{"id":8798,"date":"2026-09-03T22:28:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T19:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themuseumguy.co.il\/?p=8798"},"modified":"2026-09-03T22:50:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T19:50:35","slug":"oldest-hebrew-calendar-gezer-rosh-hashanah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themuseumguy.co.il\/he\/post\/oldest-hebrew-calendar-gezer-rosh-hashanah\/","title":{"rendered":"What Do a Calendar, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the IDF’s Second Chief of Staff Have in Common?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For Rosh Hashanah 5787<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two men shaped how we dig up this country: Eleazar Lipa Sukenik, and his son, Yigael Yadin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between them they handled some of the most important archaeological finds of the last century. The Dead Sea Scrolls \u2014 Sukenik coined the Hebrew term ha-megillot ha-genuzot<\/em>, the hidden scrolls \u2014 and excavated the ancient synagogue at Beth Alpha, in the Jezreel Valley, right next to Gan Garoo and the Sachne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December 1928, kibbutzniks from Hefzibah were digging an irrigation channel and hit a mosaic floor. They called Sukenik. He got a license from the British Mandate Department of Antiquities and opened a proper excavation in January 1929 \u2014 the first archaeological dig in this country under a Jewish academic institution, the Hebrew University, with Nahman Avigad assisting. What came out of the ground was a zodiac wheel, and it changed everything scholars thought they knew about Jewish art in antiquity.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The zodiac wheel in the synagogue floor at Beth Alpha. Photo: Boaz Eshkol<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the time, only one other synagogue zodiac was known \u2014 Hammat Tiberias. Since then: Sepphoris, Susiya, Naaran, Wadi Hamam, and most recently Huqoq.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What unsettles a lot of Jewish visitors is the figures. Human bodies, sometimes frankly pagan ones \u2014 Helios the sun god riding his chariot in the middle of the wheel, winged creatures around the edges. You could write a book about that. But there is one synagogue that breaks the pattern, and the exception is what proves the rule: Ein Gedi<\/a>. Same discovery story, too \u2014 kibbutz members hit a mosaic floor during farm work, in 1965. The Hebrew University came, and excavation began in 1970\u201372.2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notice the gap between discovery and excavation in each case. One was under the British, one under Israel. Is there a connection? Did somebody say bureaucracy? I have no idea. Find out and tell me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is the difference. At Ein Gedi the zodiac is not drawn at all. No Helios, no figures, no chariot. It is a list. The twelve signs and the twelve months, written out in letters, in rows, on the floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A separate piece on the Ein Gedi inscription is coming soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The inscription in the western aisle, Ein Gedi synagogue. Barag, Porat & Netzer 1972, Plate 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I talk about Ein Gedi in this one, if you want to hear it rather than read it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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