Capital of Galilee – important spiritual center since the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Second Temple – headquarters of the Sanhedrin. The great masters who wrote the Talmud Yerushalmi and the Gemara lived there.
Great personalities are buried there and, legend has it, that with the coming of the messiah, their dead will rise first, 40 years before those in Jerusalem.
Tiberias is located on the western shore of Lake Kinneret, or the Sea of Galilee. This occupies one of the depressions of the Syro-African rift and is 213 meters below sea level. Its name derives from Kinor, which means harp because its shape resembles one or because the sound of its waves is as melodious as that of a harp. The Jordan River runs through the lake from north to south and follows its course through the valley of the same name until it ends at the Dead Sea.
The geographical location of the city of Tiberias made it the tourist, commercial, administrative and cultural center of nearby settlements. This extends in height over the mountainous margin, reaching the new neighborhoods reaching 461 meters above lake level and 249 meters above sea level, presenting great variation in temperature, vegetation and rainfall between the Old City, at sea level lake, and the highest parts of Cidade Nova.
History
Tiberias was founded between the years 14 and 18 of the Common Era by Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, king of Judea, on the remains of an ancient biblical site, Rakkat. It is named in honor of the Roman emperor Tiberius. In the XNUMXrd century, the rabbis, unhappy with the Roman origin of the city's name, tried to Hebrewize it, considering it derived from the words Tov Reia, or beautiful view, “bel vedere”, which matches the panorama that can be admired.
The city, planned in Hellenistic style, quickly becomes the capital of Galilee and hosts government offices. According to historian Flavius Josephus, its population originally consisted of Greeks, freed slaves and landless people. As tombs had been found in the place where the city's foundations were laid, it was forbidden to the Orthodox Jews who initially visited it.
The Hellenized character of the city changed in the XNUMXnd century when Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai removed the anathema that weighed on it. It should be noted that after the destruction of the Second Temple, the occupation of Jerusalem and the repression by the Roman authorities, new spiritual centers began to emerge in Galilee and their importance grew rapidly.
Tiberias is the seat of the Sanhedrim, the Council that represents the highest religious authority after the loss of the Temple.
The Patriarch or Nassí resides in the city and it remained the capital of the Jews until the XNUMXth century when, with the Arab conquest, the religious authorities moved again to Jerusalem. It is considered one of the four holy cities, along with Jerusalem, Safed and Hebron.
Great masters lived in the city that hosted an important rabbinic academy. Among them we remember Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yohanam, Rabbi Ami and Rabbi Assi; his teachings, his questions and his answers are gathered in the Gemara, compiled at the end of the XNUMXth century, representing the main body of the Talmud Yerushalmi.
The masters of the Talmud in Palestine and Babylon understood that everything that remained after the destruction of the Temple and the occupation of the Land of Israel was the book of the Torah, and they knew how to make its study the force that would preserve the people for two millennia.
In 636 the city was occupied by the Arabs. The Jewish community continued to exist under Arab rule and even under the Crusades, from 1100 to 1247.
In the 1206th century, Maimonides visited the city and was buried there in XNUMX.
In 1562, Turkish sultan Suleiman granted the city to Don José Nasi, who tried to re-establish a Jewish community there, but in the 1777th century the city was in ruins. In XNUMX, an important contingent of chassidim immigrated to the city.
The violent earthquake of 1837 caused extensive damage and the death, according to sources, of 1.000 Jews.
At the turn of the XNUMXth century, the Jewish colonization of Galilee gave the city a new impetus with the establishment of a modern Jewish community. The city becomes the center of settlements in Lower Galilee.
In 1912-14 the first neighborhood emerged outside the Old City – Tiberias was the base of the “Labor Brigade” which after the First World War was in charge of opening a road on the western shore of the lake.
Since 1920, the Kiriat Shmuel neighborhood has been built on the side of the mountain, welcoming tourists attracted by the region's hot springs.
In 1922 the city's Jewish population was 4.500 out of a total of 7.000 inhabitants.
In 1948 the Arab population attacked, anticipating the Syrian invasion. The counterattack by the Haganah, the Jewish clandestine army, causes the entire Arab population to flee. Then a camp is set up on the mountainside above Kiriat Shmuel to accommodate new immigrants from Western Europe, Yemen, Morocco, Iraq, called Mahabaran. A new neighborhood called Pariya is represented by the permanent homes of the inhabitants of Maabarã and was completed in the early 60s, when the city's population was around 20.000 inhabitants. Today around 30.000 people live in the city.
The main economic activity is tourism, especially during spring and winter, exploring the waters of Hamei Tveria. The Hamei Tveria archaeological park is located south of the city in what was the Roman part. These are hot thermal springs that gush from 2.000 meters deep. It features the remains of a Roman bath palace and a XNUMXth century synagogue. The remains of the city from the crusader era, with its fortress rebuilt in the XNUMXth century, extend north of the Roman city to the old cemetery. There are the venerated tombs of great masters such as Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakai, Rabbi Akiva and Maimonides. The tomb of Rabbi Meir Baal HaNess is one of the most visited and is sought after by people who pray for the master to intercede to perform a miracle. Rabbi Meir lived in the second century; He was one of the great rabbis of the Talmud, a disciple and contemporary of Rabbi Akiva. His name means “he who illuminates”. He is the only master who has a tzedakah in his own name, for having the merit of unconditionally defending the people of Israel who, in his opinion, even when they acted wrongly, continued to be children of G-d and therefore worthy of love.
The architectural complex consists of two domes, one under the care of Ashkenazim and the other by Sephardim. On the wall is the writing of “Elokei Meir Aneni”: G-d of Meir answer me or save me.
Next we find the tomb of Rachel, the wise wife of Rabbi Akiva and daughter of Calba Shavua, who played a fundamental role in encouraging her husband to study, who was illiterate and ignorant until he was forty years old and who later became one of the giants in wisdom, demonstrating that it is never too late for intellectual and spiritual development and achievement.
The tomb of Rabbi Akiva is located at the western entrance of the city – a legendary figure, he founded an academy in Bnei Brak and had countless disciples. He died heroically, as a martyr, to sanctify G‑d's name.
The tomb of Maimonides, the Rambam, is located near the center of the city – of the great sage, philosopher and doctor, who produced a monumental work, it was said “Mi Moshe le Moshe ein Ke Moshe”, that is, from Moshe Rabenu to Moshe Ben Maimon there was no other Moshe.
Close to Maimonides' tomb, always in the center of the city, lies Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai, from the first generation of the Tanayim and contemporary with the destruction of the Second Temple. Beside him rest five of his disciples. Yochanam Ben Zakkai presided over the Sanhedrim and an important academy. His training was from the oldest school of Hillel and Shammai, and he was the youngest of Hillel's eighty disciples. He lived 120 years and witnessed the tragedy of the fall of Jerusalem. He managed to leave the besieged city by pretending to be dead. It was until General Vespasian to whom he revealed that he was going to become emperor. In return, he asked for permission to found an academy of Torah studies in Yavne.
This is how the foundations of our rich cultural heritage were laid in ways that are preserved to this day.
Bibliography
Jewish Encyclopedia: Tiberias
M. Michalson, Y. Slomon, M. Milner, "Mekomot Kedoshim U. Kivrei Tzadikim Be Eretz Israel. Defense Ministry, 1996
Ami Bourgamim: Tiberiade, Le lac aux miracles - Éditions du Nadir 1996
Adin Steinzaltz "The Essential Talmud".
