The Ancient Synagogue as an Economic Center

Author(s): Ben-Zion Rosenfeld and Joseph Menirav

Source: Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 58, No. 4 (Oct., 1999), pp. 259-276
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/546161
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THE ANCIENT SYNAGOGUE AS AN ECONOMICCENTER

BEN-ZIONROSENFELDand JOSEPHMENIRAV,Bar-Ian University,Ramat Gan

I. INTRODUCTION

ANCIENTsynagogues functioned as centers for the study of the Torah,for prayer, and
for community activities, sometimes serving, for example, as a hostel, court of law, alms
house, and, later, as a school.1 The extent to which the synagogue was used for communal
purposes differed from period to period and from district to district, not to mention re-
gional differences both between Palestine and the Diaspora, as a whole, and between the
Roman Empire Diaspora and the eastern (Babylonian and Persian) Diaspora.2
Despite the evidence for the various uses of synagogues mentioned above, our sources
do not give explicit descriptions of commercial activity conducted in the synagogue or its
environs or of the synagogue's influence on local economic activity. This paper attempts
to examine the link between synagogues and commercial activity.
We shall concentrate on: (1) commercial activity inside the synagogue itself; (2) com-
mercial activity outside the prayer room but within the bounds of the synagogue; (3) the
connections, if any, between urban commercial activity and the local synagogue.
II. COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY WITHIN THE SYNAGOGUE ITSELF

By the term "commercial activity,"we mean transactionsin which goods or services are
supplied in returnfor money and motivated by economic benefit or profit. We shall not be
discussing here such religious economic activity as the supply of goods and services to the
synagogue for the various needs of the synagogue itself or contributionsmade to the syn-
agogue by various members of the community.
Very few sources give explicit indications of a direct link between commerce and the
synagogue. The Tosefta mentions the word 771D0'(living, livelihood) explicitly in a detailed
description of the basilica-synagogue in Alexandria. Not only are its size and splendor
described, but also the seating arrangement:
L
Si5Db7z33.lTW3n uK1iTz712D 1UK
Kn Dbn1 ^-H fio^
K8n7ZOK 71DOD n7
tp5s NK K5t 1rnb 1
nrnpi55 .r31'it'1mm
n,17rmlY noDmn7lm ,ynX y' 5r n:1 ... rto, ardm5utO,nnr nrn-a

1 L. E. Levine, "The Second

Temple Synagogue:
The Formative Years,"in idem, ed., The Synagogue in
Late Antiquity (Philadelphia, 1987), pp. 10, 14, 15;
idem, "The Nature and Origin of the Palestinian Syna-
gogue Reconsidered," Journal of Biblical Literature
115 (1996): 425-48; M. Goodman, State and Society
in Roman Galilee, A.D. 132-212 (Totowa, New Jersey,
[JNES 58 no. 4 (1999)]
? 1999 by The University of Chicago.
All rights reserved,
0022-2968/1999/5804-0002$02.00.
1983), pp. 82-87; R. A. Horsley,Archaeology, History,
and Society in Galilee (Valley Forge, Pennsylvania,
1996), pp. 131-53; L. H. Feldman,Studies in Hellenis-
tic Judaism (Leiden, 1996), pp. 577-602.
2 A. Kasher,
"Synagogues as 'Houses of Prayer'and
'Holy Places' in the Jewish Communitiesof Hellenistic
and Roman Egypt," in D. Urman and Paul V. M.
Flesher, eds., Ancient Synagogues: Historical Analysis
and Archaeological Discovery, 2 vols. (Leiden, 1995),
vol. 1, pp. 205-20; I. Gafni, "Synagogues in Babylonia
in the TalmudicPeriod,"Ancient Synagogues, pp. 221-
31; idem, The Jews of Babylonia in the TalmudicEra

259
260 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

, 'ly xr'K X 'x

33''am 7-p1:wrnKV1... rrmni nrm ^ l?^ pInpy In7'imTon
nI*Pn^
nu ,rnS .pn1p
vil30K KX-IT ^ In 35 D?nS)31p^ y P'S aOI u '7mln ) ,pM
,p^=t3r 'I3yy Dn '-s0
tOwnInnwx1 ^sD= Km
^HKyr ono3DE
Said R. Judah,
"Whoever has never seen the double colonnade [the basilica-synagogue] of Alexandria in
Egypt has never seen Israel's glory in his entire life. It was a kind of large basilica, one colonnade
inside another... with a wooden platform in the middle. The minister of the synagogue stood on
it, with flags in his hand. When one began to read, the other would have the flags, and they would
answer'Amen'.. . . Theydid not sit in a jumble,but the goldsmithssat by themselves,the silver-
smithsby themselves,the weavers(O"'rT1)by themselves,the bronzeworkers("OD1tU)by them-
selves,4andthe blacksmithsby themselves.All this for what?So thatwhena travelercamealong,
he could findhis fellow craftsmen,andon thatbasis he could earna living."
The source does not use the word "synagogue" explicitly, preferring the term '71UOSD'
(diplaston), which means "basilica,"a building with a double colonnade that may also have
served as a community center and even a commercial center. In the source, however,
R. Judahemphasizes that the building was like a basilica but not an actualbasilica. It is also
clear from the descriptionof the building and its use that it was regularlyused for religious
ceremonies and not for casual gatheringsof participants;the wooden platform,the precentor
or administrator(nrl), blessings, and Torahreadingsare also mentioned.Most scholarshave
identified this building with what Philo (ca. 20 B.C.E.to 50 C.E.),in Legatio ad Caium 134,
calls the greatest and most magnificent of the synagogues in the Alexandriaof his time.5
According to the report, the special seating arrangementwas designed to allow out-of-
town visitors to establish contact with colleagues and eventually work alongside them. The
fact hinted at in this passage, that the synagogue could serve as a means by which Jewish
guests from other cities might establish contact with the community in order to gain eco-
nomic advantages,is significant and suggestive. It is, however, difficultto imagine that the
Jews of Alexandriadeveloped a seating arrangementin their basilica-synagoguein the way
that they did merely to make it easier for visitors from afar to take up their professions in
the community.It is more likely that this concentrationof types of professionals in defined
areasof the basilica-synagogue allowed colleagues to get to know each other;exchange up-
to-date informationon prices, suppliers, and clients; establish and strengthenbusiness con-
nections; arrangeagreementsfor partnershipin a project;fix a uniformmarketingpolicy and
prevent unfair competition; and make a whole string of other decisions concerned with
maintainingthe common interestsof thatparticularprofessionalbody. Furthermore,having
a fixed place for membersof a particularprofession would have enabled not only the guests
from out-of-town, but also the local residents,to become acquaintedand lay the groundwork
for futureeconomic cooperation.It is thus impossible to ignore the possibilities arisingfrom
the very seating arrangementof occupational groups in the synagogue.6

(Jerusalem, 1990), pp. 109-16 (Hebrew); idem, Land,
Center and Diaspora: Jewish Constructs in Late Anti-
quity (Sheffield, 1997), p. 56.
3
Tosefta, Sukkah, 4: 6 (Neusner, ed. [Hoboken,
New Jersey, 1986], 2: 224, with minor changes).
4 Some
interpretn"'rl and D""OltU as "roughweav-
ers" and "finishing weavers," respectively.
5 See S.
Lieberman, Tosefta Ki-Fshutah, Mo'ed,
pt. 4 (New York, 1962), pp. 889-90; E. Schiirer, The
History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus
Christ,rev. and ed. G. VermesandF Millar (Edinburgh,
1979), vol. 2, pp. 443,448; vol. 3 (1986), p. 43; Kasher,
The Jews in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt (Tiibingen,
1985), pp. 350-53.
6 M.
Aberbach, Labor, Crafts and Commerce in
Ancient Israel (Jerusalem, 1994), pp. 151-52, says
 THE ANCIENT SYNAGOGUE AS AN ECONOMIC CENTER 261

