Mosaic of Rehob

Description of mosaic

The mosaic pieces are made of black limestone tesserae contrasted against a white background, measuring 4.30 metres (14.1 ft) x 2.75 metres (9.0 ft), with an accompanying text written on 29 lines, comprising a total of 350 words, with an average length of 4 metres (13 ft) to each line. It begins with the salutation, "Shalom" – Peace!, followed by a long halakhic text, and ends with the salutation, "Shalom," followed by an appendix where it lists some eighteen towns in the vicinity of Sebaste (the ancient city of Samaria) 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, while 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 (Shevi'it 4:8–11), the Jerusalem Talmud (Demai 2:1; Shevi'it 6:1) and Sifrei on Deuteronomy 11:24, although the mosaic of Reḥob expands on aspects of each. The more ancient text in the Reḥob mosaic has been used to correct errors in transmission of extant rabbinic texts.

Legal (halakhic) background

The text in the Reḥob mosaic can only be 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. This, too, was contingent upon lands that had been settled by returning Jews from the Babylonian captivity. The underlying principle in Jewish law states that when the Jewish exiles returned from the Babylonian captivity in the 4th century BCE, the extent of territories resettled by them in Galilee and in Judea did not equal nor exceed the territory originally conquered by Israel at the time of Joshua, more commonly referred to as "those who came-up from Egypt." The practical bearing of this restructuring of boundaries (although still part of the biblical Land of Israel proper) meant that places then settled by non-Jewish residents in the land (whether Phoenicians, Syrians, Grecians, or otherwise) and not taken by Israel were not deemed as consecrated land and, 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. The fruits and vegetables mentioned in the Reḥob mosaic with respect to Beit She'an (as detailed in the Jerusalem Talmud) were not locally grown in Beit She'an, but were transported there from places settled by Israel. 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, although later Israelites had joined the local inhabitants, all home-grown fruits and vegetables there were made exempt from tithing in the days of Rabbi Judah HaNasi.

Translation of ancient text

[Excursus: The agricultural products named above were not cultivated in Beit She'an, but were brought into the city by donkey drivers, whether they were Jewish rustics or in some cases non-Jews, who had bought them from Jewish planters in other regions of the country to be sold in the marketplace of Beit She'an. To this list can be added the special fruits peculiar to the Hebrew nation and mentioned in Mishnah Demai 2:1, if perchance they were acquired by a Jew from his fellow co-religionist who was unskillful in the laws of his countymen, such as a cultivar of dates grown only in Israel, cakes of dried figs that were prepared strictly in Israel, and carob-fruit of a quality found only in Israel. In this case, they too would require the removal of the tithe known as demai. All other fruits and vegetables cultivated in Beit She'an would have been exempt from tithing altogether, seeing that when Rabbi Judah HaNasi permitted the eating of vegetables in the Seventh Year in Beit She'an, it was one and the same enactment, namely, the release from the Seventh Year obligations and the release from tithing all produce throughout the remaining six years of the seven-year cycle.]

[Excursus: The import of detailing the above frontier towns and villages was to show the boundaries of the Land of Israel as retained by the Jews who returned from the Babylonian captivity. Where agricultural produce was prohibited unto Jews living in these areas, this implies that these places were originally part of those places settled by the Returnees from Babylon, and that since the land was consecrated by their arrival in those parts, all fruits and vegetables were prohibited until the time that they could be tithed, and the land was required to lie fallow during the Seventh Year. However, where the places were designated as "dubious," this is explained in the Tosefta (Shevi'it 4:8) as meaning that initially these places were permitted (as there was no requirement to tithe produce grown in these places), but later the Sages of Israel made all fruits and vegetables in these places prohibited until they were first tithed. This may have been the result of produce being brought into these towns and villages from regions liable to tithing and sold there, or else it was not clear unto the Sages if these places had actually been settled by the people of Israel who returned from Babylon. In any case, the practice is to behave stringently with regard to such produce.]

