Ze’ev Yeivin

Prayer hall of the synagogue. All four walls of the synagogue—dating to the third or fourth century A.D.—have survived at least in part; a section of the west wall stands almost 28 feet high.

In the prayer hall, two small niches flank a wider, center niche. The center niche probably housed a wooden ark that contained the Torah scrolls. The two smaller niches likely held large, free-standing menorot. In front of the three niches are remains of a bema, or reading platform, built of ashlars (squared stones) with carved moldings. Next to the ashlar at the right, on the wall, is a well-preserved bench The sharply cut-out section in the middle of the bema probably held wooden steps that led up to the Torah ark.