Tiberias: Holy City on the Sea of Galilee

A Holy City by the Water

The Sea of Galilee — the Kinneret in Hebrew — is Israel’s largest freshwater lake, a harp-shaped body of water set among the green and brown hills of the lower Galilee. On its western shore sits Tiberias, one of Judaism’s four holy cities, a place that has been central to Jewish life for two thousand years.

Founded around 20 CE by Herod Antipas and named after the Roman Emperor Tiberius, the city had an awkward beginning in Jewish history. It was built over a cemetery, which made it ritually impure, and many observant Jews initially refused to live there. But that early stigma was temporary. Within a century, Tiberias had become one of the most important centers of Jewish learning in the world.

Center of Jewish Scholarship

After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and the failed Bar Kokhba revolt of 135 CE, the center of Jewish life shifted from Jerusalem northward to the Galilee. The Sanhedrin — the supreme rabbinic court — moved through several Galilean cities before settling in Tiberias around the third century CE.

It was in Tiberias that much of the Jerusalem Talmud (Talmud Yerushalmi) was compiled, despite its name suggesting Jerusalem. The great rabbis of the Talmudic period — Rabbi Yohanan, Resh Lakish, Rabbi Ami, Rabbi Asi — taught and debated in Tiberias, shaping Jewish law and thought for all future generations.

The Tiberian Masoretes, working between the seventh and tenth centuries, developed the system of vowel points (nikkud) that made it possible to accurately pronounce and preserve the Hebrew Bible text. Without their work, the correct reading of the Torah might have been lost.

Maimonides’ Resting Place

The most visited site in Tiberias is the tomb of Maimonides (Rambam), the towering medieval philosopher, physician, and legal codifier who died in Egypt in 1204. According to tradition, Maimonides asked to be buried in the Land of Israel, and his remains were transported to Tiberias.

The tomb, set on a hillside overlooking the city, is a place of pilgrimage. Visitors come to pray, study, and reflect at the grave of the man many consider the greatest Jewish thinker since Moses — hence the epitaph: “From Moses to Moses, there arose none like Moses.”

Nearby are the tombs of other great sages, including Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai, Rabbi Meir, and Rabbi Akiva, making the Tiberias cemetery one of the most significant Jewish burial sites outside Jerusalem.

Through the Centuries

Tiberias experienced cycles of flourishing and decline. After the Arab conquest in the seventh century, it remained a center of Jewish life. Crusaders captured it in 1099. The city was devastated by an earthquake in 1837, which killed thousands. In the nineteenth century, the Jewish community slowly rebuilt.

Under the British Mandate, Tiberias had a mixed Jewish and Arab population. During the 1948 War of Independence, the Arab population departed, and Tiberias became an entirely Jewish city — one of the few that did not experience fighting during the war.

Tiberias Today

Modern Tiberias is a city of approximately 45,000 people, combining ancient sacred sites with a resort atmosphere centered on the Sea of Galilee. The hot springs south of the city, known since Roman times for their therapeutic properties, continue to draw visitors. The lakeside promenade, restaurants, and hotels make it a popular tourist base for exploring the Galilee.

But beneath the tourism veneer, the sacred dimension persists. Pilgrims still visit the tombs. Students still study the Talmud that was compiled here. And the Kinneret — praised by the rabbis, celebrated in Israeli song, essential to the country’s water supply — still shimmers below the city, as it has since before the city was built.