At the ancient Galilean village of Tel Rechesh, the archaeologist Motti Aviam and his colleagues have discovered a synagogue they believe was built between 20 and 40 CE. While Jewish houses of prayer from this period have been excavated in ancient cities, this is the first to be found in an agricultural community. Yitzḥak Tessler writes:

Aviam explained that “we are talking about a magnificent agricultural area about [one acre] in size where buildings are decorated with frescoes and stucco articles. Jewish families lived on the estate but, due to the fact that the nearest synagogue was four kilometers away (a distance deemed too far . . . according to Jewish law), the owner of the estate built the synagogue for himself and for the dozens of workers in his employment.” . . .

[One significant element is the] layout of the benches along the structure’s walls. This is [a typical] feature of a Sephardi synagogue’s design, in which worshippers sit along the wall facing the center of the room. It was customary for the prayer reader to stand in the center of the room and read portions and lessons of the Torah during the Sabbath and on the Jewish holidays.

Aviam added, “This is a simple synagogue but it is not simple to build a synagogue. The benches that we discovered are made of beautiful white ashlar stone and the large foundational pillars required considerable investment and were expensive.”

There is little doubt that if Hizballah had participated more intensively in Saturday’s attack, Israeli air defenses would have been pushed past their limits, and far more damage would have been done. Daniel Byman and Kenneth Pollack, trying to look at things from Tehran’s perspective, see this as an important sign of caution—but caution that shouldn’t be exaggerated:

Iran is well aware of the extent and capability of Israel’s air defenses. The scale of the strike was almost certainly designed to enable at least some of the attacking munitions to penetrate those defenses and cause some degree of damage. Their inability to do so was doubtless a disappointment to Tehran, but the Iranians can probably still console themselves that the attack was frightening for the Israeli people and alarming to their government. Iran probably hopes that it was unpleasant enough to give Israeli leaders pause the next time they consider an operation like the embassy strike.

Hizballah is Iran’s ace in the hole. With more than 150,000 rockets and missiles, the Lebanese militant group could overwhelm Israeli air defenses. . . . All of this reinforces the strategic assessment that Iran is not looking to escalate with Israel and is, in fact, working very hard to avoid escalation. . . . Still, Iran has crossed a Rubicon, although it may not recognize it. Iran had never struck Israel directly from its own territory before Saturday.

Byman and Pollack see here an important lesson for America:

What Saturday’s fireworks hopefully also illustrated is the danger of U.S. disengagement from the Middle East. . . . The latest round of violence shows why it is important for the United States to take the lead on pushing back on Iran and its proxies and bolstering U.S. allies.