Mosaic of Rehob
The Mosaic of Reḥob, also known as the Tel Rehov inscription and Baraita of the Boundaries, is a late 3rd–6th century CE mosaic discovered in 1973, inlaid in the floor of the foyer or narthex of an ancient synagogue near Tel Rehov, south of Beit She'an and about west of the Jordan River, containing the longest written text hitherto discovered in any mosaic in the Land of Israel, and also the oldest known Talmudic text.
Unlike other mosaics found in the region, the Reḥob mosaic has very little in the form of ornate design and symmetric patterns, but is unique due to its inscription, acclaimed by scholars to be one of the most important epigraphical findings discovered in Israel in the last century. Its text sheds invaluable light on the historical geography of Palestine during the Late Roman and Byzantine periods, as well as on Jewish and non-Jewish ethnographic divisions in Palestine for the same periods and their relation to one another, specifically, on agricultural produce cultivated by farmers, and the extent of Jewish law regulating the use of such farm products grown in different regions. These eight regions are: the area of Scythopolis and the Jordan valley, Susita and its neighbouring settlements on the east bank of the Sea of Galilee, Naveh in the Roman province of Arabia Petraea, Tyre and its neighbouring cities to the south, and the Land of Israel proper, dealt with in the second-longest paragraph, followed by the cities of Paneas and Caesarea, finishing with villages from the vicinity of Sebaste.
By delineating the boundaries of the Land of Israel, it seeks to establish the legal status of the country in its various parts from the time of Israel's return from the Babylonian captivity, and whether or not local farm products acquired by Jews from other Jews, or from gentiles and Samaritans, are exempt or obligated in what concerns the laws of Seventh Year produce, and of demai produce. The mosaic also describes different kinds of fruits and vegetables that were cultivated in the country at the time, and the laws which applied to them at the time.
History
A Late Roman and Byzantine-period Jewish village located about one kilometre northwest of Tel Rehov has preserved the old name in the form of Rehov or Roob/Roōb.According to excavator F. Vitto, the village synagogue underwent three phases of construction and reconstruction: first built as a basilical hall in the 4th century CE, it was destroyed by a fire and rebuilt in the following century, with the addition of a bemah, of a new mosaic floor and a plaster coating for the walls and pillars, decorated with several inscriptions; and the last phase, dating to the 6th or 7th century CE, when the narthex was added on whose floor the halakhic inscription was laid. Others put the creation of the halakhic inscription in the late 3rd century CE at the earliest. The synagogue was probably abandoned after being destroyed in an earthquake.
The site of the ancient Jewish village was later taken by the Arab village of Farwana, documented at least since the Ottoman period, and abandoned during the 1948 war. Kibbutz Ein HaNetziv was established in 1946 on land including the ancient site.
The remains of the ancient synagogue were first discovered by members of Kibbutz Ein HaNetziv while preparing their lands for cultivation in the late 1960s. An archaeological excavation of the site in 1973, led by a team under IAA's Fanny Vitto, revealed the mosaic and its content, which is now on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
Description of mosaic
The mosaic pieces are made of black limestone tesserae contrasted against a white background, measuring, with an accompanying text written on 29 lines, comprising a total of 350 words, with an average length of to each line. It begins with the salutation, "Shalom" – Peace!, followed by a long halakhic text, and ends with the salutation, "Shalom," followed by an appendix where it lists some eighteen towns in the vicinity of Sebaste whose fruits and vegetables were exempt from tithes and the stringencies applied to Seventh Year produce. There is little uniformity in the size of the letters, while the spelling of some words is faulty. Portions of the main text contain elements that are related to late second-century rabbinic literature, particularly that found in the Tosefta, the Jerusalem Talmud and Sifrei on Deuteronomy 11:24, although the mosaic of Reḥob expands on aspects of each. The more ancient text in the Reḥob mosaic has been used to correct errors in transmission of extant rabbinic texts.Legal (''halakhic'') background
