Tiberias Ancient Jewish Cemetery

The ancient Jewish cemetery in Tiberias is an old Jewish burial site located in Tiberias, Israel. The cemetery is situated on the northeast slope of Mount Bernice, near the Sea of Galilee and on the southern outskirts of Tiberias.

Tiberias as an eschatological site in Jewish Tradition
The traditions related to burial in Tiberias refer to an ancient tradition that assigns an important role to Tiberias in the end times. According to interpretations of the Babylonian Talmud, "Tiberias is the lowest of all... and from there they are destined to be redeemed". Furthermore, Maimonides wrote, "It is an accepted tradition that in Tiberias they will return first, and from there they will move to the Temple". From these and other sources, a tradition emerged that redemption will begin in Tiberias, and some say that the resurrection of the dead will also start there. This explains the request of many, including Maimonides himself, to be buried in Tiberias.

Ancient location of the cemetery
The area where the city of Tiberias is currently located served as a cemetery in the days of Herod Antipas, even before the city was established. For this reason, observant Jews refrained from living there for a long time. According to legend, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai purified the city of its impurity by cutting down the lupine plant and throwing it into the city. Wherever a corpse was hidden and a lupine was thrown, the corpse would rise to the surface.

Even afterwards, the area of Tiberias continued to be used for burial. The slopes of the mountain in Tiberias, on which its new neighborhoods are now built, served as a large cemetery that was destroyed over the years. The only remaining remnants of its existence are the complex of the Tomb of Maimonides, where the graves of Maimonides, his father Maimon, his grandson Rabbi David HaNagid, the Shelah HaKadosh, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, and the Amoraim Rabbi Ami and Rabbi Assi are marked.

Old cemetery


With the renewal of Jewish presence in Tiberias during the 18th century, a new location for the cemetery began to take shape south of the city, near the area where the "Ahva" neighborhood is now located. Rabbi Chaim Abulafia (the second), who passed away in 1744, was one of the first to be buried in the cemetery at its new location. This cemetery expanded over the years, and many important figures were buried there. Some lived in Tiberias, some came to die and be buried there, and some had their remains brought to Tiberias for burial after dying elsewhere:


 * Rabbi Yaakov Birav, son-in-law of Rabbi Chaim Abulafia, (18th century) (died in Tiberias).
 * Rabbi Nachman of Horodenka, a student of the Baal Shem Tov and grandfather of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (died in Tiberias in 1756).
 * Rabbi Israel Ze'ev HaLevi Horowitz, rabbi of the town of Satu Mare in Hungary (died in Tiberias in 1861).
 * Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk, a leader of the Hasidic Aliyah (died in Tiberias in 1788).
 * Rabbi Jacob Samson of Shepetovka (died in Tiberias in 1801).
 * Rabbi Avraham HaCohen of Kalisk, a leader of the Hasidic Aliyah (died in Tiberias in 1810).
 * Rabbi Ze'ev Wolf of Czerny-Ostrow (died in Tiberias in 1822).
 * His daughter, Rebbetzin Tzizia Hannah Mazal (died in Tiberias in 1837).
 * Rabbi Yisroel ben Shmuel of Shklov (died in Tiberias in 1839).
 * Shimon Berman, a member of the Lovers of Zion movement (died in Tiberias in 1884).
 * Rabbi Avraham Abuhatzeira, son of the kabbalist Yaakov Abuhatzeira, known as the "Abir Yaakov" (died in Morocco in 1893).
 * Rabbi Simcha Bunim Kalish (died in Tiberias in 1907).
 * Rabbi Moshe Kliers, one of Tiberias' prominent rabbis and chroniclers (died in Tiberias in 1934).
 * Rabbi Moshe Yifrach, rabbi of the Sephardic community in Tiberias and one of the founders of the "Ahavat Re'im" synagogue in 1898. Buried alongside him are his second wife, Ora Yocheved Yifrach, and his mother, Alia Yifrach. All drowned in the great flood in Tiberias on May 14, 1934.
 * Shlomo Feingold, entrepreneur, publisher, and journalist active in the Land of Israel at the end of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century (died in Tiberias in 1935).
 * Rabbi Yohanan Zarhi (Zubovitz), Chief Rabbi of Tiberias (died in Tiberias in 1946).
 * Rabbi Israel Friedman of Husiatyn (died in Tel Aviv in 1948).
 * Rabbi Mordechai Rokach (died in Tel Aviv in 1949).
 * Rabbi Shimon Shalom Kalish, Rebbe of Amshinov (died in the United States in 1954).
 * Rabbi Yohanan Perlow, Rebbe of Karlin (died in the United States in 1955).
 * Rabbi Yaakov Friedman of Husiatyn (died in Tel Aviv in 1956).
 * Rabbi Chaim Dov Halperin, Rebbe of Vasloi (died in Haifa in 1957).
 * Rabbi Yehuda Horowitz, Rebbe of Stitshin (died on 9 Heshvan 5742 / 6 November 1981).


 * Rabbi Yitzchak Kalish, Rebbe of Amshinov in the United States (died in the United States in 1993).


 * Rabbi Avraham Dov Auerbach, Chief Rabbi of Tiberias and the district.
 * Approximately 300 victims of the expulsion from Tel Aviv during World War I were also buried in the cemetery.


 * A mass grave for nineteen victims of the 1938 massacre in Tiberias, who were murdered in the Kiryat Shmuel neighborhood.

The cemetery today
The old cemetery is now closed to new burials, and a new cemetery located west of Tiberias, near the moshav of HaZor'im, is currently in use. The old cemetery primarily serves as a pilgrimage site for the graves of the righteous buried there.