The phenomenon mentioned in the Tosefta of a variety of occupational groups located

in one basilica-synagogue is unique and reportedin no other source. It may be interpreted
correctly in light of the relatively large number of reports dating from the first century
B.C.E. to the second century C.E., from various parts of the Roman Empire, including
Egypt, concerning the existence of various legally recognized "colleges" (collegia licita),
which were organized on a religious, social, or professional basis. These colleges had var-
ious legal rights, such as the right to own propertyor a certain area in a city (topos), and
they enjoyed government patronage.7
The AlexandrianJews' choice of a basilica-synagogue to house their colleges would in-
dicate that they wanted the latter to be recognized as organized on a religious basis, in the
same way that local pagan temples enjoyed special rights. We know that synagogues had
the same right of inviolability that pagan temples had,8and it is reasonable to assume that,
like pagan temples, they had additional rights, in accordance with the law concerning col-
leges and under the patronage of the urban or national government. Thus we may con-
clude that the Alexandrian Jews wished to strengthen their professional colleges, which
already had economic rights, by including them in a sort of umbrella organization. The
organization'sreligious status would have added to the economic status of the colleges in
the eyes of the law and promoted the legal status of the Jewish community in Alexandria.
This explanation is confirmed in the sources, which indicate that the status of the Jews
in Egypt began to decline considerably in this period. Tension particularlyincreased with
their Greek neighbors, up to the outbreakof the Diaspora Revolt in 115, which was not
quelled by the Romans until 117 with the destruction of the Alexandrian community.9
Philo testifies to the existence of the great basilica-synagogue, which indicates that it was
already built before his time. During this period, when the situation was, as mentioned
above, already politically difficult for the Jews, the AlexandrianJews may have wanted to
strengthentheir position in anticipationof trouble ahead. They may have hoped that rein-
forcing the religious-economic status of their legally recognized colleges would be in their
best interest and would prevent harm to their community. The description in the Tosefta
concerning the seating arrangementwould appear to refer to the later period of the syna-
gogue's existence-the first century and early second century C.E., since it is attributedto
the sage R. YehudahBen Ilai, who was active between 140 and 170,10or one generation
after the Diaspora Revolt and the destructionof the Alexandria synagogue. It is reasonable
to suppose that he reporteda descriptionpassed down from the years precedingthe destruc-
tion of that synagogue.

that this synagogue "was really a basilica, i.e., a market
and trade union meeting hall used also for religious
services." But it is very difficult to accept every partof
this explanation; see Kasher, The Jews in Hellenistic
and Roman Egypt, p. 353, n. 40.
7 The institution of the
guilds was anchored in the
well-known law, lex lulia Caesarias de collegiis; on
the wide range of guilds, see A. Berger, Encyclope-
dic Dictionary of Roman Law (Philadelphia, 1953),
pp. 395-96, s.v. "Collegia." On the guilds in Egypt,
see R. Taubenschlag, The Law of Greco-Roman Egypt
in the Light of the Papyri (Milan, 1972), pp. 644-58;
on guilds in the Roman Empire, see Z. Yavetz, Julius
Caesar and His Public Image (London, 1983), pp.
85-96; Kasher, "Synagogues as 'House of Prayer',"
p. 218, n. 5.
8
Kasher, "Synagogues as 'House of Prayer',"pp.
215-16 and n. 36.
9 See E. M. Smallwood, The Jews under Roman
Rule (Leiden, 1976), pp. 220-55, 364-68, 389-427;
Kasher, The Jews in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt, pp.
75-105, 197-207, 233-61.
10 H. L. Strack and G. Stemberger, Introductionto
the Talmudand Midrash (Edinburgh, 1991), pp. 84-
86. This work has also been used here for the Tannaitic
authorities cited below.
262 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

The description in the Tosefta indicates that a guest arriving at the synagogue would
have received economic aid from the appropriatecollege. A complex organization such as
this offered economic facilities of which the more efficient "working arrangement"men-
tioned in the Tosefta was only one, albeit one of the most importantfacilities and no doubt
the reason why it was noted in particular.The passage testifying to the extensive and com-
plex commercial activity in the synagogue in Alexandria must still be investigated further,
however. We need to establish precisely at what times the assemblies described in the
Tosefta took place in synagogues generally.
Most of our sources regarding synagogues in general, both in Palestine and in the Di-
aspora during the Second Temple period and later, indicate that activity in the synagogues
centered aroundthe Sabbathand holidays. If anyone was familiar with the customs of Al-
exandrian Jews it was Philo, and he testifies that people congregated in the synagogues
particularly on the Sabbath when they would study the Torah and its interpretation.11
Josephus also explains that, according to Jewish law, one must rest every seventh day from
all work and assemble to hear the words of the Torahand study them thoroughly.12Christian
sources as well testify that all the meetings of the apostles with the Jews in synagogues in
Palestine and in the Diaspora took place on the Sabbath.'3It would seem, then, that the
Tosefta is referringprimarilyto assemblies on the Sabbathand holidays. Work was indeed
not carried out on these days because of the religiously enforced day of rest, but acquain-
tances could be made leading to partnershipsand projectsthat could be carriedout at a later
date. It is even possible that general outlines for cooperation were settled on the Sabbath
during the breaks between religious activities. This is clearly hinted at in the description
given in the Tosefta, which describes the seating arrangementintended to promote eco-
nomic relations.
It is very likely that the Tosefta's description of seating arrangementsis not restricted
to the Sabbath and religious holidays. It became common practice towards the end of the
Second Temple period for people to assemble in the synagogue on other occasions, such
as Hanukkah and Purim, ahd even on certain ordinary weekdays, specifically Mondays
and Thursdays, to read the Torahand perform other obligations (mitzvoth). This custom
spread particularly after the destruction of the Second Temple,'4 and this in turn would
have increased the opportunitiesfor those regularly attendingthe synagogue and their vis-
itors to make commercial contacts while in the synagogue.
The description we have been discussing of the treatmentof visitors to the Alexandrian
basilica-synagogue is not unique. An inscription from the Second Temple period, from the

1l Legatio ad Caium 156; De vita Moesis 2. 215-
16; De opificio mundi 128.
12 Contra
Apionem 175; Vita 276-77.
13 This is
why the synagogue is often called "Sab-
bateion":Luke 4:16-22; Acts 13:14-15,42-44; 15:21;
18:4. See also Josephus, Ant. Jud. 16. 164; and also
S. Safrai, "The Synagogue" in S. Safrai and M. Stern,
eds., Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testa-
mentum: The Jewish People in the First Century, Sec-
tions 1-2 (Assen, i976), pp. 908-9, 916-18; Schiirer,
The History of the Jewish People, vol. 2, pp. 426-27;
Levine, "The Second Temple Synagogue," pp. 17-18;
idem, "Nature,"esp. pp. 438-48.
14 Mishnah (hereafter=
M), Ketubot 1: 1. Megillah
1: 1-3. Tacanit2: 1-10, esp. 9, that combine the com-
mercial phases on Mondays and Thursdays with the
impositionof public fasts on those days; Tosefta(hence-
forward = T), Megillah 1:3. TaCanit4: 2, 4. Mekhilta,
Be'shalach, Vayass'a no. 1, ed. Lauterbach,2:90. Tal-
mud Yerushalmi(hereafter= TY), Megillah 4: 1 (75a).
Talmud Babli (hereafter = TB), Megillah 2a. TB,
BabaDQamma' 82a. See also A. Ben-David, Talmu-
dische Okonomie (Hildesheim and New York, 1974),
p. 52.
 THE ANCIENT SYNAGOGUE AS AN ECONOMIC CENTER 263

first century C.E.or a little earlier discovered in Jerusalem,declares explicitly that the fore-
fathers of a man called Theodotus

... built the synagogue for reading the Law and studying the commandments, and as a hostel with
chambers and water installations to provide for the needs of itinerants from abroad (eiS KacaXdu[ta
Toi; ZpirouOv dni6 ri; t?vrl;), which [synagogue] his fathers, the elders and Simonides founded.15

