Editing Synagogue (section)

==Samaritan synagogues==
[[File:Interior_of_the_Synagogue_of_the_Samaritans_Nablus_c._1920.jpg|thumb|upright|Interior of the Samaritan synagogue in [[Nablus]] circa 1920]]

=== Name and history ===
The [[Samaritans|Samaritan]] house of worship is also called a synagogue.<ref name="Pummer"/> During the third and second centuries BCE, the [[Hellenistic period]], the Greek word used in the [[Jewish diaspora|Diaspora]] by Samaritans and Jews was the same, ''proseukhē'' {{langx|grc-x-koine|προσευχή||place of prayer}}, plural {{lang|grc|προσευχαί}} ''prosukhái''); a [[third century|third]] or [[fourth century]] inscription uses a similar term, {{lang|grc|εὑκτήριον}} ''euktērion''.<ref name="Pummer"/>

The oldest Samaritan synagogue discovered so far is from [[Delos]] in the [[Aegean Islands]], with an inscription dated between 250 and 175&nbsp;BCE, while most Samaritan synagogues excavated in the wider [[Land of Israel]] and ancient [[Samaria]] in particular, were built in the fourth to seventh centuries at the very end of the Roman Empire and throughout the Byzantine period.<ref name="Pummer">{{cite journal |last= Pummer |first= Reinhard |title= How to Tell a Samaritan Synagogue from a Jewish Synagogue |journal= Biblical Archaeology Review |date= 13 January 2009 |volume= May/June 1998 |issue= 24:03 |via= Center for Online Judaic Studies, cojs.org |url= http://cojs.org/how_to_tell_a_samaritan_synagogue_from_a_jewish_synagogue-_reinhard_pummer-_bar_24-03-_may-jun_1998/ |access-date= 2 September 2018 |archive-date= 7 April 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220407033411/http://cojs.org/how_to_tell_a_samaritan_synagogue_from_a_jewish_synagogue-_reinhard_pummer-_bar_24-03-_may-jun_1998/ }}</ref>

===Distinguishing elements===
The elements which distinguish Samaritan synagogues from contemporary Jewish ones are:
* Alphabet: the use of the [[Samaritan script]]<ref name="Pummer"/>
* Orthography: When the Samaritan script is used, there are some Hebrew words which would be spelled in a way typical only for the [[Samaritan Pentateuch]], for instance, "forever" is written {{smallcaps|ʿlmw}} instead of {{smallcaps|lʿlm}}.<ref name="Pummer"/> When Greek is the language used in inscriptions, typically, Samaritans may contract two Hebrew words into one, such ''har'' "mountain" and Gerizim becoming {{langx|grc|Άργαρίζειν|Árgarízein}}. This is an archaic practice that was primarily maintained by Samaritans.<ref name="Pummer"/> 
* Orientation: The façade, or entrance, of the Samaritan synagogue, typically faces [[Mount Gerizim]], which is the holiest site to Samaritans, while Jewish synagogues are oriented towards Jerusalem and the [[Temple Mount]].<ref name="Pummer"/>
* Decoration: The mosaic floor and other architectural elements or artifacts are sometimes decorated with typical symbols.<ref name="Pummer"/>
**As the Samaritans have historically adhered more strictly to the [[Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image|commandment forbidding the creation of any "graven image"]], they would not use any depictions of man or beast.<ref name="Pummer"/> Representations of the signs of the [[zodiac]], of human figures or even Greek deities such as the god [[Helios]], as seen in Byzantine-period Jewish synagogues, would be unimaginable in Samaritan buildings of any period.<ref name="Pummer"/>
** A representation of Mount Gerizim is a clear indication of Samaritan identity.<ref name="Pummer"/> On the other hand, although the existence of a Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim is both mentioned by Josephus and confirmed by archaeological excavation at its summit, the temple's early destruction in the second century BCE led to its memory disappearing from Samaritan tradition. No temple-related items would be found in Samaritan synagogue depictions.<ref name="Pummer"/> Religious implements, such as are also known from ancient Jewish synagogue mosaics (the [[temple menorah]], [[shofar]], [[showbread]] table, [[trumpet]]s, incense shovels, and specifically the façade of what looks like a temple or a [[#Torah ark|Torah shrine]]) are also present in Samaritan ones, but the objects are always related to the [[Tabernacle]], the [[Ark of the Covenant]] within the Tabernacle, or the Torah shrine in the synagogue itself.<ref name="Pummer"/> Samaritans believe that at the [[Last Judgment|end of time]], the Tabernacle and its utensils will be recovered from the place they were buried on Mount Gerizim, and as such they play an important role in Samaritan beliefs.<ref name="Pummer"/> Since the same artists, such as mosaicists, worked for all ethno-religious communities of the time, some depictions might be identical in Samaritan and Jewish synagogues, Christian churches, and pagan temples, but their significance would differ.<ref name="Pummer"/>
** Missing from Samaritan synagogue floors would be images often found in Jewish ones: The [[lulav]] (palm-branch) and [[etrog]] (citron fruit) have a different ritual use by Samaritans celebrating [[Sukkot]] and do not appear on mosaic floors.<ref name="Pummer"/>
* [[Mikveh]]s near the synagogue after 70&nbsp;CE: Jews abandoned the habit of building mikvehs next to their houses of worship after the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)|70 CE destruction]] of the [[Jerusalem Temple]], but Samaritans continued the practice.<ref name="Pummer"/>

