Archaeologists recently discovered a synagogue from the Second Temple era at the construction site of a hotel along the Migdal coast, a few miles north of Tiberias. At the center of the synagogue is a stone inscribed with a seven-branch menorah. The central hall of the synagogue is 120 sq. meters (1,292 sq. feet) in area. Stone benches used by the worshippers were built along the synagogue walls. In addition, the floor is mosaic and its walls are graced with fresco.

The Archaeological Authority’s director of the excavation called the finds “exciting and unique.” Dina Avshalom-Gorni said, “This is the first time in which a description of the menorah was discovered from the days that the Temple still stood. This is the first menorah discovered in a Jewish context, dated to the Second Temple era (the beginning of the Roman era). One could suppose that the inscription that appears on the stone that the Archaeological Authority discovered was made by an artisan that saw the seven-branched menorah at the Temple in Jerusalem with his own eyes.” She added that the synagogue joins the ranks of the only six other synagogues in the world known to exist from the Second Temple era.