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Richly decorated synagogue — one of the oldest — unearthed. See its marble treasures
Sacramento Bee ^ | August 15, 2023 | Moira Ritter

Posted on 08/27/2023 5:43:19 AM PDT by SunkenCiv

The rectangular building, measuring about 70 feet by 20 feet, was composed of two rooms, each about 650 square feet, the Oleg Deripaska's Volnoe Delo Foundation said. It was destroyed in the middle of the sixth century when tribes attacked and burned down the city. The synagogue also offers experts insight into Judaism practice during the religion's "Second Temple Period," experts with the foundation said. From 516 B.C. until 70 A.D., most Jewish rituals took place at the second Jerusalem Temple, so it was rare for synagogues to be built elsewhere. Kuban is in southeast Russia, bordering the Black Sea.

(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: godsgravesglyphs; losttribes; middleages; phanagoria
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Archaeologists pieced together the menorah fragments from the site.
Oleg Deripaska Volnoe Delo Foundation
Oleg Deripaska Volnoe Delo Foundation

1 posted on 08/27/2023 5:43:19 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
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To: 240B; 75thOVI; Adder; albertp; asgardshill; At the Window; bitt; blu; BradyLS; cajungirl; ...
The other GGG topics added since the previous digest ping, alpha sort:

2 posted on 08/27/2023 5:55:38 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: SunkenCiv

>> From 516 B.C. until 70 A.D., most Jewish rituals took place at the second Jerusalem Temple <<

So we’re just going to deny the existence of the Hellenic Jews?


3 posted on 08/27/2023 7:03:44 AM PDT by dangus
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To: dangus
Until the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, there wasn't a big buildout of synagogues, but the Diaspora didn't start then. Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed the First Temple, and before that the Assyrians kicked the ten tribes out onto the frontiers of their empire, which ultimately is how this particular synagogue (as well as Ashkenazi Jews overall) came to be.

4 posted on 08/27/2023 9:36:12 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: SunkenCiv

There was a synagogue in Capernaum in Jesus’ day (Mark 1.21).


5 posted on 08/27/2023 11:41:20 AM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: dangus
The statement as written is correct. Hellenistic Jews did not build their own temple in Alexandria or elsewhere. The Temple in Jerusalem was the center of Judaism and Jewish worship until its destruction ins 70 AD. Hellenistic Jew were in constant conflict with traditionalists but they still saw the Temple as the center of the Jewish faith. The majority of religious rituals occurred tin the Temple.
6 posted on 08/27/2023 8:00:43 PM PDT by OldGoatCPO (No Caitiff Choir of Angels will sing for me. )
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To: Verginius Rufus

The ruins of that building are still there.


7 posted on 08/27/2023 8:02:46 PM PDT by BelleAl (Proud to be a member of the party of NO! NO more deficit spending and government control!)
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To: SunkenCiv

Cool find, but synagogue Judaism didn’t start with the destruction of Herod’s Temple (which is still called the Second Temple for reasons I don’t understand). Jesus taught in “the synagogues” of Galilee even before the famous incident in the Nazareth synagogue. For Pete’s sake, a Roman centurion built a synagogue in this period.


8 posted on 08/27/2023 8:12:05 PM PDT by Burma Jones
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To: OldGoatCPO

Yes, Hellenic Jews did regard the Temple as the center of Jewish worship, but Catholics believe the Vatican is the center of the Catholic Church; thet doesn’t mean the MAJORITY of religious rituals take place there. Most important =/= majority.


9 posted on 08/27/2023 8:23:01 PM PDT by dangus
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To: dangus

You should look a bit closer at the history. The Bible is very clear on what rites were performed in the Temple and only in the Temple.


10 posted on 08/28/2023 4:26:30 AM PDT by OldGoatCPO (No Caitiff Choir of Angels will sing for me. )
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To: OldGoatCPO

Apparently, it’s the word, “majority” that you’re hung up on.


