cancer 35(5): 779-81.

FitzGerald, M. G. et al. (1996). Germ-line BRCA1 mutations in Jewish and non-Jewish women with early- onset breast cancer. N Engl J Med 334(3): 143-9.

Petrij-Bosch, A. et al. (1997). BRCA1 genomic deletions are major founder mutations in Dutch breast cancer patients [published erratum appears in Nat Genet 1997 Dec;17(4):503]. Nat Genet 17(3): 341-5.

Roa, B. B. et al. (1996). Ashkenazi Jewish population frequencies for common mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2. Nat Genet 14(2): 185-7.

Struewing, J. P., et al. (1995). The carrier frequency of the BRCA1 185delAG mutation is approximately 1 percent in Ashkenazi Jewish individuals [published erratum appears in Nat Genet 1996 Jan;12(1):110]. Nat Genet 11(2): 198-200.

Struewing, J. P. et al. (1997). The risk of cancer associated with specific mutations of BRCA1 and BRCA2 among Ashkenazi Jews. N Engl J Med 336(20): 1401-8.

Szabo, C. I. and M. C. King (1997). Population genetics of BRCA1 and BRCA2. Am J Hum Genet 60(5): 1013-20.

Thorlacius, S. et al. (1998). Population-based study of risk of breast cancer in carriers of BRCA2 mutation. Lancet 352(9137): 1337-9.

Tonin, P. w. b. o. et al. (1996). Frequency of recurrent BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations in Ashkenazi Jewish breast Cancer Families. Nature Medicine 2: 1179-1183.

Original post: Breast and Ovarian Cancer in the Ashkenazi Jewish Population

What Was the Holocaust?

The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. Holocaust is a word of Greek origin meaning sacrifice by fire. The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were racially superior and that the Jews, deemed inferior, were an alien threat to the so-called German racial community.

Browse a timeline of major events of the Holocaust and World War II. Covers events from before 1933, 19331938, 19391941, 19421945, and after 1945.

The Path to Nazi Genocide, a 38-minute film, examines the Nazis rise to and consolidation of power in Germany.

Why do we as a nation commemorate the Holocaust through the annual Days of Remembrance?

Continued here: Introduction to the Holocaust United States Holocaust

Capernaum ( k-PUR-nee-m; Hebrew: , Kfar Nahum, Nahums village) was a fishing village in the time of the Hasmoneans, located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee.[1] It had a population of about 1,500.[2] Archaeological excavations have revealed two ancient synagogues built one over the other. A church near Capernaum is said to be the home of Saint Peter.

Kfar Nahum, the original name of the small town, means Nahums village in Hebrew, but apparently there is no connection with the prophet named Nahum. In the writings of Josephus, the name is rendered in Greek as K (Kapharnaum) and in the New Testament as K (Kapharnaum) in some manuscripts and as K (Kapernaum) in others. In Arabic, it is called Talhum, and it is assumed that this refers to the ruin (Tell) of Hum (perhaps an abbreviated form of Nahum) (Tzaferis, 1989).

The town is cited in all four gospels (Matthew 4:13,8:5,11:23,17:24, Mark 1:21,2:1,9:33, Luke 4:23,31,7:1,10:15, John 2:12,4:46,6:17,24,59) where it was reported to have been near the hometown of the apostles Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John, as well as the tax collector Matthew. One Sabbath, Jesus taught in the synagogue in Capernaum and healed a man who had the spirit of an unclean devil.[3] [This story is notable for being the only one common between the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Luke but not contained in the Gospel of Matthew. See Synoptic Gospels for more literary comparison between the Gospels.] Afterwards, he healed a fever in Simon Peters mother-in-law.[4] According to Luke 7:110, it is also the place where a Roman Centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant. Capernaum is also mentioned in the Gospel of Mark (2:1), it is the location of the famous healing of the paralytic lowered through the roof to reach Jesus. According to the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus selected this town as the center of his public ministry in the Galilee after he left the small mountainous hamlet of Nazareth (Matthew 4:1217). He also formally cursed the city, saying You shall be brought down to Hell, (Matthew 11:23) because of their lack of response to his mighty works.

Archaeological evidence demonstrates that the town was established in the 2nd century BC during the Hasmonean period. The site had no defensive wall and extended along the shore of the nearby lake (from east to west). The cemetery zone is found 200 meters north of the synagogue, which places it beyond the inhabited area of the town. It extended 3 kilometers to Tabgha, an area which appears to have been used for agricultural purposes, judging by the many oil and grain mills which were discovered in the excavation. Fishing was also a source of income; the remains of another harbor were found to the west of that built by the Franciscans.

