The Old Synagogue

The synagogue situated in the heart of the village, served, according to the tradition, as the house of study of Rabbi Joshua Ben Hananiah, the Rabbi of Rabbi Akiva, and as the synagogue of the Jewish community of Pekiin. In 1837, this synagogue was destroyed in an earthquake and rebuilt in 1873 by Rabbi Raphael Halevy, a wealthy Jew from Beirut. In the ancient synagogue there are two stones that according to tradition were brought from Jerusalem by the Jews of Pekiin who served as priests in the Temple. The stones have Jewish symbols chiseled on them. The Holy Ark hosts an ancient Torah scroll of hundreds of years old. On the synagogue walls there are ancient stones from the tomb cave and a parchment from the Geniza (storeroom for holy items) of Pekiin.