11 posted on 08/28/2023 5:23:59 AM PDT by dangus
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To: dangus
The Vatican is not similar to the 2nd Temple in any historical context, nor are 2nd Temple era synagogues similar to Catholic Churches other then the fact that people of like faith gather there. You are comparing something that is a modern construct to something that was ancient. The oldest known synagogue was in use over 100 years before the death of Christ. Opinions and verbal slights of hand do not trump historical facts.
12 posted on 08/28/2023 6:33:24 AM PDT by OldGoatCPO (No Caitiff Choir of Angels will sing for me. )
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To: OldGoatCPO

OK, then here’s a simple historical fact: There were DOZENS of synagogues at the time of Christ. I know some people (Kee, etc.) have tried to deny the existence of these synagogues, insisting that their presence in the New Testament is anachronistic. That’s was an unreasonable assertion in the 1990s when Kee made it, and has been easily refuted by the discovery of many of these synagogues since then.

This is in addition to the Samaritan synagogues, and the fact that the Jews in Christ’s time in diaspora regular refer to houses of prayer using the same Greek word used for Samaritan synagogues suggest that Jews in diaspora likely had synagogues similar to the Samaritans. (If they disparaged the Samaritan synagogues, why would they use the same name for their own?) So it’s reasonable to assume there were synagogues in literally every Jewish settlement across the entire Hellenic world (see Mordecai Aviam, for instance).

So yeah, the entire issue is created by Jews and anti-skeptics to cast doubt on both Christian scripture and the authenticity of Christian worship, but is a complete and utter deliberate, indefensible lie.

And that’s why I noted that this mainstream publication was siding with indefensible bigotry in the way it worded things, in spite of the fact that the news item they were covering is added proof of that the claims are incontrovertably nonsensical and ideological deceit.


13 posted on 08/28/2023 7:13:02 AM PDT by dangus
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To: SunkenCiv

Oleg Deripaska, John McCain and Rick Davis patron. Deripaska hit with sanctions during Trump Administration over eastern Ukraine. Convoluted story.


14 posted on 08/28/2023 7:17:29 AM PDT by jjotto ( Blessed are You LORD, who crushes enemies and subdues the wicked.)
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To: dangus

Synagogues were not churches. During the Second Temple period they were meeting places, places of study and Torah reading. After the destruction of the Second Temple they gradually became places of meeting, study and ceremony. During Christs time they were not ceremonial places. As a I said the oldest KNOWN synagogue was in use 30-50 years before the birth of Christ. Jews in Babylon, Alexandria and throughout the Roman Empire, during the Second Temple period, certainly celebrated Holy Days, read and studied Torah in their Synagogues. But there was only one Temple and it was the only place that rituals outlined in the Old Testament took place.


15 posted on 08/28/2023 8:27:25 AM PDT by OldGoatCPO (No Caitiff Choir of Angels will sing for me. )
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To: dangus

Synagogues were not churches. During the Second Temple period they were meeting places, places of study and Torah reading. After the destruction of the Second Temple they gradually became places of meeting, study and ceremony. During Christs time they were not ceremonial places. As a I said the oldest KNOWN synagogue was in use 30-50 years before the birth of Christ. Jews in Babylon, Alexandria and throughout the Roman Empire, during the Second Temple period, certainly celebrated Holy Days, read and studied Torah in their Synagogues. But there was only one Temple and it was the only place that rituals outlined in the Old Testament took place.


16 posted on 08/28/2023 8:27:31 AM PDT by OldGoatCPO (No Caitiff Choir of Angels will sing for me. )
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To: BelleAl
I have an old Bazak Guide to Israel which mentions "The ruins of the splendid late 2nd or early 3rd century synagogue..." in Capernaum (Kfar Nahum), so that would be a later building than the one mentioned in the New Testament.
17 posted on 08/28/2023 8:28:09 AM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

18 posted on 08/28/2023 8:32:57 AM PDT by SJackson (In a war of ideas it is people who get killed.)
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To: OldGoatCPO

>> Synagogues were not churches. <<

No shit, Sherlock. I’m done with you and your condescension.


19 posted on 08/28/2023 8:33:49 AM PDT by dangus
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To: dangus

I think where you are misunderstanding (or disagreeing) is what is a “ritual”, and it’s due to the nature of Judaism since the Romans destroyed the Temple.

You are interpreting “ritual” broadly. If, for example, one considers every bris a “ritual”, then, sure numerically, many more “rituals” have always been held outside the Temple.

If you are interpreting “ritual” in the more traditional fashion to mean the Aaronic duties of Passover sacrifice and the like, then, no, Jerusalem has always been the center.


20 posted on 08/28/2023 9:54:21 AM PDT by Jewbacca (The residents of Iroquois territory may not determine whether Jews may live in Jerusalem.)
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