Synagogues

Israeli archeologists have found what is believed to be the world's oldest synagogue in the ruins of a 2,000-year-old palace outside the West Bank city of Jericho. The synagogue, which dates between 50 BC and 70 BC, was uncovered by archeologists in the ruins of a Maccabean winter palace, archeology professor Ehud Netzer said Sunday. Netzer said worshipers would have sat on a bench running along pillars in the synagogue's basilica-shaped hall.

The 1,800-family Valley Beth Shalom synagogue, biggest in the San Fernando Valley, is giving itself a long-awaited Hanukkah present today with the near completion of a $10-million expansion project at its complex in Encino. "We've added about 44,000 square feet, about doubling our previous size," said Rabbi Jerry M. Danzig, executive director of the synagogue. Senior Rabbi Harold Schulweis will lead the 10 a.m. dedication service today. Only some stained-glass windows are yet to be installed.

The oldest and largest Orthodox synagogue in the San Fernando Valley now has a place befitting its leadership role among traditional Jews in the North Hollywood area. Spending $2.5 million in renovations during the last two years, Shaarey Zedek Congregation nearly doubled its space for prayers, classes and social events--and just in time for the 10-day High Holy Days period starting Sunday evening.

A 21-year-old man pleaded guilty Monday to one count of conspiracy to violate federal civil rights in the 1997 vandalism of a synagogue, federal prosecutors said. Michael Brian DaSilva of Lakeside admitted vandalizing Congregation Tifereth Israel by spray-painting swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans on the walls, windows, benches and walkways of the synagogue. He faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced Aug. 17.

Los Angeles police are investigating recent bomb threats and vandalism at a synagogue in Tujunga as hate incidents, authorities said Thursday. Swastikas about four feet square were etched into the doors of the Verdugo Hills Hebrew Center on May 12, said Detective Gaspar Oliveras. Anti-Semitic slurs were scrawled on signs and brass plaques at the temple's entrance that same day, police said.

A fire that damaged a synagogue in Syracuse, N.Y., last week was deliberately set, authorities said. "But it's premature to call it a hate crime. We just don't know the motive or the intent of the people who started this fire," U.S. Atty. Daniel French said. The fire damaged a business office at the Temple Beth El on Friday, the start of Sukkot, a Jewish festival commemorating the desert wanderings of the Hebrews during the Exodus. No one was in the temple at the time.

Israel's first diplomatic delegation in the Soviet Union in 21 years prayed at the Moscow synagogue on Friday, the first full day of a mission they hope will lead to restored relations with the Kremlin. "If someone had told me a year ago that I would be standing in the Moscow synagogue, I would not even have laughed," said Meron Gordon, head of the Israeli delegation, who had left Soviet Lithuania when he was 9.

For the second time in three weeks, a synagogue here was damaged by fire Sunday, the latest in a string of suspected anti-Semitic incidents in Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley. Officials said the fire, which caused an estimated $8,000 damage to Temple Adat Elohim, was arson but they have not determined how it was started. "It was definitely a set fire. It didn't look like anything was stolen," said Peter Cronk, a Ventura County fire investigator.

A federal jury convicted a 74-year-old bookkeeper in Philadelphia on charges she helped embezzle $1.2 million from the suburban synagogue where she worked for almost 40 years. Betty Shusterman was convicted of 46 counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, bank fraud and tax evasion. She faces a four- to five-year prison term when she is sentenced early next year, prosecutors said.

Authorities tightened security at Rome's main synagogue after a series of anti-Semitic outbursts alarmed members of Italy's Jewish community, officials said Friday. Five members of a neo-fascist youth group, the Fronte della Gioventu, were arrested Wednesday night after they were found scrawling anti-Semitic graffiti in a public square. Most of it was related to the Israeli crackdown in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip that has left 26 Palestinians dead.