Here, as in the description of the Alexandrian synagogue, particularmention is made of

assistance given to guests from other lands. While it is unclear from the Alexandrian ac-
count whether the guests come from outside Egypt or from within Egypt, this inscription
from Jerusalemuses the expression arc6 TiS;Svrs;, which means "from a foreign country,"
allowing us to conclude that the place was designed, at least in part, to provide hospitality
to guests from the Diaspora and particularlypilgrims to the Temple. The foreign visitor
could feel comfortable with others in the same situation, and they could all exchange in-
formation and give advice concerning their stay in the region, while the managers of the
synagogue-guesthouse, who were locals, could provide economic and commercial services
as well as advice.
There were many synagogues in Jerusalem at the end of the Second Temple period
that were associated with particular groups from the Diaspora, such as the synagogues
of the Alexandrians; the Tarsians;16the Libertines; and of the people of Cyrene, Cilicia,
and Asia.17 This widespread phenomenon reinforces our thesis that the synagogues
served, among other things, as centers for commercial activity. In this particular case,
furthermore,we may infer that the synagogue and its facilities served as a kind of liai-
son office between a certain community in the Diaspora and the local community in
Jerusalem, through the agency of members of that Diaspora community then living in
Jerusalem.
Even after the destructionof the Temple, the Tannaiticand Amoraic sources mention the
existence of synagogues of various Diasporacommunitiesin several of the big cities in Pal-
estine. A few Talmudic sources from the time of R. JudahHanassi (ca. 200 C.E.),and the
generations after him, mention a synagogue of the Babylonians ('KX?:r nlV'l3) in Tibe-
rias and in Sepphoris (1DX" 1::8l3 xn3).18 We may assume that in the same period
at Sepphoris there was a synagogue for the Cappadocians.19There is also a Greco-Jewish

15 The inscriptionhas been published and discussed
often. See, for example, R. Weil, "L'Inscriptionde The-
odotos," Revue des etudes juives 71 (1920): 30-34;
J. B. Frey, Corpus Inscriptionum ludaicarum, vol. 2
(Rome, 1936), pp. 332-35, no. 1404; F. Hittenmeister
and G. Reeg, Die antiken Synagogen in Israel (Wies-
baden, 1977), pp. 192-95, 525. On the English trans-
lation, see Levine, "The Second Temple Synagogue,"
p. 17. See also F. Millar, The Roman Near East, 31
B.C.-A.D. 337(Cambridge, Mass., 1993), pp. 365, 381.
16 T, Megillah 3: 6. TY, Megillah 3: 1 (73d). TB,
Megillah 26a: in this source it was a synagogue of
Tarsians.
17 All the four last-mentioned
synagogues are re-
ferred to in Acts 6:9.
18
TY, Shabbat 6: 2 (8a), and parallel: TY, Sanhe-
drin 10: 1 (28a); TY Berakhot5: 1 (9a). MidrashGen-
esis Rabbal 33: 3 (ed. Theodor and Albeck, 305),
MidrashGenesis Rabba' 52: 4 (543). On Tiberias, see
TY, Yoma' 7: 1 (42b) and parallels, TY, Megillah 4: 5
(75b), Sota 7: 6 (22a). Tiberias is not mentioned in the
Talmud, but R. Yose, the famous sage in Tiberias
around350 C.E., is mentioned talking to someone from
the synagogue of the Babylonians, and this, we can
say, occurred in Tiberias.
19 TY, Shebiit 9: 5 (39a). A Cappadociancommu-
nity is mentioned there that is not involved in the so-
ciety of the people of Sepphoris, and it appears that
they had a synagogue. On synagogues of Diaspora
groups in Tiberias, see L. Roth-Gerson, The Greek In-
scriptions from the Synagogues in Eretz-Israel (Jeru-
salem, 1987), p. 75 (Hebrew).
264 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

inscription from Sepphoris that testifies to the existence there of a synagogue for the Jews
of Tyre and perhapsalso for the Jews from Africa.20Another source mentions a synagogue
for the community of Rome in the city of Mahuza in Babylonia.21
Scholars have already suggested that the existence of synagogues for the Diaspora com-
munities in Jerusalem and for the Babylonians in Sepphoris may have been due in part to
commercial factors and that the synagogues served as posts where commercial activity
could be conducted.22
Rome did not escape this general trend: H. J. Leon, in his account of synagogues in
Rome in the first century C.E.,identifies eleven differentJewish communities having their
own synagogues in the city, among them the Tripolitaniansand the Elaeans, whose name
he believes is connected to the origin of the community. Only one of the synagogues, that
of the Veranaclesians, is defined as belonging to the Roman community.23It is possible,
therefore, that at least some of the other synagogues the names of which have not been
identified with any certainty were also connected with communities originating outside of
Rome.
The Tannaitic and Amoraic sources mention yet another type of synagogue built for
members of a particularoccupation and found in several major centers in Palestine after
the destructionof the Second Temple. The most famous one is "the synagogue of the Tar-
sians," reported as already existing in Jerusalem in the Second Temple period.24Another
Tarsiansynagogue is mentioned in Lydda during the generation of R. Akiba on the eve of
Bar-Kochba'srevolt.25A synagogue with the same name is again reportedin Lydda during
the period of the Talmud and may be the same one.26Another is mentioned in Tiberias.27
The word for "weaver"in the sources is tarsi, which may be derived from the name of the
city of Tarsusin Cilicia, well known for its weavers and fabrics.28It is reasonable to sup-
pose that weavers from Tarsus dispersed and continued their occupation in other cities
aroundthe Mediterraneanbasin.29That the word tarsi refers to the occupation ratherthan
the provenancemay be seen from the account of the Alexandriansynagogue in the Tosefta,
where the tarsiim are mentioned together with goldsmiths, silversmiths, bronze workers,
and blacksmiths.30

20 See M. Schwabe, "An 27

Inscriptionfrom the Syn-
agogue in Sepphoris,"in Minhah le-David (Jerusalem,
1934), pp. 100-112 (Hebrew); Frey, Corpus, vol. 2,
pp. 174-76, no. 991; Roth-Gerson,GreekInscriptions,
pp. 107-8; and see Horsley,Archaeology, History, and
Society in Galilee, pp. 143-48.
21 TB, Megillah 26a.
22 S.
Safrai, Die Wallfahrtim Zeitalter des Zweiten
Tempels(Disseldorf, 1981), p. 70; idem, "Relationsbe-
tween the Diaspora and the Land of Israel,"in Safrai
and Stern, eds., The Jewish People, pp. 211-14.
23 H. J. Leon, The Jews of Ancient Rome (Philadel-
phia, 1960), pp. 135-66.
24 TB, Megillah 26a; A. Oppenheimer, Babylonia
Judaica in the Talmudic Period (Wiesbaden, 1983),
pp. 189-90.
25 T, Ahiloth 4: 2, and cf. TB, Nazir 52a.
26
Midrash,Leviticus Rabba 35: 12, ed. Margulies,
831. The story is of the Amora' R. Abbahu, who was
active around 300 C.E.
TB, Yebamot 96a. On the professional charac-
ter of the Tarsians in general, see Aberbach, Labor,
pp. 212-14.
28 ''lt (Tarsi)is the Tannaiticterm used instead of
the notional form ''D110t (Tarsusi) for a Tarsian, an
inhabitant of Tarsus. Cf. o'1r:(Bup0oe6S)at Mishna,
Ketubot 7: 16 (see Schiirer, The History of the Jew-
ish People, vol. 2, p. 71). See also the discussion in
S. Krauss, Griechische und lateinische Lehnworterim
Talmud, Midrash und Targum (Berlin, 1898, repr.
Hildesheim, 1964), pp. 193, 604-5.
29 This professional organizationwas widespreadin
various partsof the Empire;see M. Rostovtzeff, Social
and Economic History of the Roman Empire, vol. 1
(Oxford, 1971), pp. 178-79.
30 An inscription from Jaffa also proves that Tarsi
is a weaver; see S. Klein, Jiidisch-Paldstinisches Cor-
pus Inscriptionum (Vienna and Berlin, 1920), nos.
131-32; Frey, Corpus, vol. 2, no. 931.
 THE ANCIENT SYNAGOGUE AS AN ECONOMIC CENTER 265

