Synagogues Jesus and Mary Magdalene Knew
Observing early Judaism at Tel Rekhesh
Ancient synagogue uncovered at Tel Rekhesh in the Galilee. Credit: Takahiko Yamamo.
In 2009, archaeologists uncovered a first-century synagogue at the town of Migdal on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Its stone benches still lined the walls and its floor still bore a carved stone table decorated with imagery perhaps linked to the Jerusalem Temple. Some believe the town was ancient Magdala, whose most famous resident needs no introduction: Mary Magdalene. She is one of the most prominent women in the Gospels, present at the crucifixion and, according to multiple gospel accounts, the first to encounter the risen Jesus. If the site is Magdala, its archaeology reveals a building she may have known, and a place where her community would have gathered to read Torah and discuss the law.
To date, about ten first-century synagogues have been confirmed across the southern Levant. One of them, located about 10 miles from Magdala on a rural mound called Tel Rekhesh, seems to tell a different version of the same story. As opposed to a bustling lakeside town like Magdala, Tel Rekhesh is a small, rural settlement. Its synagogue is smaller, more plain, and tucked into the edge of a modest farmstead. Yet both buildings come from the decades and region where Jesus of Nazareth—itself a small town in the Galilee—was said to preach in “synagogues throughout all Galilee” (Mark 1:39).
Recently, Takahiko Yamano of the Japanese Tel Rekhesh Archaeological Expedition offered a fuller picture of the Rekhesh synagogue. He shared that the structure measures roughly 28 by 31 feet on the outside, with a slightly rectangular interior hall of about 20 by 23 feet, a beaten earth floor, and stone benches running along the walls. Benches provide the most significant physical marker of a first-century synagogue, since inscriptions and other identifying features common in later periods are absent in this early time.
Yamano estimates that the structure could have accommodated about 50 people, communicating to Bible History Daily: “It belongs among the smaller known synagogue buildings of Galilee and the Golan. This is readily understandable, as the Roman-period settlement at Tel Rekhesh was limited to the relatively small area on the summit of the upper mound; there would have been no need for a larger building.”
Pillar foundations found within the synagogue at Tel Rekhesh, with indicating circles added by Takahiko Yamano. Credit: Takahiko Yamamo.
Two cut stones were found within the central hall. Their symmetrical placement, equidistant from the surrounding walls, led Yamano to conclude they were foundations for pillars that once supported the synagogue’s roof. A complication arose from their depth: One of the stones sat 4 to 6 inches below the expected floor level, with a height difference of about 7 inches between the two. After considering alternatives, Yamano believes the synagogue’s floor was simply uneven.
Tel Rekhesh is confidently identified as a synagogue, though it has some quirks. Unlike other Roman-period buildings at the site, its walls are skewed relative to true north, following the orientation of earlier Iron Age structures beneath it. Its entrance is set in the middle of the north wall. Yamano argues that this orientation reflects the synagogue’s position on the edge of the settlement rather than any symbolic alignment, distinguishing it from other first-century synagogues whose entrances appear to mimic Jerusalem’s layout facing eastward (Masada and Herodian) or face Jerusalem itself (Gamla).
Pottery recovered from the site, including lamps produced before 70 CE and a fragment of a chalk vessel (the kind of stone vessel tied to Jewish purity practices) along with coins, anchor the building’s use in the first and early second centuries CE.
The settlement was abandoned in the early second century, likely at the end of the Bar-Kokhba Revolt, and the synagogue’s collapse may be linked to the same earthquakes that damaged Capernaum and Tiberias. Most known first-century synagogues are tied to revolt—built, renovated, or repurposed by communities to resist Rome. Tel Rekhesh does not appear to have that connection.
Tel Rekhesh features a small synagogue in the Galilean countryside that provides evidence of rural religious life during the years Jesus is said to be moving through the Galilee. Although there is no evidence that Jesus visited this specific synagogue, the site’s archaeology reflects the spaces where he would have stood, preaching week after week and village after village.
Lauren K. McCormick is an assistant editor at Biblical Archaeology Review and a specialist in ancient Near Eastern religions, visual culture, and the Bible. She holds degrees in religion from Syracuse University, Duke University, New York University, and Rutgers University, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship on religion and the public conversation at Princeton University.
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I understood that preaching was generally done sitting down, rather than standing, in 1st century Judaism?
What an insightful observation, Bobbie Ann Cole! You are right that Jesus would likely have stood to read scripture and sat to preach (e.g., Matt 5:1; Luke 4:16–20). Maybe I should write a post about this in the future. Cheers!
Dear Biblical Archaeology Society editors,
Thank you for this article, “Synagogues Jesus and Mary Magdalene Knew”:
I read it with great interest, especially because it introduces Takahiko Yamano’s important study of the Tel Rekhesh synagogue.
I am writing to suggest a small correction to one sentence. The article currently states that Tel Rekhesh’s north-facing entrance “sets it apart from synagogues like Masada, Herodion, and Gamla … whose entrances face toward Jerusalem.”
This appears to conflate two separate points in Yamano’s discussion. In AJBI Vol. L (2025), p. 218, Yamano first discusses the rabbinic recommendation that the synagogue entrance be placed “on the eastern side,” following the model of the Jerusalem Temple, and he suggests that this pattern may already be seen in first-century synagogues, especially “Masada and Herodion.” He then distinguishes this from another practice, in which the entrance was made to face Jerusalem; for this he gives Gamla as the example, noting that its “entrance faces south-west,” that is, toward Jerusalem.
Yamano’s article is available here:
https://ajbi.org/ajbi_pdf/AJBI50_Yamano.pdf
In other words, Masada and Herodion seem to belong to the east-facing entrance pattern, while Gamla is the example of an entrance oriented toward Jerusalem.
This distinction is also supported by the site information for Herodion, where the triclinium later converted into a synagogue is described as originally having access “via a broad entryway facing east”:
https://herodium.org/history-and-archology/the-complexes/the-palace-fortress/the-triclinium-synagogue/
Similarly, the Madain Project notes that the Masada synagogue is “not oriented toward Jerusalem,” as was traditional in later synagogues:
https://madainproject.com/masada_synagogue
May I therefore suggest revising the sentence so that it does not group Masada and Herodion together with Gamla as examples whose entrances faced Jerusalem? A possible correction might be:
“Separately, its entrance faces north. This sets it apart from synagogues such as Masada and Herodion, whose entrances face east, perhaps in imitation of the Jerusalem Temple, and from Gamla, whose entrance faces toward Jerusalem.”
Thank you again for the helpful article and for your work in making archaeological scholarship accessible to a wider readership.
Thank you for this careful correction, Tomohiko Nishihara. I have amended the text.