===Archaeological finds===
Ancient Samaritan synagogues are mentioned by literary sources or have been found by archaeologists in the Diaspora, in the wider Holy Land, and specifically in Samaria.<ref name="Pummer"/>

====Diaspora====
* [[Delos Synagogue]]: a Samaritan inscription has been dated to between 250 and 175&nbsp;BCE.<ref name="Pummer"/>
* [[Rome]] and [[Tarsus, Mersin|Tarsus]]: ancient literature offers hints that Samaritan synagogues may have existed in these cities between the fourth and sixth centuries CE.<ref name="Pummer"/>
* [[Thessaloniki]] and [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]]: short inscriptions found there and using the Samaritan and Greek alphabet may originate from Samaritan synagogues.<ref name="Pummer"/>

====The wider Holy Land====
* Synagogue of [[Salbit]] (now [[Sha'alvim]]), excavated by [[Eleazar Sukenik]] in 1949 northwest of Jerusalem. It was about {{convert|8 by 15.5|m}} in size, was two stories tall, and was oriented towards Mount Gerizim. Two mosaics remain, one atop the other; one contained the Samaritan version of the [[Song of the Sea]] in Exodus 15:18.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Reich |first1=Ronny |title=The Plan of the Samaritan Synagogue at Sha'alvim |journal=Israel Exploration Journal |date=1994 |volume=44 |issue=3/4 |pages=228–233 |jstor=27926350  |issn=0021-2059}}</ref> It was probably built in the 4th or 5th century and destroyed in the 5th or 6th.<ref name="Pummer"/>
* The synagogue at [[Tell Qasile]], which was built at the beginning of the seventh century.<ref name="Pummer"/>
* Synagogue A at [[Beisan]] was a room added to an existing building in the late 6th or early 7th century and served as a Samaritan synagogue.<ref name="Pummer"/> Beisan is famous for Synagogue B, the [[Beth Alpha]] synagogue, which faced Jerusalem and was not a Samaritan synagogue.

====Samaria====
* El-Khirbe synagogue, discovered c. 3&nbsp;km from [[Sebastia, Nablus|Sebaste]], was built in the 4th century CE and remained in use into the Early Islamic period, with a break during the late 5th–early 6th century<ref name="Pummer"/>
* [[Khirbet Samara]] synagogue, c. 20&nbsp;km northwest of [[Nablus]] and built in the 4th century CE<ref name="Pummer"/>
* Zur Natan synagogue, c. 29&nbsp;km west of Nablus and built in the 5th century CE<ref name="Pummer"/>