Regulation of produce between Achziv (Chezib) and Tyre

The maritime city of Akko (Ptolemais), and the river south of Achziv (Chezib), a small coastal town ca. 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) north of Acre, according to the Mishnah (Demai 1:3 and Gittin 1:2), 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. Although the towns and villages (in what follows here) were traditionally outside of the territorial bounds occupied by Jews returning from Babylonia, still, these cities attracted Jewish settlement. In addition, fruits and vegetables grown in the Land of Israel were often transported northward, along the route known as the Promontory of Tyre (Heb. סולמות של צור). Israelites who frequented these areas, or who had moved there, were likely to buy fruits that had not been properly tithed in Israel. The emphasis on the regulation of agricultural produce obtained by Israel in the following northern areas, or, as the Rehob inscription says, "what an Israelite has purchased" in those parts, was because of its doubtful nature.

Boundary of the Land of Israel in 4th 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 (Halacha), they did not always reflect a political reality, insofar that the political borders have since changed owing to a long history of occupiers and conquerors.

[Excursus: Jose ben Joezer of Ẓareda and Jose ben Yoḥanan of Jerusalem decreed defilement in respect of the country of the gentiles (BT, Shabbat 14b), so that the priests of Aaron's lineage will not venture beyond the borders of Israel and, in so doing, become defiled unawares by corpse-uncleanness and turn again to defile their offerings (which must needs be eaten by them in a state of ritual purity). Ashkelon was long deemed as one of such cities, as it was settled by gentiles and not conquered by Israel upon their return from the Babylonian exile. The Jerusalem Talmud (Shevi'it 6:1) relates how that Rabbi Phinehas ben Jair, a priest of Aaron's lineage, and others with him, used to go down into the marketplace of the Saracens in Ashkelon to buy wheat during the Seventh Year, and return to their own city, and immerse themselves in order to eat their bread (Terumah) in a state of ritual purity. The Beth-Din of Rabbi Ishmael, the son of Rabbi Jose, and Ben HaKapar, when they heard about what Rabbi Phinehas ben Jair had done, a most pious man on all other accounts, but who went down into Ashkelon when it was not permitted for priests to venture outside the Land of Israel, understood thereby that Ashkelon – though not conquered by those returning from the Babylonian exile – was not like other lands of the gentiles, and that defilement had not been decreed upon that city. Therefore, taking as an exemplum the act they heard performed by Rabbi Phinehas ben Jair, they assembled themselves and reverted the old practice, decreeing a state of cleanness over the city's air, and that, henceforth, Jews (including those of the priestly stock) were permitted to go into the city without harboring feelings of guilt or fear of contracting uncleanness. The next day, they assembled themselves again, this time to declare, by a majority vote, that the city's agricultural produce was exempt from tithes – even with such doubtful produce as had been carried into the city from places in Israel proper, unlike the restrictions regarding produce brought into the region of Tyre. This was done with the intent of easing the burden of the poor of Israel during the Seventh Year.]

Caesarea Maritima

The maritime city of Caesarea Maritima 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, yet, by 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 (since planting was prohibited throughout that year, and after-growths could not be taken by the people), Rabbi Judah HaNasi (2nd century CE) found the juridical legitimacy to release the city (and its bounds) from the obligation of tithing locally-grown produce, and from the restrictions associated with Seventh Year produce. Notwithstanding, on certain fruits and on one commodity spice (see infra.), they still required the separation of the demai tithe because of the majority of these specific items being transported into Caesarea from other places of the country held by Israel. However, during the Seventh Year, since these items were usually not harvested or worked by Jews in that year, the majority of such produce were esteemed as such that had been harvested and worked by the gentiles of that place and who are not obligated in the laws of the Seventh Year. This, therefore, made it permissible unto Jews to purchase from them such items.

Addendum: Permitted towns in region of Sebaste

Between the country of Judea and the country of Galilee lies an intermediate stretch of land known as "the strip of the Samaritans." 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 their country, without fear of contracting defilement in respect to the country of the gentiles. Nonetheless, with respect to fruits and vegetables had in Samaria, 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 [a Jew's passage through them], since the days of Joshua, the son of Nun, and they are permitted' (i.e. released from the laws requiring tithing of produce)." 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 for a share of its increase, while the majority of increase accrued unto the State. This was enough to exempt such produce from the requirement of tithing, since the kingdom (Ptolemaic or Roman, or otherwise) 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, in accordance with Deuteronony 14:22, "…you shall tithe all the produce of your seed" -- meaning, your seed, but not the seed belonging to others. The following list of towns concerns those hamlets held by the State (kingdom) in the region of Sebaste (the biblical city of Samaria) 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.