Um el-Kanatir (Arabic for Mother of the Arches) is an impressive set of standing ruins of a Jewish village from the Byzantine era (5-8th C) with a synagogue built of local basalt stone. The town was destroyed by the earthquake of 749 CE and never rebuilt. Because of its remote location, out in the field a kilometer past Natur, all the stones of the synagogue were found in situ and over a period of a dozen years the synagogue has been rebuilt, stone by stone.

Last year while photographing & hiking on the Golan with Sumsum I went to visit the site of the ancient synagogue at Umm el-Kanatir, one of the most important Jewish historic sites on the Golan Heights.

Today the synagogue stands with its Torah ark built of ornately carved basalt as it was some 1800 years ago. They did an amazing job, a must see!