Menorah in Magdala

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Where are archaeology volunteers taken on their weekly field trip?
To other digs, of course, to be guided around by the director of the site!

Don't mind the sign "Archaeological excavations. DANGER -- NO ENTRY."

Our group drove 4 miles south of Tiberias, along the Sea of Galilee, to Migdal.
Migdal in Hebrew, Magdala in Aramaic.
Readers of the New Testament will know that the town was most likely the birthplace or place of residence of Mary Magdalene, a devoted follower of Jesus.

Something like a scene from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" greeted our expectant eyes.
A stone box-shaped object literally under wraps, hidden by a heavy cloth and white sandbags.
It stood in the front of a 1st century synagogue. The basalt benches still in situ!

As he uncovered it, the archaeologist in charge cautioned us not to take any close-up photographs of this very recent and very spectacular find.

I compromised and sneaked a shot of only half of the stone structure. The carved decorations are different on each side and on the top.
They think it is the base of the table used 2,000 years ago for reading the Torah scroll.


In this Photo from the Ministry of Tourism, you see what the whole country was excited about!

You will enjoy reading the authoritative article about the discoveries at Migdal, available here.

This is the paragraph about the menorah:

According to the excavation director, Dina Avshalom-Gorni of the IAA, “We are dealing with an exciting and unique find. This is the first time that a menorah decoration has been discovered from the days when the Second Temple was still standing. This is the first menorah to be discovered in a Jewish context and that dates to the Second Temple period/beginning of the Early Roman period. We can assume that the engraving that appears on the stone, which the Israel Antiquities Authority uncovered, was done by an artist who saw the seven-branched menorah with his own eyes in the Temple in Jerusalem. The synagogue that was uncovered joins just six other synagogues in the world that are known to date to the Second Temple period.”

Ironically, this synagogue would not have been found if ground had not been broken by the Magdala Center, a Catholic pilgrim center planned to be built by the Legionaries of Christ/ Regnum Christi Movement. The Israel Antiquities Authority stepped in to do its always-necessary survey (before anything is built) and were so surprised to find all these treasures.

The Center will eventually be built around, not ON, the antiquities. But can you imagine how a synagogue from the time and place of Jesus will draw vast numbers of visitors of all faiths?!
Don't you just love how these things work? :-)

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