On Sunday, April 6, the Cotler Fellows toured several ancient Jewish and Christian sites around the shores of the Sea of Galilee. They first stopped in the city of Tiberias, one of the four holy cities in Judaism and the former hub of ancient Jewish life in the Galilee following the destruction of the Second Temple. There, they visited the graves of Maimonides (the Rambam), the prolific Sephardic Jewish rabbi, philospher, and Torah scholar who also served as the personal physician to Saladin, and of Yochanan Ben Zakkai, one of the most important Jewish sages of the late Second Temple period who was the key contributor to the Mishnah and the establishment of Rabbinic Judaism.

After Tiberias, the Fellows visited the ancient synagogue at Capernaum (Kfar Nahum), a bustling Second Temple fishing village on the northern shores of the Sea of Galilee where Jesus and several of his followers lived. The site houses many well-preserved archaeological findings, including the third-century synagogue and ruins of the town. The Fellows then visited Tabgha, or “Ein Sheva” in Hebrew, the site associated with Jesus’ miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, and the Mount of Beatitudes (Har HaOsher), overlooking the sea where Jesus is said to have given his famous Sermon on the Mount.

After some free time to swim and leisure at Hukok Beach on the shores of the Galilee, the Fellows returned home to Tel Aviv.