Mosaic of Rehob

The Mosaic of Reḥob, also known as the Tel Rehov inscription and Baraita of the Boundaries, is a late 3rd–6th century CE mosaic discovered in 1973, inlaid in the floor of the foyer or narthex of an ancient synagogue near Tel Rehov, south of Beit She'an and about west of the Jordan River, containing the longest written text hitherto discovered in any mosaic in the Land of Israel, and also the oldest known Talmudic text.
Unlike other mosaics found in the region, the Reḥob mosaic has very little in the form of ornate design and symmetric patterns, but is unique due to its inscription, acclaimed by scholars to be one of the most important epigraphical findings discovered in Israel in the last century. Its text sheds invaluable light on the historical geography (toponymy) of Palestine during the Late Roman and Byzantine periods, as well as on Jewish and non-Jewish ethnographic divisions in Palestine for the same periods and their relation to one another, specifically, on agricultural produce cultivated by farmers, and the extent of Jewish law regulating the use of such farm products grown in different regions. These eight regions are: the area of Scythopolis (modern-day Beit She'an) and the Jordan valley (the longest paragraph), Susita (Hippos) and its neighbouring settlements on the east bank of the Sea of Galilee, Naveh (Nawā) in the Roman province of Arabia Petraea, Tyre and its neighbouring cities to the south, and the Land of Israel proper, dealt with in the second-longest paragraph, followed by the cities of Paneas and Caesarea, finishing with villages from the vicinity of Sebaste.
By delineating the boundaries of the Land of Israel, it seeks to establish the legal status of the country in its various parts from the time of Israel's return from the Babylonian captivity, and whether or not local farm products acquired by Jews from other Jews, or from gentiles and Samaritans, are exempt or obligated in what concerns the laws of Seventh Year produce, and of "demai" produce. The mosaic also describes different kinds of fruits and vegetables that were cultivated in the country at the time, and the laws which applied to them at the time.
History.
A Late Roman and Byzantine-period Jewish village located about one kilometre (half mile) northwest of Tel Rehov has preserved the old name in the form of Rehov (Hebrew) or "Roob"/"Roōb" (Latin).
According to excavator F. Vitto, the village synagogue underwent three phases of construction and reconstruction: first built as a basilical hall in the 4th century CE, it was destroyed by a fire and rebuilt in the following century, with the addition of a bemah, of a new mosaic floor and a plaster coating for the walls and pillars, decorated with several inscriptions; and the last phase, dating to the 6th or 7th century CE, when the narthex was added on whose floor the halakhic inscription was laid. Others put the creation of the halakhic inscription in the late 3rd century CE at the earliest. The synagogue was probably abandoned after being destroyed in an earthquake.
The site of the ancient Jewish village was later taken by the Arab village of Farwana, documented at least since the Ottoman period, and abandoned during the 1948 war. Kibbutz Ein HaNetziv was established in 1946 on land including the ancient site.
The remains of the ancient synagogue were first discovered by members of Kibbutz Ein HaNetziv while preparing their lands for cultivation in the late 1960s. An archaeological excavation of the site in 1973, led by a team under IAA's Fanny Vitto, revealed the mosaic and its content, which has been on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem since 1978.
Description of mosaic.
The mosaic pieces are made of black limestone tesserae contrasted against a white background, measuring , with an accompanying text written on 29 lines, comprising a total of 364 words, with an average length of 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.
Of especial interest to philologists, the system of spelling in the mosaic follows the Beth-Shean practice of enunciation, where "ʻayin" () is often interchanged with "aleph" (), and "ḥet" () is often interchanged with "he" (), just as it is alluded to in the Jerusalem Talmud ("Berakhot" 2:4)
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.
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. 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, but if purchased from Achziv itself, it required tithing. 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, or had been marketed during the Sabbatical Year. 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 the 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 and demographics have since changed owing to a long history of occupiers and conquerors.
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 that section of the 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 Deuteronomy 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.
By this it is implied that other towns and villages that were settled by the Samaritans, such as Gebaʻ and Badan, fruits grown therein were still under the obligation to have all tithes separated therefrom before they could be eaten.