KFAR BAR'AM

ancient synagogue, Kfar Bar'am, courtesy, Wikipedia

Kfar Baram is the site of an ancient Jewish village in Israel containing the well-preserved remains of an ancient synagogue and the less well-preserved remains of another. At one time inhabited by Phoenician Maronites and Greek Catholic Melkites, today, it is a kibbutz affiliated with the Hashomer Hatzair movement, with a population of roughly 600 and is situated almost 2 miles from the Lebanese border and south of the Nahal Bar’am.

During the time of Joshua, the site was allotted to the tribe of Naphtali but the town itself was established by Jews centuries later. The synagogue was built in the Talmudic period (3^rd century) and, it was said, named after Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai, a survivor of the bar Kokhba revolt against the Romans (132-135). There is an inscription under the right window on the facade, which reads, in Aramaic: "Banahu Elazar bar Yodan", "Elazar bar Yodan built it". During the Middle Ages, Kfar Bar’am was still a Jewish village and described by numerous travelers who passed through the area, such as Rabbi Shmuel ben Shimshon in 1210 and Rabbi Jacob of Paris in c. 1260. In 1522, Rabbi Moses Basola visited the site and described the synagogue.

In 1762 Kefar Baram was destroyed and the remaining Jews abandoned the town. In the 19^th century, the Maronites resettled the village followed immediately after by the Melkites. The village was severely damage in the earthquake of 1837 including the ancient synagogue and the Maronite Church. During the 1860 civil war in Lebanon, Kfar Bar’am, as a largely Maronite village, was attacked by Muslims and Druzes.

During the period of the British Mandate, the area was the subject of intense archaeological activity, especially the synagogue which eventually became the inspiration for other synagogue designs throughout the Diaspora, for example, the Henry S. Frank Memorial Synagogue at the Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia. Today, the synagogue, as well as the Maronite Church and Christian cemetery, are situated in the Bar’am National Park and are visited by thousands of tourists annually. Also located in the Park are the Tombs of Mar Zutra, Nahman Katufa, Ovadia the Prophet, and Pinchas ben Yair (according to Jewish tradition) 2^nd century tanna or rabbinic sage. 

Kfar Bar’am was captured on October 31, 1948 by the Israel Defense Forces during the War of Independence. Because of the security situation, the villagers had to leave. In 1949, due to frequent cross-border infiltrations by Arab terrorists, they were barred from returning to the border zone. On June 16, 1949, Kibbutz Bar'am was founded nearby by demobilized Palmach soldiers to guard and hold the border with Lebanon. In the 1970s, the former Christian inhabitants waged a court battle to return to the site. Eventually, their church was restored to them but, as of this writing, nothing else has and the battle is still on-going.

Today, the kibbutz operates the Bar David Museum, which houses bi-annual exhibitions from the large permanent collection of paintings and Jewish ritual objects, plus temporary exhibitions of fine art, sculpture and photography, and a small Archeology Room that exhibits objects from the region, such as ceramic and glass artefacts and jewellery and statuettes.