No sources have been found for the belief that Capernaum was involved in the bloody Jewish revolts against the Romans, the First Jewish-Roman War (AD 6673) or Bar Kokhbas revolt (132135), although there is reason to believe that Josephus, one of the Jewish generals during the earlier revolt, was taken to Capernaum (which he called Kapharnakos) after a fall from his horse in nearby Bethsaida (Josephus, Vita, 72).

Josephus referred to Capernaum as a fertile spring. He stayed the night there after spraining his ankle. During the first Jewish revolt of 6670 Capernaum was spared as it was never occupied by the Romans.

In 1838, American explorer Edward Robinson discovered the ruins of ancient Capernaum. In 1866, British Captain Charles William Wilson identified the remains of the synagogue, and in 1894, Franciscan Friar Giuseppe Baldi of Naples, the Custodian of the Holy Land, was able to recover a good part of the ruins from the Bedouins. The Franciscans raised a fence to protect the ruins from frequent vandalism, and planted palms and eucalyptus trees brought from Australia to create a small oasis for pilgrims. They also built a small harbor. These labors were directed by Franciscan Virgilio Corbo.

The most important excavations began in 1905 under the direction of Germans Heinrich Kohl and Carl Watzinger. They were continued by Franciscans Fathers Vendelin von Benden (19051915) and Gaudenzio Orfali (19211926). The excavations resulted in the discovery of two public buildings, the synagogue (which was partially restored by Fr Orfali), and an octagonal church. Later, in 1968, excavation of the western portion of the sitethe portion owned by the Franciscanswas restarted by Corbo and Stanislao Loffreda, with the financial assistance of the Italian government. During this phase, the major discovery was of a house which is claimed to be St. Peters house, in a neighborhood of the town from the 1st century AD. These excavations have been ongoing, with some publication on the Internet as recently as 2003.[5]

The excavations revealed that the site was established at the beginning of the Hasmonean Dynasty, roughly in the 2nd century BC, and abandoned in the 11th century.

The eastern half of the site, where the Church of the Seven Apostles stands and owned by an Orthodox monastery, was surveyed and partially excavated under the direction of Vasilios Tzaferis. This section has uncovered the village from the Byzantine and Arab periods. Features include a pool apparently used for the processing of fish, and a hoard of gold coins. (Tzaferis, 1989).

The layout of the town was quite regular. On both sides of an ample north-south main street arose small districts bordered by small cross-sectional streets and no-exit side-streets. The walls were constructed with coarse basalt blocks and reinforced with stone and mud, but the stones (except for the thresholds) were not dressed and mortar was not used.

The most extensive part of the typical house was the courtyard, where there was a circular furnace made of refractory earth, as well as grain mills and a set of stone stairs that led to the roof. The floors of the houses were cobbled. Around the open courtyard, modest cells were arranged which received light through a series of openings or low windows (Loffreda, 1984).

Given the coarse construction of the walls, there was no second story to a typical home, and the roof would have been constructed of light wooden beams and thatch mixed with mud. This, along with the discovery of the stairs to the roof, recalls the biblical story of the Healing of the Paralytic: And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. (Mark 2:4) With the type of construction seen in Capernaum, it would not have been difficult to raise the ceiling by the courtyard stairs and to remove a part to allow the bed to be brought down to where Jesus stood.

A study of the district located between the synagogue and the octagonal church showed that several families lived together in the patriarchal style, communally using the same courtyards and doorless internal passages. The houses had no hygienic facilities or drainage; the rooms were narrow. Most objects found were made of clay: pots, plates, amphoras, and lamps. Fish hooks, weights for fish nets, striker pins, weaving bobbins, and basalt mills for milling grain and pressing olives were also found (Loffreda, 1974).

As of the 4th century, the houses were constructed with good quality mortar and fine ceramics. This was about the time that the synagogue now visible was built. Differences in social class were not noticeable. Buildings constructed at the founding of the town continued to be in use until the time of the abandonment of the town.

One block of homes, called by the Franciscan excavators the sacra insula or holy insula (insula refers to a block of homes around a courtyard) was found to have a complex history. Located between the synagogue and the lakeshore, it was found near the front of a labyrinth of houses from many different periods. Three principal layers have been identified:

The excavators concluded that one house in the village was venerated as the house of Peter the fisherman as early as the mid-1st century, with two churches having been constructed over it (Loffreda, 1984).

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Jewish Heritage

Category: Jewish American Heritage Month
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