Prayer and Polemic in the Ancient Synagogue of Na’aran

• In Event: Realia and Rulers in Jewish Antiquity

Abstract

The ancient synagogue at Na’aran, in the Jordan Valley, was decorated with mosaic carpets covering the entire prayer hall. The southern panel is adorned with the Holy Ark flanked by a pair of Menorahs, and beneath it– the biblical scene of Daniel in the Lions’ Den, while the central panel includes a depiction of the Zodiac. The figure of Daniel is portrayed with his arms extended upwards in the orans position – the prayer posture characteristic of Early Christian and Byzantine art. Additionally, the figure of Virgo in the Zodiac and two of the four personifications of the seasons (Tekufot) are also depicted in the orans position.
The orans position was pervasive in Christian iconography, from the 3rd century onwards, in depictions of biblical protagonists, saints and martyrs; it also uniquely characterized an allegorical female figure – taken to symbolize the soul of the departed or the Church – that was portrayed ubiquitously in the Roman catacombs. How are we to interpret the use of the Christian orans position in the figures adorning Jewish synagogues? I would argue that these supplicating figures represent a conversation – or perhaps a polemic –against the Christian visual tradition, in view of the Jewish practice of extending arms in prayer that was customary in Jewish society up to the destruction of the Second Temple. At the same time, the female figures with arms extended upwards in the Na’aran mosaic recall the Christian female orans and they further attest the Christian influence on Jewish visuality in Byzantine Palestine.

Author

• noa yuval-hacham