Tadef and the Synagogue of Ezra, near Al-Bab

Tadef is a small town two to three kilometres south-east of Al-Bab, and its houses now run into those of Al-Bab. For centuries it was a pilgrimage site for the Jews of Aleppo. Local tradition says the prophet Ezra stopped here on his way from Babylon to Jerusalem and built the synagogue that still stands. Hebrew inscriptions from the 14th century were found inside it. The town also has a spring and a tomb linked to Ezra, an old covered souq and an old hammam, or bath house.

Getting there

Tadef leans against Al-Bab, north-east of Aleppo; the houses of the two places have merged, and both fit into one day. For the synagogue we have a single map record that no second source confirms, so we give no map pin. That record names the building in Arabic as “al-kanisa al-yahudiyya”, the Jewish church, and the name may help when you ask in town.

The Ezra tradition

According to the story, Ezra bathed in the spring beside the town, which is still called Ayn al-Uzayr, Ezra’s spring. A tomb attributed to him lies nearby. In 1414 the Jewish traveller Isaac Elfarra of Málaga wrote of the place as “Taduf” and recorded the tradition that Ezra wrote down the Torah here.

The synagogue and its inscriptions

In 1899 the German archaeologist Max von Oppenheim found Hebrew inscriptions from the 14th century in the synagogue. They show the site was a Jewish place of worship by that century at the latest. Read alongside the Central Synagogue inside Aleppo, Tadef was the same community’s holy place in the countryside.

A summer town for Aleppo’s Jews

Every year, before Shavuot, the festival that marks the giving of the Torah, the Jews of Aleppo came to Tadef on pilgrimage. The town also served as a summer retreat. At the end of the 19th century about 20 Jewish families lived in Tadef; by 1931 there were 15.

What else is in town

Arabic sources list an old covered souq, an old hammam and Roman water channels in Tadef. We found no recent record of how much of this still stands or can be visited.

The situation today

Control of the town changed hands in November 2024. The present state of the synagogue, whether it is open and who holds the key all need to be confirmed locally. We found no recent photograph or report of the building.

Don’t miss

The spring of Ayn al-Uzayr. Most people who come to Tadef stay at the synagogue, yet the real setting of the tradition is the spring where Ezra is said to have bathed.