Tikvah
Editors’ Pick

November 10, 2025

Roman-Era Synagogues Suggest That Jews Flourished under Christian Rule

Monumental houses of worship replaced plain ones.

In her recent book Ancient Synagogues in Palestine, the archaeologist Jodi Magness analyzes over a century of exploration of Jewish places of prayer. mostly in the Galilee. Magness, on the basis of her research, criticizes the once accepted view that the Roman conversion to Christianity in the 4th century ushered in a difficult period for the Jews of the Land of Israel. Yitz Landes writes in his review: 

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