(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
The discovery of an ornamented wooden beam bearing a Hebrew inscription which has just been deciphered, may serve as a clue to the solution of the question regarding the date of the construction of the famous synagogue of Toledo.
The beam was discovered a little over a year ago by Dr. Francisco de San Roman of Toledo, Spain, in an old monastery of that city. Recognizing the importance of his find, he had the beam placed in the Toledo Archaeological Museum of which he is director.
The inscription has now been deciphered by Dr. Louis G. Zelson, formerly of the University of Wisconsin, who is now in Spain. The reading of the inscription indicates that the beam must have belonged to a public building, most likely a synagogue, that had been rebuilt upon the ruins of another in the year 4940 (1180 A.D.) As to which structure the beam belongs to is a subject of speculation. If the assumption that it belonged to the famous synagogue of Toledo, which has been known since its conversion into a church in 1405 by the name Santa Maria la Blanca, is true, the beam has solved the much disputed question as to the date of the construction of that magnificent edifice.
The inscription is probably the oldest known dated Hebrew inscription on wood.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