There are no unambiguous testimonia for synagogues of other occupations, but we do

know that in the period of the Mishnah and the Talmudcertain types of professionals or-
ganized themselves for purposes connected with their occupation. Mention is made of an
organizationof the cooks of Sepphoris, headed by Ben Shila.31There was anotherfor wool
merchants and dyers,32and the Tannaitichalakha even viewed with approval the organi-
zations of various workers, such as bakers, mule drivers, and sailors.33This type of orga-
nization was of a clearly commercial natureand may well have had a focal point of some
sort, such as the marketitself or indeed a synagogue, the latteralreadyserving as a meeting
place for various community needs of those professionals.34The weavers, as we have seen,
improved their internal communication by building their own synagogue, while various
occupational bodies in Alexandria achieved the same end by being seated according to
occupation in the synagogue.
There is one suggestion, not accepted by all scholars, that at least one of the synagogues
in Rome, that of the Calcaresians,was given over to the members of one particularoccu-
pation, the operators of lime burners.35
Such an organization of workers is reminiscent of guilds in general in the Roman Em-
pire, and there is evidence of this type of occupational body in Palestine and the Diaspora.
While these Jewish guilds did not share all the cultic-religious aspects that characterized
the non-Jewish guilds,36they may have been influenced to the extent that they assembled
in a place of worship, in their case the synagogue, and a place of worship used exclu-
sively by members of that guild, such as the weavers and the other groups mentioned
above.
All the cited testimonia lead to the conclusion that synagogues from the Second Temple
period on, which belonged to members of a particularoccupational group, or belonged to
people from a particularcity, or in which seating was arrangedaccording to occupations,
were a focus of commercial activity.
A related phenomenon is the service the synagogue provided the community quite often
as a court of law.37Most of the cases brought before the court were civil, concerning
everyday problems in the community.38There can be no doubt that a considerable propor-
tion of these were conflicts involving economic and commercial matters.These cases were

31 T, Hulin 3: 2. TB, ibid. 58b. TB, Baba' Qamma'
99b.
32 T, Baba' Mesica' 11: 24.
33 T, Baba' Mesica' 11: 25, 26.
34 See G. Alon, The Jews in Their Land in the
Talmudic Age, 70-640 C.E., vol. 1 (Jerusalem,
1980), p. 172.
35 See
Leon, The Jews of Ancient Rome, p. 143. In
support of this view, see J. Reinolds and R. Tannen-
baum, Jews and Godfearers at Aphrodisias (Cam-
bridge, 1987), p. 32; see also P. W. van der Horst,
Ancient Jewish Epitaphs (Kampen, 1991), pp. 86-87.
Against this view, particularlywith regard to method-
ology, see L. V. Rutgers, The Jews in Late Rome
(Leiden, New York, and Cologne, 1995), pp. 43-49.
On p. 261 Rutgers states that, although it is clear that
the Jewish community in Rome comprised various
subgroups,it is impossible to determine who belonged
to which group and what the relations between the var-
ious groups may have been.
36 See Ben-Zion Rosenfeld, Lyddaand Its Sages in
the Period of the Mishnah and the Talmud(Jerusalem,
1997), pp. 36-40 (Hebrew).
37 Z. Safrai, "The CommunalFunctions of the Syn-
agogue in the Land of Israel in the RabbinicPeriod,"in
Urman and Flesher, Ancient Synagogues, pp. 181-
204. Safrai discusses the activities of the urban court
of law that dealt with interpersonalaffairs.The sources
he adduces demonstratethat this activity took place in
the synagogue. See also Gafni, The Jews of Babylonia
in the TalmudicEra, p. 110 and n. 95.
38 On the authority of the courts of law in Pales-
tine, see A. Linder, The Jews in Roman Imperial Leg-
islation (Detroit, 1987), pp. 70-73 and index s.v.
"Jurisdiction."
266 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

resolved either by a judgment or through a compromise.39 The Mishnah, Gittin 3:740

considers a widespread custom whereby a loan was made in the presence of the court and
is thus clear evidence that in those cases where a court of law was active within the area
of a synagogue, purely economic activities took place there: "He who lends money to a
priest or to a Levite or to a poor man . ." and later "if he lent them this money in the pres-
ence of a court...." In other words, the agreement did not have to receive the approval
of the court, but it was customaryto make agreementsin the presence of the court in order
to reinforce the sense of obligation and to gain the advantageof legal backing in the trans-
action, as is made clear in the same testimonium a little later. In a parallel passage in the
Tosefta (Gittin 3: 1), the words are attributedto the Tanna,R. Eliezer Ben Yacakov, who
was active around 150 C.E. If we accept that the activities of a court often took place in
the synagogue, sources referringto economic transactionsin the context of the courts may
be evidence for activities of an economic nature occurring within the frameworkof the
synagogue.41
Furthermore,we may suppose that, if the synagogue also functioned as a court of law,42
secondary business transactions also took place there. The synagogue served as the place
not only where judgments were made but where they were also executed. Christian
sources,43and passages in the Babylonian Talmud,44tell of corporal punishment-whip-
pings-inflicted on criminals in the synagogue; the sentence was carried out by the pre-
centor (n103n7tr), who was responsible for the runningof the holy place on a daily basis.
We can imagine that certain financial penalties, including the confiscation, expropriation,
and public sale of the property and possessions of debtors took place next to or in direct
connection with the synagogue. Such a sale can certainly be regarded as a commercial
activity occurring in the synagogue, which would have also attractedwithin its walls non-
Jews interested in the items on offer and merchants specializing in the purchase of
confiscated property.This picture is reinforced by an inscription found in excavations in
Beth She'arim. The inscription, found in the local synagogue and dated to the fourth cen-
tury C.E., is probablyconnected to one of the local dignitaries: TOUeni diapTi[a;?] (of the
one in charge of household movables or of the one in charge of public auction). Whichever
interpretationis preferred,the man had an importanteconomic position sponsored by the
synagogue that obliged him to maintain close ties with ordinaryclients and merchants.45
Furtherevidence leads us to believe that the synagogue was also the scene of arbitra-
tion on business and commercial matters. Another inscription from the same synagogue
in Beth She'arim that, according to one theory, indicates the seat of one of the dignitaries
of the community with the expression MAP?IETH[TOY], which can be translated "of
Mr. Arbitrator,"assuming that O0trqToieis a phonetic spelling of atcTrtTo5o. That his seat
is named indicates that he is a dignitary of the community and considered a judge whose
place is in the synagogue.46

39 Z.
Safrai, "Communal Functions," p. 189; M.
Schwabe, "The Judges' Seat in the Synagogue of Beth
She'arim," Eshkoloth 1 (1954): 73-79 (Hebrew). On
the arbitratoras a judge, see also M, Sanhedrin3: 1.
40 Ed. Neusner, 471.
41 M, Shebiit 10: 2. Ketubot 11: 2-3. Baba'
Mesi'a' 1: 6-8.
42 An explicit reference to such activity may be
found in, for example, Yebamot 65b.
43 Acts
22:19; and see Schiirer, The History of the
Jewish People, p. 447.
44 TB, Makkot 3b.
45 Roth-Gerson, The Greek
Inscriptions, p. 141. On
financial and propertypenalties, see Linder, The Jews
in Roman Imperial Legislation, pp. 70-73 and index
s.v. "Jurisdiction."
46 There are different opinions concerning the
meaning and origin of the word. See Roth-Gerson,
Greek Inscriptions, pp. 138-39.
 THE ANCIENT SYNAGOGUE AS AN ECONOMIC CENTER 267

