The Synagogue, Jericho is one of the major Jericho Tourist Attractions. Discovered in the year 1936, during the excavations made by the Antiquities authority . The archaeologists were mesmerized by the beauty of the ten by thirteen meters of the mosaic floor found during the digging of this site. The floor was believed to be the floor of The Synagogue, Jericho because it had the image of the Ark of the law, a shofar, lulav, menorah and the an Hebrew inscription which reads Shalom Al Yisrael or the Peace upon Israel.
The beautiful architecture of The Synagogue in Jericho is worth mentioning. It came into existence in the late Byzantine period at about 6th century. The synagogue is very remarkable because it had no animal or human representations carved on its walls. After the 167 war, The Synagogue, Jericho was visited by many Jews. One of the locals constructed a house on the site and began charging the travelers for entering this heritage site. Slowly the National parks authority purchased The Synagogue in Jericho in the year 1986.
The Synagogue, Jericho has immense cultural and historical importance. The best part about this synagogue is that it held a prime position both in the ancient and the recent era. The same year when the national Parks authority bought this site , Arel Yoav kest started a prayer group called the minyan which slowly turned into a full time yeshiva. When Jericho was to be handed over to the Palestinian authority , they wanted the yeshivas to move out from there. But after mediation by several eminent political personalities, the site remained accessible to the yeshivas. The Torah scroll which was kept safely at the site of the synagogue is now housed a mile away from it at Mevuot Yericho.
The Synagogue, Jericho is a beautiful site which is not to be missed while on a Jericho travel.
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