Today a resort town on the shores of Lake Kinneret, Tiberias was built by
King Herod Antipas in 20 CE. Streets in the splendid, well-planned Roman
city were laid out in typical grid patterns, and Tiberias boasted handsome
avenues lined with shops, impressive statues, a luxurious bathhouse and a
grandiose palace. Unfortunately for the Jews in the area, who would have
delighted in the free land, housing and tax exemptions that Herod was
offering new residents, the king had unwittingly located Tiberias directly
over an ancient Jewish cemetery and fear of contamination kept most of them
away.
Some 130 years later, Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yohai emerged from the Galilee cave
in which he had been hiding ever since the Romans sentenced him to death for
studying Torah. Tradition holds that in order to make his clothes last for
the duration, he had removed them whenever he was not at prayer and had
covered his nakedness with sand. As a result, when the decree was finally
lifted over a decade later, the sage was feeling pretty grimy. Once outside
the cave, he couldn’t wait to cleanse himself in the hot springs of
Tiberias.
But first he had to purify the city, says guide Katrina Halperin, director
of the Tiberias information center. She relates that the sage scoured the
area looking for lupine and sea squill — two flowering plants that flourish
in soft, turned-over soil. Identifying graves by the blossoms growing
nearby, he dug up the bodies and relocated them elsewhere with appropriate
ceremony.
The timing was fortuitous, for the ill-fated Bar- Kochba Revolt had ended a
few years earlier and Jews banished from Jerusalem were flocking north. Now
that Tiberias was purged, it became a favorite destination. Indeed, by the
third century, Tiberias had become the center of Jewish life in the Holy
Land.
MOST HISTORICAL tours of Tiberias take you to the graves of the righteous -
among them Rabbi Akiva, Maimonides and Rabbi Meir Ba’al Haness. This
slightly different but no less interesting route leads you through
Ottoman-era, Crusader and Byzantine remains.
Begin at the bottom of Dona Gracia Lane for a good view of the Meyuhas
Hostel, located along the main drag and originally called the Tiberias
Hotel. When built in 1896, it was the largest and most modern hotel in
Galilee and today offers a superb example of Tiberias’s architecture. The
building was constructed of basalt stones, and its windows and corners are
trimmed with pale limestone for a dazzling contrast. During restoration, the
lime was painted white, giving it an even more unusual look.
Positioned above the main byways leading north, west and south, the hotel
had immense strategic importance. Indeed, it was only after taking it during
the War of Independence that the Jews gained control of Tiberias.
Ascend Dona Gracia to reach the Turkish seraya — the district administrative
center during the Ottoman era. The fortress next door was erroneously named
’Crusades Palace’ by someone who knew that the Crusaders generally built
their citadels on hilltops. Actually, however, its characteristic style and
secondary use of stone make it clear that this was a Turkish citadel. Just
past the tower, study the wall to discover a Byzantine-era menora carved
into one of the stones.
Return to the bottom of Dona Gracia to walk through the Scots Hotel (see
box), then head for the lakeshore promenade. Until 1934, stores, dwellings
and even a mosque lined the banks of the Kinneret. That year, however, a
massive black cloud burst over the city and caused tremendous floods. Water
poured down from the mountains above Tiberias, bringing with it tons of
boulders and earth. Dozens of people were killed, and down at the lake,
where an easterly wind was blowing, the city was transformed into one
gigantic pool.
At the time, the British ruled Palestine and, practical as always, they took
concrete steps to avert future disaster. Banning construction on the
lakeshore, they planted trees above the town (today’s Swiss Forest) to hold
down the soil. And in 1937, the British constructed a dam to prevent the
easterly winds from propelling huge waves into the city. It is that dam
which is now the promenade, with a marina, restaurants and shops.
St. Peter’s Parish is on your right. Built by the Crusaders at the start of
the 12th century, St. Peter’s outer wall is faced with a symbolically
overturned boat — representing Peter’s transformation from fisherman to
apostle. Behind the altar inside are two splendid works of art whose
glittering crushed stucco gives them a mosaic look. The church, lost to
Saladin in 1187, was used by a Muslim family as a stable for nearly seven
centuries and thus preserved.
St. Peter’s has a history of hospitality. When Poland was invaded in 1939,
and its army taken over by the Germans, many Polish soldiers serving in
Russia and the Ukraine fled to Palestine. They found temporary quarters at
the church’s Casa Nova hostel, and eventually joined the British fight
against the Nazi army. In 1946, soldiers erected a striking monument in the
courtyard in gratitude for the hospitality they had received. These days,
the church is frequented by pilgrims, passersby, and Maronites who served in
the South Lebanese Army.