Sometimes a charitabledonation to the synagogue was in the form of goods ratherthan

money, and the synagogue had to sell them in order to utilize their value for its own needs.
The goods were sold either inside the synagogue or outside it, but in both cases this is
clearly economic activity directly related to the synagogue.47
An inscription from Beth Alpha in the sixth century records a combined contribution
from the members of the community for the needs of the synagogue to the amount of one
hundredseahs of wheat. Another inscription from the synagogue in Nacaranreports con-
tributionsmade "whetherin gold, silver or anythingelse." The last two words would appear
to reinforce the testimony that contributionscould also be made in the form of agricultural
produce. This produce, however, was not contributedto the synagogue for consumptionon
the spot but in order to be sold; with the proceeds from the sale, the synagogue could be
built or maintained.48
Evidence of anothertype of sale of goods within the frameworkof charity to the poor
distributedin the synagogue dating to the Tannaiticperiod is seen in the following text.49
Publicsupervisorsof the poor(parnasim)who hadmoneyleft over aftermakingtheirdistribution
to the poorshouldnot purchasewith it produceon consignmentbecauseof the [possibilityof] loss
to the poor.But they purchase[produce]with it at the lowest price and [markup] to the highest
price [for sale].50
This source indicates that public supervisors would buy produce and sell it at a profit in
order to increase the value of the charity money that had not yet been disbursed. Of
course, this type of transactioncould take place either inside the synagogue or outside it,
but in this case as well an economic activity directly related to the synagogue would have
taken place.
Another source indicates that even food donated as charity but which, for whatever rea-
son, had not been distributedto the poor, was sold to the public by those who supervised
the sale.
Charitysupervisorswho did not findpoorfolk amongwhomto distributethe beans[theyhadcol-
lected for the poor] may sell themto others.But they may not sell them to themselves.Charity
supervisorsmay changemoneyfor othersbutmaynot changemoneyfor themselves.51
All these acts of sale by those communal workers engaged in the distributionof charity
in the synagogue demonstratecommercial activity directly linked with the synagogue.
Another clear indication of the existence of economic activity in the synagogue, this
time of a type that was considered unacceptable,may be found in the Babylonian Talmud.
A statement attributedto the Amora Rav Assi (second or third generation, 270-300 C.E.)
who moved from Babylonia to Palestine, forbids one to engage in commercial accounting,
even of a public nature, in the synagogue. The sage even warns the synagogue's members
to expect a terrible punishmentif caught in this activity, and this in itself implies that the
phenomenon did exist.52

47 Donations to
charity to the poor were made in
the synagogue: see T, Terumot 1: 10. Shabbat 17: 22.
Raba' Batra' 8: 14. See also Tosefta, Shebiit 7: 9 (ed.
Neusner, 1, 239). Cf. T, Pe'a 4: 16.
48 See J. Naveh, On Stone and Mosaic: The Ara-
maic and Hebrew Inscriptions from Ancient Syna-
gogues (Jerusalem, 1978), pp. 8-9 (Hebrew);Z. Safrai,
"Financing Synagogue Construction in the Mishnah
and the Talmud,"in A. Kasher, A. Oppenheimer, U.
Rappaport,eds., Synagogues in Antiquity (Jerusalem,
1987), pp. 90-91 (Hebrew).
49 On the distributionof
charity to the poor in the
synagogue, see T. Terumot 1:10. TY, Demai 3:1(23b).
50 Tosefta, Shqalim 2: 8 (ed. Neusner, 4: 173).
51 Tosefta, Baba' Mesi'a' 3: 9 (ed. Neusner, 4: 87).
52 TB, Megillah 28b.
268 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

In summary, during the first century C.E. in Palestine and in the Diaspora, lively and
varied economic and commercial activity distinct from the religious rituals appears to
have taken place in the synagogue itself. The commercial activity stemmed from the very
presence of individuals with similar economic interests in the synagogue at the time of a
religious ceremony. We have also shown a clear link between commercial activity and the
social structureof the local community in many communities both in Palestine and in the
Diaspora, in the form of professional guilds and their organization in a religious context,
be it sharing a basilica-synagogue as in Alexandria or having a synagogue devoted to one
guild, examples of which occur both in Palestine and in the Diaspora. We have also seen
that the varied economic activity, particularlyevident in the Tannaiticsources, stems from
the synagogue being a religious, social, and cultural center of the community.
III. COMMERCIAL AND ECONOMIC ACTIVITY ON THE
PREMISES SURROUNDING THE SYNAGOGUE

Many ancient synagogues unearthedin the last fifty years include a numberof intercon-
nected buildings that together constitute one complex. In these annexes, various commu-
nity activities, including commercial transactions, also seem to have taken place.
In many synagogues in Palestine dating to the Talmudicperiod and later, annexes to the
main building have been found that indicate that the synagogue had a communal function.
These synagogues include those at Beth She'an, Beth Shecarim, HorbathShema, Hamat
Tiberias, Khorazin,Migdal, Miron, and Ein Gedi.53Such annexes have also been found in
ancient synagogues in the Diaspora, for example, in Egypt,54and in cities in Asia Minor
such as Sardis and Miletus.55 In fact, annexes have been discovered in almost all the
ancient synagogues excavated. The synagogue is often found adjoining public facilities
such a wells, pools, baths, olive presses, or flour mills.
Some of these annexes often served as hostels and shops-clearly commercial enter-
prises-and sometimes they served to house synagogue officials such as the scribe (sofer)
and the precentoror administrator(hazzan) of the synagogue.56
Hostels (nP7'.D)
There can be no doubt about the existence of hostels within synagogue complexes.
There is epigraphical evidence for this from synagogues in Palestine during the Second
Temple period, such as the inscription of Theodotus, Talmudic sources (see below), and

53 Z. Safrai, "CommunalFunctions,"pp. 198-201.
54 See
Kasher,"Synagogues as 'Houses of Prayer',"
pp. 216-17.
55 The most detailed
description of excavations of
a synagogue and the adjoining shops concerns the dig
at Sardis, on which see D. G. Mitten, "Synagogue and
Byzantine Shops," BASOR 170 (1963): 38-40; 177
(1965): 17-20; and esp. 182 (1966): 34-45; see also
G. M. A. Hanfmann, ed., Sardis from Prehistoric to
Roman Times: Results of the Archaeological Explora-
tion of Sardis 1958-1975 (Cambridge, Mass., 1983),
pp. 161-67. On synagogues in Asia Minor in general,
see A. T. Kraabel,"The Diaspora Synagogue: Archae-
ological and Epigraphic Evidence since Sukenik," in
W. Haase, ed., Religion, vol. 1, Judentum:Allgemeines,
Aufstieg und Niedergang der r6mischen Welt, vol. 2
(Berlin, 1979), pp. 477-510 (= in Urman and Flesher,
Ancient Synagogues, pp. 95-126); Kraabel, "Social
System of Six Diaspora Synagogues,"in J. Gutmann,
ed., Ancient Synagogues: The State of Research,
Brown Judaic Studies 22 (Chico, California, 1981),
pp. 79-91; P. R. Trebilco, Jewish Communitiesin Asia
Minor (Cambridge, 1991), p. 43 and n. 19.
56 TB, Erubin 58b. Yoma' 1lb; Kraabel, "The Di-
asporaSynagogue,"esp. p. 495 (= in UrmanandFlesher,
Ancient Synagogues, p. 113); Z. Safrai, "Communal
Functions,"pp. 190-91. On the scribe and the precen-
tor, see Schiirer, The History of the Jewish People,
pp. 417-20, 438; M. Sokoloff, A Dictionary of Jewish
Palestinian Aramaic of the Byzantine Period (Ramat
Gan, 1990), pp. 194, 386.
 THE ANCIENT SYNAGOGUE AS AN ECONOMIC CENTER 269

archaeological finds such as the identification of a hostel on the site of the synagogue at
Hamath Tiberias.57Of particularinterest here is the connection between the hostel and
economic or commercial activity.
The hostel in general was a popular institution during the Second Temple period in
Jerusalem,especially during the holidays, when pilgrims would certainly have made some
sort of payment in returnfor lodgings. Indeed, Tannaitic sources reveal that there was a
limit on the amount that could be charged. There is some uncertaintyas to whetherthe pil-
grims had to pay for their beds or lodging with money, or whether they had to pay only
with the skins of the animals they sacrificed in the Temple.58It is reasonable to assume
that those pilgrims who stayed in synagogue hostels also paid in these ways. Payment in
skins suggests furtherthe sale of skins by the hostel in returnfor cash (see below).59
After the destructionof the Second Temple, during the Tannaiticperiod, the Tosefta re-
ports, there were some synagogues and schools that had what was called a "lodging
house," in which people ate, while other synagogues did not.60A Midrashic source at-
tributes the following occurrence to Rabbi Meir (140-170 C.E.).He was staying in an inn
in southern Palestine, although there was also a hostel at the local synagogue. The inn-
keeper had tried to encourage Rabbi Meir to leave at night, knowing that he would fall into
the hands of robbers. Rabbi Meir, understandingthis, refused to leave, giving the excuse
thathe had left his friend to spend the night in the synagogue. It would seem from this story
that poor people would stay in the synagogue hostel, while those who were more prosper-
ous would sleep in the inn.61The stay in the inn would have cost money,62but it is not clear,
however, that lodging in the hostel of the synagogue would have been completely free. Our
sources do not mention conditions of payment in either of the places, but since the inn did
cost money, it is possible and likely that the synagogue hostel also cost money, although
it may have been a cheap sort of guest house, subsidized by the community.63
We turn now to the second aspect of the hostel's services: the providing of meals. Al-
though providing food and beverage is normally taken for granted as an inseparable part
of hostelry, it is not all that obvious in the case of a synagogue hostel. In Tosefta, Megillah
2: 18, it is stated that eating, drinking, and lodging in the synagogue is prohibited.64
This prohibition actually applies to the prayerhall itself but not to the annexes; as has
already been seen, there were people who ate in the "lodging house." There is a passage

