Beit She'arim (Roman-era Jewish village)

Roman-era ruin in Lower Galilee Not to be confused with Beit She'arim (moshav) . Beit She'arim ( / / Bet Sharei) or Besara ( ) was a Roman-era Jewish village from the 1st century BCE until the 3rd century CE which, at one time, was the seat of the Sanhedrin . The village was later known as Sheikh Bureik , and was depopulated in the early 1920s as a result of the Sursock Purchase . In the mid-2nd century, the village briefly became the seat of the rabbinic synod under Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi (compiler of the Mishnah ), who was buried in the adjoining necropolis . It is today part of the Beit She'arim National Park . The name of site is occasionally rendered as Bet She'arāyim ( ). In the Jerusalem Talmud ( Kila'im 9:3; Ketubbot 12:3 [65b]; Eruvin 1:1 [3a]), the town's name is written in an elided-consonant form, ( ), which follows more closely the Greek transliteration in Josephus' Vita § 24, ( ).

Roman-era ruin in Lower Galilee Not to be confused with Beit She'arim (moshav) . Beit She'arim ( Hebrew : בית שערים ; Imperial Aramaic : בית שריי / Bet Sharei), also Besara ( Greek : Βήσαρα ), was a Jewish village located in the southwestern hills of the Lower Galilee , during the Roman period, from the 1st century BCE to the 3rd century CE. At one point, it served as the seat of the Sanhedrin , the Judean Supreme Court. Josephus mentions Beit She'arim in the late Second Temple period as a royal estate belonging to Berenice , near the border of Acre . In the mid-2nd century CE, it flourished as a town under the leadership of Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi , the compiler of the Mishnah , when it became a center of rabbinic scholarship and literary activity. After Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi's death around 220 CE, he was laid to rest in the adjoining necropolis . This necropolis, a vast network of underground tombs, transformed Beit She'arim into a central burial ground for Jews from both the Land of Israel and diaspora communities across the Middle East. Beth She'arim underwent a crisis in the 4th century and a continued decline by the 5th century, transforming from an urban center back into a rural village. Byzantine -period remains from the 6th and 7th centuries indicate a very limited presence at the site. Later this was the site of Sheikh Bureik , a village depopulated in the early 1920s due to the Sursock Purchase . It is today part of the Beit She'arim National Park . The name of site is occasionally rendered as Bet She'arāyim ( Hebrew : בּית שערַיִם , lit. ' House of Two Gates ' ). In the Jerusalem Talmud ( Kila'im 9:3; Ketubbot 12:3 [65b]; Eruvin 1:1 [3a]), the town's name is written in an elided-consonant form, ( Hebrew : בית שריי ), which follows more closely the Greek transliteration in Josephus' Vita § 24, ( Greek : Βησάραν ).