The Jews of the Lower Galilee and Shfar’am

 

Other than the administrative cities of Tzipori and Tiberias, where Romans also lived, the Lower Galilee was once entirely Jewish, including the village of Shfar'am. 

 

Jews were displaced from Judea during the Bar Kochba Revolt and those who survived being killed or sold into slavery moved to the Lower Galilee. For some years, Shfar’am was the site of the Sanhedrin when it moved from Yavne to nearby Usha and then moved again from Usha to Shfar’am.

 

The Sanhedrin took over the rabbinic leadership from the Men of the Great Assembly. The latter were rabbinic leaders from the time of the Babylonian return until the development of the Mishna. Contrary to the implications of its name, the Men of the Great Assembly were not one big assembly who gathered at one particular time but rather groups of rabbinic leaders living in different generations.

 

The Sanhedrin in Usha and Shfar’am consisted of a group of rabbis who had survived the Bar Kochba Revolt and subsequent Hadrianic persecutions and who functioned as rabbinic leaders, either secretly or more openly depending on their relationship with Rome. In their leadership role they adjudicated the disputes of the people and determined the direction of Jewish law. Their decisions are reflected in the Mishna. All the rabbis of the Sanhedrin were recognized as having rabbinic authority because of a chain of authorization known as semicha.

 

 

The peak of Jewish life in the Galilee was up to the 4th century CE and it then began a slow decline. However, even at its peak the number of Jews living in the Lower Galilee numbered only in the thousands. During the Byzantine period, Shfar’am changed from being a Jewish village to a mixed Jewish-Christian community. Jews continued to live here during the Muslim conquest and later Crusader period. The Knights Templar built a fortress here which they named La Safran, and this protected the road from Acre to Nazareth for pilgrims. During this period, Shfar’am became a place of Jewish learning and scholarship.

 

Similar to the Jews of Peki’in in the Upper Galilee, Jews who continued to live in the Lower Galilee during the Muslim period were called mista’arvim, meaning those who “disguise themselves as Arabs.” These Jewish farmers dressed like their Muslim neighbors, spoke Arabic and adopted many Muslim cultural norms. We know little about them as they were simple folk who engaged in agriculture and wrote next to nothing about themselves. We are therefore dependent on reports from visitors from other parts of the Jewish world. By the early Ottoman period, there were no Jews remaining in Shfar’am.

 

However, this village rose in importance during the rule of the Bedouin chieftain Zahir al-Umar, otherwise known as Daher el-Omar. He initially worked as a tax collector for the Ottoman authorities, but by the 1740s had accumulated enough power and influence to become the autonomous governor of the Galilee. His rule introduced stability and prosperity into this part of Israel. He built a fort at the highest point in the center of the city (which can be seen), probably on top of the ruins of the Crusader fortress.

 

Zahir al-Umar appreciated the advantages of having Jews in his kingdom. Being dependent on his largesse, they were also guaranteed to remain loyal subjects. He provided financial incentives for Jews to settle and engage in commerce in his kingdom and enacted laws to safeguard their safety. He encouraged Rabbi Chayim Abulafia to bring his community from Smyrna in Western Turkey and establish a Jewish community in Tiberias. On his way from Acre, Rabbi Abulafia stayed in Shfar’am and helped the Jews financially to rebuild their synagogue on the ruins of a much earlier synagogue from the time of the Sanhedrin. This may even have been where the Sanhedrin However, even at its peak the number of Jews living in the Lower Galilee numbered only in the thousands. However, even at its peak the number of Jews living in the Lower Galilee numbered only in the thousands. met when it was functioning. Hence, the synagogue you see today is the 17th century synagogue built with the help of Rabbi Abulafia.

 

Zahir al-Umar’s rule ended in 1775 when he was defeated by Ahmed al-Jazzar, the governor of Acre, who fought on behalf of the Ottomans. Zahir spent the rest of his life in a prison in Istanbul. Al-Jazzar did permit Zahir’s son Othman to rule the city for a while on a promise of fealty, but it subsequently returned to Ottoman rule.

 

Beginning in the 18th century, the community began to decline and by 1845 there were only 30 Jewish families living here. The last Jew left in 1920 and he entrusted the synagogue key to a nearby Muslim family.

 

The one-room synagogue was restored in 1988 by the Ministry of Religious Affairs, although not as a functioning house of prayer. It was restored again in 2014 by pupils of an Arab school in the city, and it underwent a final restoration by the Council for Restoration and Preservation of Historic Sites.