57 M.
Dothan, Hammath Tiberias (Jerusalem,
1983), p. 32; Kraabel, "The Diaspora Synagogue,"pp.
500-503 (= in Urman and Flesher, Ancient Syna-
gogues, pp. 119-21).
8 This Tannaiccontroversy comes from the middle
of the second century C.E. See T, MacaserSheni 1: 12-
13 and its parallel Abot de Rabbi Nathan, A 35; and
see the commentary of Lieberman, ToseftaKifshuta:
Zeraim, vol. 2 (New York, 1955), p. 723 (Hebrew).
59 See Roth-Gerson, Greek Inscriptions, p. 84, for
a discussion concerning the question of payment for
lodging in a synagogue hostel. In her opinion, a pay-
ment of some sort was made.
60 T, Macasrot 2: 20; it is clear that in the syna-
gogue in Stobi in Macedonia a donor and his family
lived on the second floor of the building. See Kraabel,
"The Diaspora Synagogue," pp. 495-97, 500-503
(ibid. in Ancient Synagogues, pp. 112-15, 119-21).
61 Genesis Rabba 92: 6
(ed. Theodor and Albeck,
1144).
62 Ben Zion
Rosenfeld, "Innkeepingin Jewish So-
ciety in Roman Palestine," Journal of the Economic
and Social History of the Orient 41 (1998): 133-58.
63 See Z. Safrai, The Economy of Roman Palestine
(London, 1994), p. 56, where he claims that the com-
munity was responsible for the board and lodging of
visitors. The practice is apparentfrom a passage in the
Mishnah,Pe'a 8: 7, and cf. the parallelTosefta, Pe'a, 8:
8; but in both passages the subject is a poor man and
not any man, so it is not clear to what extent the com-
munity subsidized payment of the board and lodging
of any guest. Note that it is hinted in M, Macasrot2: 3
that a guest who came to a town was lodged with pri-
vate citizens without help from local institutions.
64
TY, Megillah 3: 1 (74a); TB, Megillah. 28a-b;
and the prohibition against eating and drinking is
mentioned in TY, Sanhedrin 8: 2 (26b), and Moced
Qatan 2: 3 (81a-b).
270 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

testifying to a banquet that took place in the "supreme synagogue" (xn')y KXntWi );65
this, however, appearsto refer to obligatory religious meals that took place on the Sabbath
and the beginning of the month. Another passage concerns giving permission to offer food
to a guest in the synagogue, a guest who was characterizedas learned in the Torah.66The
hypothesis that meals were served in the annexes of the synagogue is further reinforced
by the halakha rule of ritual that stated that on the eve of Passover the act of removing
leavened bread had to be performed in synagogues because food was taken in to them
throughoutthe year.67
A similar conclusion may be drawn from a Midrashic story:
R. Abbab. Kahanasaid: "It is relatedthata certaincompanyof servants[= laborers]at Kefar
Hattayaused to eat and drinkin a synagogueevery Fridaytowardsthe evening;afterthey had
eaten,they wouldtakethe bones andthrowthemat the 'scribe'(X1DO)...."68
The passage, attributedto the Amora Abba ben Kahana, who lived around 300 C.E., calls
those workers I"'VIDor "the uneducated."The workers were apparentlynot resi-
*115'ID,
dents of that town but came there to earn their living.69The fact that a whole group could
sit and eat in the synagogue indicates that the occasion was not a case of normal hospi-
tality. They received permission to eat there not just on this occasion but regularly,on the
eve of the Sabbath.The necessity seems to have arisen from the length of their stay, due,
perhaps, to work they performed on the site, and this suggests that the meals were not
free. It is also reasonable to suppose that, as strangers in town, they stayed in the syna-
gogue's hostel and took their meals there on weekdays, while the reported instance was
immediately before the Sabbath.The presence of the scribe may be understoodin light of
the custom that a scribe regularly taught his pupils on the eve of the Sabbath (M, Shabbat
1: 3), and his presence in the synagogue led to the incident of the workers'throwing bones
at him. Alternatively, since the pupils are not mentioned, it may be understood that the
scribe also lived and ate in the annexes of the synagogue. The workers were occupied all
week and consequently ate with the scribe only on the eve of the Sabbath.In this case, the
scribe may well have eaten there at the expense of the community, receiving room and
board as part of his wages.
While there was indeed an old tradition from biblical times of offering hospitality to
guests-even poor ones-from out-of-town, with the community or private persons pro-
viding bedding,70it is still difficult to believe that this tradition would apply to someone
whose stay for personal reasons was longer than could be considered reasonable. It seems
more likely that an extended stay in the annexes of the synagogue would have required
some economic remuneration.

Shops

Another definite use of the annexes, one revealed in archaeological excavations, was
their use as shops. These have been positively identified in a considerable numberof syn-
agogues both in Palestine and in the Diaspora. In Sardis, for example, the shops that have

65 TY, Berakhot 2: 9 (5d); Shabbat 1: 1 (3a); see 69

Z. Safrai, "Communal Functions," p. 190, esp.
also Schtirer,The History of the Jewish People, p. 447. n. 34.
66 TY, Megillah 3: 4 (74a). 70 See n. 56 above. On the Biblical period, see En-
67
TY, Pesahim 1: 1 (27b). cyclopaedia Biblica, vol. 4, pp. 1052-53 (Hebrew).
68 Genesis Rabba 65: 16 (ed. Freedman, 2: 592).
 THE ANCIENT SYNAGOGUE AS AN ECONOMIC CENTER 271

been excavated are not located within the synagogue complex but outside it, adjoining the
southernwall of the synagogue and facing south to form partof what appearsto have been
the main street of the city. In one of the shops, an inscription was found that says: "Belongs
to Yaacov, Elder of the Synagogue."71
Annexes serving as shops have been positively identified in HamathTiberias. The shops
run the length of the western wall of the synagogue and appear to have sold items made
of glass and pottery.Although the finds come from a late level (end of the seventh century
C.E.), the later synagogue appearsto have been built according to the plan of the previous
one.72If evidence has been found to suggest that at least two synagogues, one in Palestine
and one importantone in the Diaspora, had shops, it may be assumed that at least some
of the annexes found in most of the other places discussed served as shops as well.
What did these shops sell? We have already noted that the shops in Hamath Tiberias
revealed traces of pottery and glass items. Such finds are typical of all ancient sites.
Clay was the main material for production of household implements and artifacts in the
Hellenistic-Roman world. The making of pottery was a widespread and respectable
occupation.73
Our sources describe the pottery industry in Palestine as dominated by minor craftsmen
who lived in villages in areas supplying the clay suitable to their needs.74The clay vessels
they created were destined primarily for the oil and wine trade, although they could also
have been used decoratively.
There is no doubt that in Tiberias, the center of the Galilee, these pots were used for the
oil trade in particular.The olive oil industry was this region's main source of wealth; it
had both a local market and a thriving export market.75Archaeological evidence shows
that there was a link between synagogues and the sale of oil. There is clear evidence for
the existence of oil presses very close to at least four synagogues (Khirbet Natur, Nebu-
raya, Qision, and Khirbet Shema). It has been suggested that the oil was intended for the
needs of the synagogue itself, but it is difficult to believe that for this reason alone they
would place an industrialplant so close to a holy place, considering the unpleasantodors
it would have generated. It is more likely that the chief factor was commercial, with the
aim of increasing sales of oil to visitors to the synagogue and its surroundings.
The glass industry was also widespread in Palestine, particularlyfrom the second cen-
tury C.E. on, and it requireda higher level of professionalism. The Jews of Palestine had
acquiredthe skill from the men of Tyre and Sidon and had come to excel in the craft. We
have evidence of a highly developed glass industry in Tiberias, particularly during the
Talmudic period, in the third and fourth centuries C.E.76