BACK ON the promenade, you will come to the Galilee Experience, an
imaginative audio-visual show which relates biblical prophecies to the
Jewish return to Zion. Stop on your right at the boarded-up Sea Mosque. This
unusual structure was built in the 19th century, when the Kinneret’s waters
lapped at its doorstep. Peek through the window to see the large canal
inside: fishermen once sailed right into the sanctuary for worship.
Turn right at the end of the promenade to view remains of 12th-century
Crusader walls, built on Byzantine foundations. They were restored in 1740
by Daher el-Omar, a Beduin sheikh who settled in Tiberias. Starting out as a
tax collector for the Turks, Omar decided to keep the money he had
accumulated for himself and soon became ruler of Galilee. He rebuilt the
walls to keep out the Turks, but an earthquake demolished them some time
later.
Aware that he needed a financial structure if the city was to prosper, Omar
invited eminent Rabbi Haim Abulafia to move to Tiberias from Turkey. Offered
housing and a synagogue, the 80-year-old sage was happy to accept. He
brought along his family and 10 students, and within a few decades they were
joined by large numbers of Polish Jews.
According to Halperin, the Jewish presence in Tiberias was crucial to the
city’s security. For each time that Turks in nearby areas thought about
attacking Tiberias, the Jewish network gave Rabbi Abulafia advance notice -
and he warned Omar.
On one occasion, it is said, when the Turks actually launched an assault,
the Jews became frightened. Nevertheless they lent Omar their support and
their prayers were so successful that the Turkish cannonballs missed the
city and fell into the Kinneret.
Walk through the parking lot to reach the Archeological Park, a collection
of ruins dating from the Byzantine era and ending with the Crusaders. A
fifth- century synagogue uncovered on the site provides a tantalizing
glimpse into the Jews’ religious life, for they used Greek inscriptions and
Hellenist designs to decorate their house of prayer. From the Greek
inscription alone it would be impossible to ascertain that the building was
once a Jewish house of worship. However, the lulav and etrog (palm frond and
citron used on the holiday of Succot) flanking the inscription, and its
orientation towards Jerusalem, clearly identify the edifice as a synagogue.
Follow a path behind the Jordan River Hotel to reach Hatzar Hayehudim — a
complex of old synagogues. Look for the Etz Haim synagogue, built by
Abulafia, then walk inside to peer down at its 18th-century mikve (ritual
bath).
There is one more site on your tour, a mosque situated in a small shopping
center on the other side of the pedestrian mall. Meant to glorify Daher
el-Omer, it was constructed at the beginning of his rule and bears a strong
resemblance to the famous Hagia Sophia Mosque in Turkey.
A new-old hotel
When Dr. David Torrance got his first look at Tiberias in 1884 as part of a
Scottish fact-finding delegation to the Holy Land, he was appalled to find
the town falling apart. Israel’s spiritual and intellectual center for
hundreds of years and one of her four holy cities, Tiberias in the 19th
century was awash with sewage and disease. Soon afterwards, the young doctor
returned as head of the Scottish Church’s Mission to the Jews: he would
preach the Gospel, of course, but he would also heal the townspeople.
Dr. Torrance immediately began treating patients with the tools he had
available: Epsom salts, cod liver oil and his magically healing hands. Ten
years later, he erected the town’s first medical facility, where he
continued to care tenderly for everyone in need, regardless of his or her
faith.
After Torrance’s death in 1923, the hospital continued to operate under the
direction of his son Herbert, and eventually became the only maternity
facility in the area. Tour guide Katrina Halperin doesn’t remember the
event, but her mother recalls being carried on a stretcher up the stairs to
the second floor after labor, her newborn baby in her arms. After the
hospital closed, one of the buildings became a simple pilgrims’ hostel.
Recently, the Scottish Hospital was renovated and has just re-opened as the
elegant Scots Hotel. The maternity wards are now stunning public rooms, the
delivery room a charming, European-looking dining hall. A completely new
five-story building holds the hotel’s standard, modern rooms, while suites
in the restored Old Manse and the Doctor’s House — dating back to 1891 -
have retained their original stone interiors. Gardens surround the complex,
which includes a private lake entrance and an enormous pool that will open
in the spring. Everything in the hotel is wheelchair-accessible, including
several of the rooms.