Synagogue Chancel Screen (Ascalon, Syro-Palestine)

There has been a mikveh (ritual bath) in Cologne, Germany, as far back as the late eighth century, a remarkable sign of a long-standing Jewish community. The structure that survives today, located…

The “Old Synagogue” in Erfurt dates to the eleventh century, although construction on the building continued through the fourteenth century. Only one wall from the original structure remains, as the…

This stone window pillar is thought to have belonged to a house owned by the Qalonymos family in Mainz, Germany. The illustrious Qalonymos (a Greek translation of the Hebrew “Shem Tov”) family of…

This foundation stone is the only remaining piece of the earliest synagogue in Worms, Rhineland (Germany). Its text expresses gratitude to Jacob bar David and his wife Rachel for having donated the…

The Ben Ezra synagogue seems to have received its current name from a legend that the biblical Ezra gave a Torah scroll to the Jewish congregation in Fustāt (Old Cairo). More significantly, it was in…

This oak board, measuring about 4.5 feet (137 cm) by 9 inches (23 cm), dates to eleventh- or twelfth-century Cairo. It was once affixed above a synagogue door and inscribed with the biblical verses…