71 L. Robert, Nouvelles inscriptions de Sardes, vol.
1 (Paris, 1964), p. 57; Hanfmann,Sardis, pp. 165-66.
72 See E.
Oren, "Tiberias," Israel Exploration
Journal 21 (1971): 234-35.
73 D.
Adan-Bayewitz, Common Pottery in Roman
Galilee: A Study of Local Trade (Ramat Gan, 1993),
chaps. 1-2.
4 M, Kelim 5: 4. T, Shabbat 13: 9. Babal Mesi'a'
6: 3. Genesis Rabba 86: 5 (ed. Theodor and Albeck,
1058).
75 See
Josephus,Bell. Iud. 2: 590-94; M. Avi-Yonah,
Geschichte der Juden im Zeitalter des Talmud,in den
Tagenvon Rom und Byzanz (Berlin, 1962), pp. 23-24;
Ben-David, TalmudischeOkonomie,pp. 186-89; Aber-
bach, Labor, pp. 177-79; Goodman, State and Society
in Roman Galilee, pp. 22-24.
76 D. Barag, "Glass,"EncyclopaediaJudaica, vol. 7
(Jerusalem, 1972), pp. 605-11; D. F Grose, "The
Syro-PalestinianGlass Industryin the LaterHellenistic
Period,"Muse 13 (1979): 54-65. On Tiberias, see Avi-
Yonah, Geschichte der Juden, pp. 28-29; Aberbach,
Labor, p. 137. On the Talmudicperiod, see TY, Nidah
2: 6 (SOb).TB, Nidah 21: 1. TY, Shabbat 7: 4 (lOd).
See also Goodman, State and Society, pp. 24, 61.
272 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

It is thus not surprising to find that the shops adjoining the synagogue in Tiberias sold
the Galilean products most in demand. If we combine this conclusion with what has been
said above, that is, that the synagogue served as a meeting place linking the local Jewish
community with Jews from other lands as a center for, among other things, business trans-
actions, we can see that the oil and glass shops could also have served the personal needs
of visitors to the synagogue and encouraged commerce on a wider scale.
Glass items are also found in the synagogue shops in Sardis, as Mitten reports:"In ad-
dition to the usual quantities of pottery, bronze coins and other small finds, this shop was
especially rich in glass."77
Here again we see the combination of pottery and glassware, in this case with emphasis
on the great quantity of glassware. The shop referredto by Mitten is by no means the only
one on the site that contained items of glass. Mitten's report notes that the finds reflect
those found in the "shop of Sebbatios,"excavated in 1962, one year before the reportwas
written. These shops also contained another, very interesting, find:
In addition,a largequantityof partiallymeltedfragmentsof gobletsandothersmallglass vessels
was foundin andarounda small"closet"beneaththe stairwayin the southerncornerof the shop.78
This find reveals the existence of a storeroom in which glass items were stored in a
semi-completed state. These may be items that were not yet finished, or they may have
later been in a fire and thus have lost their shape. If the first hypothesis is correct, it would
indicate that the shop served not only as a point of sale but also as a workshop for glass
products. This is quite plausible, since shops in the ancient world often functioned also as
the workshop in which the products on sale had been made for craftsmen such as black-
smiths, potters, cobblers, and coppersmiths. Here, of particularinterest was the third shop
on this site, which was identified as belonging to Yaacov, Elder of the Synagogue, who
was a jeweler by trade.79
Another type of product that may have been sold in shops adjoining the synagogue is
food, both preparedand unprepared.
We should note that some shops may have sold cooked food to be eaten on the premises.
Mitten accepts this idea and defines a whole section of the southeasternwing of the syn-
agogue as a "restaurant."80 In the post-Talmudicsources (sixth-eighth centuries), with one
hint also in the Talmud itself, there is evidence that food shops sold not only unprepared
food, but also preparedfood that could be eaten on the premises: "Once, in a time of per-
secution, there was a shopkeeper,Israel (i.e., a Jew), who cooked kosher meat and pork and
sold [both] so that he would not be perceived to be a Jew";81or, "Two entered a shop. One
ate white bread, greasy meat and old wine and came out ill; the other ate brown bread and
beans and drankcold water and came out healthy."82A shop that could serve as a restau-
rant and meeting place for these two acquaintances would undoubtedly have attracted
other clients as well.83If it was normalfor cooked food to be providedin food shops, there
would seem to be no reason to suppose that this was not the case in food shops adjoining
synagogues. It would in fact seem rather likely that such shops adjoining synagogues

77 81 Midrash,Tanhuma'Balak 24
Mitten, "Synagogue" (1965), p. 20; Hanfmann, (ed. Buber, p. 145).
Sardis, pp. 165-66. Tanhuma'Balak 15. It is hinted at in TB, Hulin 106: 1.
78 Mitten, "Synagogue" (1965), p. 20; Trebilco, 82 Midrash, Shemuel 7: 3
(ed. Buber, p. 66).
Jewish Communityin Asia Minor, p. 43 and n. 19. 83 For the
79 way in which a shop attractedcustomers,
Mitten, "Synagogue" (1963), pp. 49-50. see M, Baba' MesicaD2: 3.
80 Ibid.
(1965), p. 17;Hanfmann,Sardis,pp. 165-66.
 THE ANCIENT SYNAGOGUE AS AN ECONOMIC CENTER 273

could serve cooked food, given, as we have already seen, that synagogues often had hos-
tels attached to them and considering that the synagogue functioned as the town's com-
munity center. The shops would have been where the food was prepared;the food would
then have been eaten either on the spot or delivered to anotherplace, where the meal was
to be eaten.
The shops adjoining the synagogues should also be considered in light of our earlier
discussion concerning the goods going to the synagogues in the form of contributions,
charity, or property confiscated by the courts, and perhaps also as payment for lodging.
These goods needed to be converted into money to be of any use in financing the everyday
maintenance of the synagogue and the community. It may be assumed that synagogue
officials, such as the precentor, sold the goods in the shops adjoining the synagogue.
In summary,by the last century of the Second Temple period, we can see the beginnings
of the use of the complex of rooms connected to the synagogue. It is only from sources
originating after the destructionof the Temple that reportsincrease, firstly from Palestine
and later from the Diaspora (thirdcentury C.E.),backed up by archaeological evidence: the
hostel and the shops adjoining the synagogue constituted a source of commercial activity
in several forms, the common denominatorbeing their lack of a direct link to the religious
activity of the synagogue but ratherto the synagogue's function as the main focus of cul-
tural life for the Jewish community.

IV. THE SYNAGOGUE AND ECONOMIC ACTIVITY IN THE TOWN

We shall now examine the extent to which the synagogue influenced, or was influenced
by, commercial activity in the town.
Before we can come to any conclusions, four questions need to be considered: 1. What
would the economic condition of the town be like were there no synagogue? 2. Where
was the synagogue located? 3. Did the commercial activity of the town develop because
of the existence of the synagogue? 4. Which came first-the synagogue or the commercial
activity?
The first question may be answered without hesitation. There is no doubt that the eco-
nomic and commercial life of the town was not necessarily linked to the synagogue and
would have prosperedeven without a synagogue in the town.
It is also true that the synagogue was an importantcenter for Jewish communities in the
Diaspora, encouraging more Jews to come and live in the city and thus, in this way, con-
tributingto the commercial and industrial life of the town; but it may also be argued that
it was the Jews already prosperingin a town that led to the building of a synagogue.84This
is hinted at in a halakha in the Mishnah, and stated more explicitly in the Tosefta, that a
community that had organized itself should then see to the building of a synagogue.85
In Palestine there are testimonia from as early as the Second Temple period that villag-
ers from settlements around the town would participate in the reading of the Torah on
Mondays and Thursdaysand also in prayers, public fasts, and discussions in the court of
law held in the synagogue, again on Mondays and Thursdays.86

