Deir Aziz

Deir Aziz (Arabic: دير عزيز; 'Monastery of Aziz') is an ancient Jewish settlement on which a now-abandoned Syrian village was founded in the southern Golan Heights.

The ancient synagogue at Deir Aziz

History

The Syrian village was built on the ruins of a Jewish settlement that lived there during the Mishna and Talmudic periods, and included a synagogue, an oil press, a cemetery and probably also a pottery maker's house.

Remains of two public buildings were found in the settlement. The one at the top of the hill is very large but has not been excavated to this day, and its use is still unclear. The second one, on the slopes to the south, was excavated in archaeological excavations and served as a synagogue.

The Khirbat Deir ʻAzziz Ancient synagogue is a rectangular hall measuring 11 meters by 18 meters, with a pile of ashlar stones, which according to information originated in the synagogue that was destroyed in the 749 CE earthquake. Under the floor of the hall, hundreds of coins were found, the latest of which are from the time of Justinian I, emperor of the Byzantine Empire (second quarter of the 6th century CE), and in the southern wall there is a prominent alcove for the Torah Ark.

On one of the windows of the ancient synagogue is the inscription in the Greek language: AZIZO, indicating that there is a possibility that the name "Aziz" is related to the original name of the Talmudic settlement there.

The village and the ancient settlement are located about two kilometers southeast of Moshav Kanaf, and near the ruins is a Kanaf spring, which was used by the settlement throughout history.

The village was under the control of Syria, as part of the Quneitra Governorate of the Pik branch, until the Six Day War, in which it was occupied by Israel and abandoned by its residents. Under Israeli rule, its territory was included in the Golan subdistrict of the Northern District.

References

Media related to Deir Aziz at Wikimedia Commons