Simon Says: "Let's visit the town of Magdala, in the Galilee!"
Yesterday I had the pleasure of leading a tour group to Magdala, on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, where we viewed one of the one of the earliest & most important synagogues built in Israel. Unearthed only in 2009, the site offers a rare glimpse into a thriving Jewish town from the early 1st century CE - the period in which Jesus lived & taught, & in which Jewish society was undergoing cultural, economic & religious transformation.
It is significant because it reveals to us that synagogues were places of worship during the time of the Second Temple, not only after its destruction.
At its heart is the Magdala Stone, an extraordinary carved block found in the synagogue. Its imagery including a menorah set on a tripod, rosettes & geometric motifs, is considered one of the earliest visual representations of the Jerusalem Temple created by someone who may have actually seen it. It is believed that the stone would have formed part of the reading table, upon which the Torah scrolls would have been set, for reading.
On this day in history 3246 (515 BCE), Ezra, the head of the Sanhedrin & the leader of the Jewish people at the time of the building of the Second Temple, addressed an assembly of Jews in Jerusalem, commanding them to return to the teachings of the Torah - after they were on the verge of complete assimilation following their 70-year exile in Babylonia.
Ezra decreed that the Torah should be read on Mondays & Thursdays, traditional market days, to encourage people to hear it. Magdala's marketplace is adjacent to the synagogue, ensuring that shoppers wouldn't be able to avoid hearing the Torah being read!
Josephus Flavius wrote about Magdala, referring to it under its Greek name, Tarichaea (Ταριχαία), which literally means “the place of salted fish.”
Josephus’ described the town as large & prosperous with a significant fishing fleet, whose economy was built around processing fish - especially producing tarichos, the salted or cured fish that was traded widely across the region, & was extremely popular in Rome.
The number of ritual purification baths (mikva’ot) fed by natural spring water is unusually high for a town of this size, reflecting the community’s strong commitment to ritual purity, particularly before entering the synagogue. It also demonstrates Magdala’s role as a pilgrimage stop for travellers moving between the northern towns & Jerusalem.
For Christian visitors, Magdala holds additional meaning as the traditional home of Mary Magdalene. For Jewish visitors, it offers a beautifully preserved example of a Jewish settlement, just before the Great Revolt against Rome.
#IsraelHistory #Magdala #Galilee #Archaeology #SecondTemplePeriod #JewishHistory #ChristianHistory #SeaOfGalilee #ImagineIsraelTours #SimonOsterTourGuideIsrael
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