Kfar Bar'am Synagogue | |
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Hebrew: כְּפַר בַּרְעָם | |
Religion | |
Affiliation | Judaism (former) |
Ecclesiastical or organisational status | Synagogue |
Status | Archaeological site |
Location | |
Location | Bar'am National Park, Galilee, Northern District |
Country | Israel |
Geographic coordinates | 33°02′37″N 35°24′51″E / 33.043611°N 35.414075°E |
Architecture | |
Completed | c. 220 CE |
Direction of façade | South |
[1] |
The Kfar Bar'am Synagogue (Hebrew: כְּפַר בַּרְעָם), also known as the Kafar Berem Synagogue, is the archaeological ruins of two former ancient Jewish synagogues, located at the site of Kafr Bir'im, a depopulated Palestinian village, in what is today, the Bar'am National Park, in the Galilee region of the Northern District of Israel, approximately 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from the border with Lebanon. It is estimated that the former synagogue was completed in the 3rd century, during the Roman period, likely by c. 220 CE,[1] and was located in the medieval Jewish village of Kfar Bar'am.
The façade of the 3rd-century synagogue faces south, towards Jerusalem, as the custom of most synagogues, and was replete with a covered portico containing six stone columns.[2]
It was first identified as a synagogue in modern times in 1852 – along with other similar remains in Galilee – by Edward Robinson in his Biblical Researches in Palestine.[3]
It must be remembered that the first of those to identify 'house of assembly' remains in the Land of Israel in the modern age was the American theologian, E. Robinson, considered to be the "father of the study of the Land of Israel"