The text in the Reḥob mosaic can only be understood in the context of Jewish law at the time, which required the tithing of agricultural produce six years out of a seven-year cycle, as well as the observance of Seventh Year law strictures on the same produce once in every seven years. This, too, was contingent upon lands that had been settled by returning Jews from the Babylonian captivity. The underlying principle in Jewish law states that when the Jewish exiles returned from the Babylonian captivity in the 4th century BCE, the extent of territories resettled by them in Galilee and in Judea did not equal nor exceed the territory originally conquered by Israel at the time of Joshua, more commonly referred to as "those who came-up from Egypt." The practical bearing of this restructuring of boundaries meant that places then settled by non-Jewish residents in the land and not taken by Israel were not deemed as consecrated land and, therefore, fruits and vegetables grown in such places and purchased by Jews were exempt from the laws of tithing, and of Seventh Year restrictions. However, if fruits and vegetables were purchased by gentile vendors from Israelites in their respective places and transported into these non-consecrated places in order to be sold in the marketplaces, they were still made subject to tithing as demai-produce by prospective Jewish buyers. The fruits and vegetables mentioned in the Reḥob mosaic with respect to Beit She'an were not locally grown in Beit She'an, but were transported there from places settled by Israel. Beit She'an was a frontier city along the country's eastern front with Transjordan, and since it was not initially settled by Israelites upon their return from Babylon, although later Israelites had joined the local inhabitants, all home-grown fruits and vegetables there were made exempt from tithing in the days of Rabbi Judah HaNasi.Translation of ancient text
Regulation of produce between Achziv (Chezib) and Tyre
The maritime city of Akko, and the river south of Achziv, a small coastal town ca. north of Acre, according to the Mishnah, were the extent of the northern boundary settled by Jews returning from the Babylonian captivity in the days of Ezra. Produce locally grown in the country beyond Achziv was exempt from the rules of demai-produce, but if purchased from Achziv itself, it required tithing. Although the towns and villages were traditionally outside of the territorial bounds occupied by Jews returning from Babylonia, still, these cities attracted Jewish settlement. In addition, fruits and vegetables grown in the Land of Israel were often transported northward, along the route known as the Promontory of Tyre. Israelites who frequented these areas, or who had moved there, were likely to buy fruits that had not been properly tithed in Israel, or had been marketed during the Sabbatical Year. The emphasis on the regulation of agricultural produce obtained by Israel in the following northern areas, or, as the Rehob inscription says, "what an Israelite has purchased" in those parts, was because of its doubtful nature.Boundary of the Land of Israel in the 4th c. BCE
The following frontier cities once marked the boundary of the Land of Israel, or the extent of places repopulated after the return from Babylonian exile. In a broader sense, the list of frontier towns and villages herein named represent the geographical limits of regulations imposed upon all agricultural produce, making them fully liable to tithing and to sabbatical-year restrictions within that same border, or, in the event of being purchased from the common people of the land, to separate therefrom only the demai-tithe. As one moved further east of Achziv, the border extended northward, into what are now portions of south Lebanon, and as far east as places in the present-day Kingdom of Jordan. While the settlements here named reflect a historical reality, bearing heavily on Jewish legal law, they did not always reflect a political reality, insofar that the political borders have since changed owing to a long history of occupiers and conquerors.Caesarea Maritima
The maritime city of Caesarea Maritima was an enclave along the Mediterranean coast not immediately settled by Jewish émigrés returning from the Babylonian exile. Later, however, Jews joined the inhabitants of the city, yet, by the 1st century CE, it was still principally settled by foreigners, mostly Grecians. To ease the strictures placed upon the poor of the Jewish nation during the Seventh Year, Rabbi Judah HaNasi found the juridical legitimacy to release the city from the obligation of tithing locally-grown produce, and from the restrictions associated with Seventh Year produce. Notwithstanding, on certain fruits and on one commodity spice, they still required the separation of the demai tithe because of the majority of these specific items being transported into Caesarea from other places of the country held by Israel. However, during the Seventh Year, since these items were usually not harvested or worked by Jews in that year, the majority of such produce were esteemed as such that had been harvested and worked by the gentiles of that place and who are not obligated in the laws of the Seventh Year. This, therefore, made it permissible unto Jews to purchase from them such items.Addendum: Permitted towns in region of Sebaste
Between the country of Judea and the country of Galilee lies an intermediate stretch of land known as "the strip of the Samaritans." Jews often passed through the region, while en route from Galilee to Jerusalem during the three annual pilgrimages, and again when returning home.Although the region of Samaria was not seized at the very outset by those Jews returning from the Babylonian exile, the priests of Aaron's descent were still permitted to pass through their country, without fear of contracting defilement in respect to the country of the gentiles. Nonetheless, with respect to fruits and vegetables had in Samaria, there were some places in Samaria that were exempt from tithes, as if they had been a foreign land.
