Mosaic of Rehob
The Mosaic of Reḥob is a late 3rd–6th century CE mosaic discovered in 1973. The mosaic, written in late Mishnaic Hebrew, describes the geography and agricultural rules of the local [History of the History of the Jews in the Byzantine Empire|Jews in the Byzantine Empire|Jews] of the era. It was 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. The mosaic contains the longest written text yet discovered in any Hebrew mosaic in Israel, and also the oldest known Talmudic text.
Unlike other mosaics found in the region, the Reḥob mosaic is unique not for its artistry and ornate patterns but for the text incorporated in it. Scholars say it is one of the most important epigraphical findings in the Holy Land in the last century, and 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.
The mosaic describes the body of Jewish law regulating the use of farm products grown in different regions. In Jewish tradition, [Laws and customs of Land of Israel|the Land of Israel in Judaism|certain laws are only applicable] within the Land of Israel proper. By delineating the boundaries of the Land of Israel at the time, the mosaic seeks to establish the legal status of the country in its various parts from the time of the Jewish people's return from the Babylonian captivity. It describes whether or not local farm products acquired by Jews from various sources are exempt from the laws of Seventh Year produce, and gives guidelines for dealing with demai produce.
History
The mosaic was located in an ancient synagogue in a Late Roman and Byzantine-period Jewish village about one kilometre northwest of Tel Rehov in what is now northeast Israel. The area preserved the old name in the form of Rehov or Roob/''Roōb''.According to the archaeologist Fanny Vitto, the village synagogue underwent three phases of construction and reconstruction. It was first built as a basilical hall in the 4th century CE. The hall was destroyed by a fire and rebuilt in the following century, with the addition of a bemah, a new mosaic floor and a plaster coating for the walls and pillars, decorated with several inscriptions. In the last phase, dating to the 6th or 7th century CE, the narthex was added, on whose floor the mosaic 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 remains of the ancient synagogue were discovered by members of Kibbutz Ein HaNetziv while preparing land 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 has been on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem since 1978.
Description of mosaic
The mosaic pieces are made of black limestone tesserae contrasted against a white background. The mosaic measures, with an accompanying text written on 29 lines, comprising a total of 364 words, with an average length of to each line. It begins with the salutation Shalom followed by a long halakhic text, and ends with Shalom once more. It is 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, and 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. Some scholars have raised the hypothesis that the content of the mosaic was copied from a letter sent by the Sages of Israel to the heads of the synagogue. At any rate, it is the largest known text found on any Hebrew mosaic in Israel to date, as well as the oldest known Talmudic text. The more ancient text in the Reḥob mosaic has been used to correct errors in transmission of extant rabbinic texts.From a philological perspective, the system of spelling in the mosaic follows the Beth-Shean practice of enunciation, where ʻayin is often interchanged with aleph, and ḥet is often interchanged with he, as is alluded to in the Jerusalem Talmud.
Legal (''halakhic'') background
The text in the Reḥob mosaic is best 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.The underlying principle in Jewish law states that when the exiles returned from the Babylonian captivity in the sixth century BCE, the extent of territories resettled by them in Galilee and in Judea did not equal nor exceed the territory originally conquered by the Israelite people according to the biblical book of Joshua, more commonly referred to as "those who came-up from Egypt." The eight regions described by the mosaic 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, Lebanon and its neighbouring cities to the south, the Land of Israel proper, the cities of Paneas and Caesarea Maritima, and finally villages in the vicinity of Sebaste.
The practical bearing of this restructuring of boundaries meant that places then settled by gentile residents in the land and not taken by Israel were not deemed as consecrated land. 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.
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 all home-grown fruits and vegetables there were made exempt from tithing in the days of Judah HaNasi. Rabbi Judah HaNasi also made Beit Gubrin exempt from tithes and from the seventh-year observance, since that stretch of country had been settled by the Idumaeans when the Jewish people returned from the Babylonian captivity.
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 Akko, 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, these cities nevertheless attracted Jewish settlement. In addition, fruits and vegetables grown in the Land of Israel were often transported northward, along the route known as the Ladder 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.
Boundary of the Land of Israel in the 5th 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.Caesarea Maritima
The maritime city of Caesarea 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. In 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 released the city from the obligation of tithing locally-grown produce, and from the restrictions associated with Seventh Year produce. Nevertheless, on certain products, the separation of the demai tithe was still required.Addendum: Permitted towns in region of Sebaste
Between the regions of Judea and Galilee in Palestine lay an intermediate stretch of land known as "the strip of the Samaritans.", also known as "Samaria", 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 that section of the country, without fear of experiencing defilement in respect to the country of the gentiles. Nonetheless, 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. 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. 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.
In Jewish Mishnaic law, the Samaritans were obligated to separate tithes from their produce, and where they were negligent, Jews who purchased such fruits and vegetables were required to separate the tithes before they could be eaten. The towns in Samaria that were exempt from tithing have been understood to mean that they were farmsteads owned by non-Jewish landlords, which made the fruits grown in those villages permitted to be taken in the Seventh-year and in other years. Yaakov Sussmann holds that they were "typically Grecian towns." In contrast, the Mishnah, compiled by Rabbi Judah HaNassi in 189 CE, mentions other cities and towns of Samaria, such as Badan and Gebaʻ, that require tithing of produce.
Practical bearing
By virtue of the long historical reality, Jewish law operated for many years as a living legal system under the auspices of the sovereignty of foreign governments with their own legal systems. Throughout all these years, Jews were beholden to their ancient laws, and to the principle that the Land of Israel remains eternally under special sanctity – thus, obligating the Jewish people at all times to separate the agricultural tithes and to observe the laws of the Sabbatical year and its first fruits, regardless of the geopolitics of the country, or what names people attach to the country. All these laws are contingent upon the country's ancient boundaries, when the returning Jewish exiles resettled the country after the Babylonian captivity.| 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 |