page_title: Mosaic of Rehob
section_title: Addendum: Permitted towns in region of Sebaste
hierarchical_section_title: Mosaic of Rehob / Translation of ancient text / Addendum: Permitted towns in region of Sebaste
caption_attribution_description: English: Mosaic of Rehob, at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem
context_page_description: 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, 4.5 kilometers south of Beit She'an and about 6.5 kilometres 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 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.
context_section_description: 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 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.
  The towns that are permitted in the region of Sebaste [are as follows]: Iḳbin, Kefar Kasdiya, 'Ir (sic), Azeilin,  Shafīrīn, 'Ananin, the Upper Bal'am, Mazḥaru, Dothan, Kefar Maya, Shilta, Penṭāḳūmewatha,  Libiya, Fardeseliya, Yaṣat, Arbanūrin, Kefar Yehūdit, Mūnarit, and half of Shelāf.
  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.
caption: Mosaic of Rehob, at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem (before its reconstruction)
exif: {"Image Make": "FUJIFILM", "Image Model": "XF1", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Digital Camera XF1 Ver1.00", "Image DateTime": "2012:01:01 15:34:03", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "344", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 3, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1952", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10300", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/20", "EXIF FNumber": "18/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Standard Output Sensitivity", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:01:01 15:34:03", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:01:01 15:34:03", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "16/5", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "447/100", "EXIF ApertureValue": "37/10", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "53/25", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "17/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "97/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4000", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3000", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1804", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "4554", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "4554", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}