84 See
Roth-Gerson, Greek Inscriptions, p. 30. ple have the power to require one another to build a
85
M, Megillah 3: 1. Nedarim 9: 2. Tosefta, Baba' synagogue."
Mesica' 11: 23 (ed. Neusner, 4: 143): "The townspeo- 8?See n. 12 above.
274 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

It is clear that the villagers came to town in connection with their livelihood, as has al-
ways been the case when the agriculturalproduce of villagers has been sold in the town.87
Their coming to town gave them the opportunity to perform those religious obligations
that they could not perform in their villages, such as the reading of the scroll of Esther,
public fasts, and various prayers. In this case, it was not the location of the synagogue that
influenced economic life, but ratherthe reverse: economic life reinforcedthe institution of
the synagogue.
The second question concerns the influence of the location of the synagogue on the
town's commercial activity. The location of synagogues in Palestine and in the Diaspora
was not uniform. While the Tannaitichalakha decreed that the synagogue should occupy
the highest place in the town, out of respect and to impress the community,88this command
was not always followed in practice. Traces have been found in some settlements of syn-
agogues built on the highest spot in a town, but the remainsof many more synagogues have
been found elsewhere within settlements. The highest or most-revered place in the town
was not necessarily where commercial activity occurredand was, moreover, not necessar-
ily the town center. It follows that synagogues located at the highest place would not there-
fore necessarily have promoted commercial activity in the town. Other synagogues that
were unlikely to have promotedcommercial activity within a town would have been those
that were built outside a town, close to a water source or the coast both in Palestine and
in the Diaspora.89This leaves many synagogues that were built in other places within
towns, but their location may not have been due so much to commercial considerationsas
to the acquisition of the land rights from a private owner or from the government. This is
how synagogues came to be built in the public center of towns, in or near the town square,
such as the one in Beth Yerach;one of the two in Gush Halav; those in HamathTiberias,
Khorazin,and Gaza;90and those in the Diasporaas far apartas Berenice in Cyrene in North
Africa (by the first century B.C.E.) and Sardis.91In all these places, there were public build-
ings in the vicinity of the synagogue, including shops (some of which have already been
mentioned above).
The sages more than once mention a synagogue and a town squarein the same breath.92
In the same town square,the town marketand other public institutions existed. Of course,
town squares were not built solely in Palestine, and their location was not necessarily de-
termined by a previously existing place of prayer.Evidence suggests that the opposite is
the case: the town square attractedcommercial and public activity that in turn attracted
synagogues.93

87 For various
aspects, see R. MacMullen, Roman
Social Relations (New Haven, Connecticut, 1974), pp.
28-56; H. Lapin, Early Rabbinic Civil Law and the
Social History of Roman Galilee: A Study of Mishnah
Tractate Baba Mesi(a) (Atlanta, 1995), pp. 134-37
and nn. 25-26; C. Freeman,Egypt, Greece and Rome:
Civilization of the Mediterranean(Oxford, 1996), pp.
447-52. On Rome, see N. Morley, Metropolis and
Hinterland (Cambridge, 1996), esp. pp. 83-107.
88 T, Megillah 3: 22-23.
89 See
Josephus, Ant. 14: 256-58; Acts 16:12-13;
TB, Erubin 21a; Kiddushin 73b; Schtirer, The History
of the Jewish People, p. 441, n. 65; S. Applebaum,
Jews and Greeks in Ancient Cyrene (Leiden, 1979),
p. 162.
90 Z. Safrai, "The Synagogue,"pp. 908-9, 916-18.
91 On Berenice, see Applebaum, Jews and Greeks,
pp. 161-67; 193-95. On Sardis, see Trebilco, Jewish
Communityin Asia Minor, pp. 40-43.
92 M, Nedarim5: 4-5; Tacanit5:1; Megillah 3: 1-2.
93 See E. R. Nelson, The Selection of Retail Loca-
tions (New York, 1958), pp. 3-4. Nelson states that
the ancient town square precedes even the foundation
of the early town and served for various gatherings. Its
use for religious purposes developed later. Concerning
fairs, he claims: "A large number of these occasional
 THE ANCIENT SYNAGOGUE AS AN ECONOMIC CENTER 275

This may be demonstratedby the end of the Second Temple period in the case of the
synagogue at Gamla. The synagogue was not located in the town square or in the center
of the town but, instead, was quite close to the town walls, where the region's population
gathered for the purpose of trade, legal proceedings, cultural events, and entertainment.94
This pattern is prominent in the average-sized towns of the second to fifth centuries in
Palestine. There are town squares near synagogues, and other town squares that are not,
as in the case of Khorazin, where the town squares are located at crossroads.
The synagogue at Hamat Tiberias was built close to the southern town gate on the site
of an earlier public building that may have been a gymnasium.95The site of the southern
town gate was certainly not determinedby the location of the synagogue. The gymnasium
had been built opposite the gate in the town's main public area out of concern for the
needs of the Hellenized population at the end of the Second Temple period. The syna-
gogue was built on the ruins of this gymnasium at a later period for the simple reason that
this was the best site upon which to build it. Thus, the town center was in position before
the synagogue and not the other way around.
The same applies to the already mentioned synagogues of the Diaspora, the one in Be-
renice in North Africa dating to the first century B.C.E.and the one in Sardis from the third
century,which were not originallyplannedto be synagogues at all. They were partof a pagan
gymnasium or amphitheater.Over time, the complex was transferredto the Jewish com-
munity, which renovated and adaptedthe building to suit its own needs. Again, it is clear
thatthe centerprecededthe synagogue, which came into being for variousreasonsonly later.
Thus we may conclude that not only did the synagogue not always influence commercial
activity but, in many instances, had no connection at all with the economic life of the town.
Although a synagogue was often built in a preexisting commercial center from which it
could benefit, it could be located at quite a distance from the business area of the town.

V. CONCLUSIONS

Our discussion has applied to synagogues from the Diaspora from the Second Temple
period and later. Information from that time for synagogues in Palestine is patchy, but
even from the little direct evidence we have, the same conclusions may be drawn. There
is some continuity in the information from the Tannaiticperiod, but there is occasionally
a hiatus up to the Talmudicperiod. Despite this, the information we do have from sources
on Palestine shows the same picture. There is a great deal of archaeological evidence from
sites of many ancient synagogues in Palestine that supports these findings.
We have clarified the relationship between the synagogue and the economic and com-
mercial activity on its premises and in the town. It has been demonstratedthat there was
indeed economic and commercial activity on the premises, only part of which stemmed
from the gathering of worshipers within the building for religious activities. Commercial
activity on the premises not directly related to religious activity took place in two distinct

meeting places became permanently established as
central markets for a community or region .... They
too eventually tended to become religious and govern-
mental centers as well as trading sites."
94 D.
Urman, "The Lower Golan," in Urman and
Flesher, Ancient Synagogues, vol. 2, pp. 515-17.
95 Z.
Yeivin, "On the 'Medium-sized' City,"Eretz-
Israel 19 (1989): 66-70 (Hebrew). See also Z. Safrai,
The Economy of Roman Palestine, pp. 42-46, 56, 65-
66.
276 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

spheres: the inner sphere and the outer sphere. The inner sphere was the prayerhall itself
in which the placement or location of different groups of worshipers resulted in profes-
sional connections and business agreements.The outer sphere was the synagogue complex
outside the prayerhall, where a variety of commercial activities took place, in connection
with the synagogue's wider function as a prayer center as well as a community center.
We have also seen that the synagogue acted as a mediatorbetween the local Jewish pop-
ulation and Jews from outside the town, allowing the latter to make business connections
and find work more easily, and the former to establish or extend trading links.
On the other hand, the synagogue does not seem to have had any influence on the com-
merce and economy of the town as a whole. It seems that the reverse was often the case
and that a synagogue was built in a commercial center, thereby making itself more easily
accessible to those who needed it for the fulfillment of religious obligations. Whether a
synagogue would have been located in a commercial center purely for commercial con-
siderations is debatable. There are synagogues that appear to have had no connection at
all with the commercial life of the town.
Furthermore,our conclusions are also interesting from a wider sociological point of
view, that is, it is precisely one of the main spiritual-religiousinstitutions of Jewish society
that stood at the heart of material and economic affairs and sometimes even served as a
catalyst for economic activity in the ancient world.