Ancient Tiberias

Today we were determined to visit some of the many ancient sites in Tiberias. We began our self-tour with a stop at Rachel's tomb, the wife of Rabbi Akiva. The story goes that she was the only child of a wealthy family. She spotted one of her father's shepard's and was drawn to him. They married secretly to the displeasure of her father and gave up her wealthy status. Akiva was 40 years old and had never studied. Rachel encouraged him to study and for 24 years she struggled to raise their children while her husband studied Torah. He returned to her with 24,000 followers. She really struggled feeding them Shabbat dinner!
The tomb is housed in a very modest building that is used as a Beit Midrash. In one of the three rooms a group of men studied loudly, shouting back and forth, doing midrash. It sounded like any temple meeting anywhere. We were surprised that the site is currently a house of study.
In preparation for our trip to Israel we had been putting quarters in a Tzidaka can Sandy Fox gave us for our trip. The custom, my cousin Fran told us, is to give charity to the first person who asks or needs help. We made our first charitable deposit at the Tomb of Rachel and continued throughout the day.
Our next stop was at the southern most end of Tiberias, Hamat National Park. It is a large excavation site of the remains of the ancient city of Hamat. The city was inhabited during the Roman, Byzantine and oman periods. The ruins of jewish synagogues were discovered here and some of them have been reconstructed. Within the ruins there appears to be two mikvahs, perhaps a male and female one. Among the synagogue's remains from the 4th century is an exquiste mosaic floor of the Zodiac. We are told that the Zodiac's presence there is a sign that the Rabbis of the time were very open to integrating popular secular motifs. Hamat was famous for the hot springs which continue to flow from the hill side. The museum on the grounds houses replicas of the original spas as well as artifacts from the period. One can imagine the wealthy Romans and later the Arabs lounging in these elaborate hot baths. I took a picture of Stu resting on the cushions, but he kept his clothes on to spare you all the sight of another ancient one.
The hot springs continue to be a major draw to the area. I learned that another family at our hotel come just for the hot springs and bathes there daily. The sulphur rich water is said to have miraculous healing powers. In ancient times, the waters were used to heal barren women, stomach, and skin disorders. I suppose they still do now--except maybe for helping barren women.
Stu took off on his own for a bit, climbing the hill to visit the tomb of Rabbi Meir Ba-al Hanes (Haramba). Stu said it was a magnificent tomb, a school, and a study center. Stu found a Cohen only section (imagine a sign saying white's only--it was similar) and asked if he was a Cohen. When they learned he is a lowly Levite, he was asked to leave, and he did.
I thought we would spend the rest of the day continuing our search through ancient Tiberias, but Stu had other plans--no surprise there. It seems he learned that there is a Shofar factory in Golan and we were off for another search around to the Eastern side of the Sea of Galilee in a small settlement, settled in 1968 after the six day war. Givat Yoav is not much larger than a bend in the road, but it is the home of a cattle ranch and a great deal of grain products, more dates, and some olive trees. The road our GPS took us on turned out to be very windy, very narrow, and one that is seldom used--we discovered later. At one point an electric double wire fence separated us from Syria and Jordan. No photography allowed, we waited until we were above the hill, pictures coming shortly. It was a bit scary and a reminder of the fight over the Golan. Remnants of bunkers exist, cement overlooks abound, and of course the ever present electric fence for kilometers. Now I wonder why we can't build a similar fence between us and Mexico.
We had no trouble locating the Shofar factory, we followed the large, modern sign and the arrow pointing down a side road. We came upon several mismatched buildings that, we learned, included a couple of houses, the Shofar gallery, and the factory. No pictures allowed in the factory so you'll have to imagine what we saw. Pictures to follow shortly.
The owner/designer welcomed us graciously, although he spoke some English, he called upon his son to translate. Together they showed us the thousands of rams' horns and horns from antelope and Kudus. They buy their horns from Morocco and Nimbia, and they are certified kosher. Interesting fact: The reason why cow and bull horns are not Kosher for Shofars is because of the Golden Calf story and worshipping the cow. Hence, cows can be kosher, but not their horns.
The horns are cleaned, bone removed from the horn. The hard shell, similar to our finger nails, is what remains and becomes the shofar. The horns are soaked, part is straightened so a hole can be bored through them, and the ends are cut to make the mouth piece. The horns are polished, some of the Ram's horn markings are left, others are polished out. The day we visited only one person was working in the factory. Usually, there are up to six high school students who work there on days they are not studying, prior to going into the army. The youngest son, in his twenties, is not sure he will continue his father's business. We also met an older son who works there as well. The owner told us that he has been blowing the Shofar since he was 10 years old and has always loved them. By age 18 he was sounding the Shofar in the synagogue for Rosh Hashana. We couldn't leave without buying something, so we purchased a hand made mezuzah, made from the horn that is cut away before making the Shofar. It was like buying a piece of art, and we took a picture of the three of us, the artist, Stu and I.
We returned to Tiberias and lunch at our now preferred restaurant--this was our second meal there. More Israeli salads and the best swarma we've ever eaten, moist, flavorful, and plentiful. And you won't believe this, we selected directly from the menu and didn't make any changes--that's got to be a first for us. After the meal, Stu asked for a cafe au lait. The proprietor laughingly reprimanded him, no milk. Stu had Turkish coffee, served in a small glass, while I drank tea with mint leaves from a larger glass.
We wandered about Havaroon street for a bit and purchased fresh pastries for our visitor this evening (Lenny, cousin Sue's brother), fresh strawberries at a local fruit stall, and bags of dates and figs from a spice and dried fruit and bean shop. The aromas followed us when we left--cumin, tumeric, savory, and mint.
Back to the ancient Tiberias trail with stops at Rambom's tomb (Moses Maimoides) and then at the Tomb of Rabbi Akiva which overlooks the city of Tiberias. We left both sites with many questions. Why the custom of lighting candles and saying prayers at these tombs? Why the pictures of Moses and Rabbi Akiva and some of their followers? Why the prayers and the papers with (we think) prayers left in cracks in and around the tombs? The tombs themselves were more elaborate than we usually associated with Jewish burials, although significantly less elaborate than some I've seen for the Catholic Saints and British royalty. In spite of our questions, we were quite moved and offered prayers for our friends and family. We left many more US quarters at each tomb site--better safe than sorry.
And so another day comes to a close.
Stu and Adrienne