VIRTUAL JEWISH MUSEUM

TIBERIAS

Tiberias. Also Teverya and Tabariyya. Founded in 20 CE and named for the Roman emperor, it eventually became the center of Holy Land Jewish life for most of a thousand years.  This was the last home of the sitting Sanhedrin. It is where the system of vocalizing Hebrew texts used today was developed. Significant portions of the Mishna and Jerusalem Talmud were also developed here. Teverya was subject to the whims of Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders and Ottomans, and also suffered several earthquakes. Sephardic Jews were invited in the 1500s, and Polish Jews around 1800.  It had regained a Jewish majority by 1900. Tiberias' main features are the lake, hot springs, tombs of Talmudic sages, and famously the tomb of Rabbi Meir 'Baal Haneis'.