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A menorah, or seven-branched candelabrum, carved into the doorway lintel of an Eshtemoa house still in use is a remnant from an ancient Jewish structure that once stood in Eshtemoa. The carving probably dates to the fourth or fifth century A.D., the time of the synagogue and the ancient Jewish village. Other houses in the Arab village now called es-Samoa bear Jewish symbols, such as menorahs, as well as small niches on their door jambs that once held mezuzahs—parchments containing a Biblical verse.