The Jerusalem Talmud, when speaking about the impropriety of leaving the Land of Israel, describes the standard rule of practice of the time: "Said Rabbi Abbahu: 'There are hamlets belonging to the Samaritans wherein it has been customary to permit , since the days of Joshua, the son of Nun, and they are permitted'." The reason for this exemption is explained by Talmudic exegete, Solomon Sirilio, as being that these villages in Samaria and their suburbs had the status of feudal or usufruct lands given by grant from the State to farm-laborers for a share of its increase, while the majority of increase accrued unto the State. This was enough to exempt such produce from the requirement of tithing, since the kingdom had not forfeited its hold over such lands, and since the Jewish regulations for tithing prescribe that produce or grain that is to be tithed must be the property of its tither, in accordance with Deuteronomy 14:22, "…you shall tithe all the produce of your seed" - meaning, your seed, but not the seed belonging to others. The following list of towns concerns those hamlets held by the State in the region of Sebaste and which were, therefore, exempt from the laws of tithing. The list is not known from any other source, and is only alluded to in the Jerusalem Talmud.
By this it is implied that other towns and villages that were settled by the Samaritans, such as Gebaʻ and Badan, fruits grown therein were still under the obligation to have all tithes separated therefrom before they could be eaten.
| Original Hebrew-Aramaic transcript |
שלום הפירות הללו אסורין בבית שאן בשביעית ובשאר שבוע מתאסרין דמי הקישואין והאבטיחין והממלפפונות והאסטפליני והמינתה הנאגרת בפני עצמה ופול המצרי הנאגד בשיפה והקפלוטות מן העצרת עד החנוכה והזירעונין והקצע והשמשמין והחרדל והאורז והכמן והתורמסין היבישין והאפונין הגמלונין הנימכרין במידה והשום ובצלין בני מדינה הנימכרין במידה והבולבסין והתמרין אפסיות והיין והשמן בשביעית שביעית שני שבוע דמי והפת חלה לעולם אילו המקומות המותרין סביבות בית שאן מן הדרום שהיא פילי דקמפון עד חקלה חיורתה מן המערב שהיא פילי דזיירה עד סוף הרצפה מן הצפון שהיא פילי דסכותה עד כפר קרנוס וכפר קרנוס כבית שאן ומן המיזרח שהיא פילי דזבלייה עד נפשה דפנוקטייה ופילי דכפר זמרין ופילי ראגמה לפנים מן השער מותר ולחוץ אסור העיירות האסורות ביתחום סוסיתה עינוש ועינחרה ודמבר עיון ויערוט וכפר יחריב ונוב וחספייה וכפר צמח ורבי היתיר כפר צמח העיירות שהן ספיק בתחום נווה ציר וצייר וגשמיי וזיזון ורנב וחרבתה ואיגרי חוטם וכרכה דבר הרג העיירות אסורות בתחום צור שצת ובצת ופימצובה וחנותה עלייתה וחנותה ארעייתה וביברה וראש מייה ואמון ומזה היא קסטלה וכל מה שקנו ישראל נאסר תחומי ארץ ישראל מקום שה עולי בבל פורשת אשקלון וחומת מיגדל שרושן דור וחומת עכו וראש מי גיאתו וגיאתו עצמה וכברית זניתה וקסטרה רגלילה וקובעייה ראייתה וממצייה דירכתה ומלתה דכוריים וסחרתה דיתיה דבצאל ובית עיט וברשתה ואולי דבתה וניקבתה רעיון ומסב ספנחה וכרכה רבנגורה ותרנגולה עלייה דקיסריון ובית סבל וקנת ורקם טרכון זימרה דמתחם לבוצרה ינקה זחשבון ונחלח דזרד איגר סהדותה נימרין ומלח רזיזה רקם דגיאה וגנייה דאשקלון ודרך הגדולה ההולכת למירבר הפירות הללו אסורין בפנים בשביעית ובישאר שני שבוע הן מתעסרין דמיי משלם האורז והאגוזין והשמשמין ופול המצרי יש אומרין אוף אחוניות הבכירות הדי אלו בשביעית שביעית ובשאר שני שבוע הן מתעסרין וריי ואפילו מן תרנוגלה עלייה ולחוצ הפירות הללו מתעסרין דמיי בקסרין החיטין והפת חלה לעולם והיין והשמן והתמרין והאורז והכמן הרי אלו מותרין בשביעית בקסרין ובישאר שני שבוע הן מתקנין דמיי ויש אוסרין בולבסין הלבנין הבאין מהר המלך ועד איכן סביב לקיסרין עד צוורנה ופנדקה דטביתה ועמודה ודור וכפר סבה ואם יש מקום שקנו אותו ישראל חוששין לו רבותינו שלום העיירות המו<ת>דות בתחום סבסטי איקבין וכפר כסדיה ועיר ואזילין ושפירין ועננין ובלעם עלייתה ומזחרו ודותן וכפר מייה ושילתה ופנטאקומוותה ולבייה ופרדיסלייה ויצת וארבנורין וכפר יהודית ומונרית ופלגה דשלאף |