“A great part of Jesus ministry is happening around the Kinneret – the Sea of Galilee. In those days, there were many villages around the lake such as Bethsaida, Capernaum where plenty of fishermen were catching and selling fish”, stresses Rabbi Oded Peles, cantor, musicologist, Israeli educator and tour guide, in his commentary for the Catholic University of Lublin Heschel Center for the Sunday, September 8.
The reading of the Gospel of Mark on September 8th – (chapter 7 verse 31-37), tells us about Jesus who is travelling in the northern part of the Holy Land and healing people: “Moving on from there Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee…They placed them at his feet, and he cured them” (Gospel of Matthew 15, 29-30).
What is the story of the Sea of Galilee? In Hebrew, the name of this place is called: Kinneret. The name “Kinneret” may originate from the Hebrew word kinnor which mean a “harp” or “lyre”, because of the shape of the lake. The name of the lake appears several times in the Hebrew Bible : in the Torah (i.e. Nb 34, 11)as well as in the Book of Joshua (13, 27) where the borders of the twelve tribes are described in detail: “the rest of the kingdom of Sihon, the king of Heshbon—down to the edge of the Jordan and up to the tip of the Sea of Kinneret on the east side of the Jordan”.
In the Gospel according to John (Jn 6,1) the lake is also called the “Sea of Tiberias”, named after the main town by the eastern shores of the sea – Tiberias. The town of Tiberias was founded around the year 20 CE by king Herod Antipas and was named after the Roman emperor Tiberius. This name appears also In the Babylonian Talmud (Baba Kama 81b): “The Sages taught: The Sea of Tiberias was located in the portion of the tribe of Naphtali”.
Another name of the lake is the “Sea of Ginosar” after the small fertile plain of Ginosar (The War of the Jews, Flavius Josephus, 3, 10/7), that lies on its western side. The lake of Kinneret is part of the Jordan Rift Valley also called the Syrian-African Rift, which also includes the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. A great part of Jesus ministry is happening around the Kinneret – the Sea of Galilee. In those days, there were many villages around the lake such as Bethsaida, Capernaum where plenty of fishermen were catching and selling fish. The gospels describe how Jesus recruited four of his apostles at the shores of the Kinneret: Simon, Andrew, John and James.
Around the Kinneret there are few hot springs which where famous already during the Roman time for their healing qualities. The Sages are teaching us that the drinking water that the People of Israel had during their forty years journey in the desert was due to the merit of Miriam, Moses’ older sister. The “Well of Miriam” stopped providing water once Miriam died (Nb 20,2).
However, the sages tell us that the “Well of Miriam” reappeared and is now located in the Lake of the Kinneret. Today, one of the main fresh drinking sources of the State of Israel is the lake of Kinneret.
About the Author
Rabbi Oded Peles – cantor, musicologist, Israeli educator and tour guide. Oded Peles was born in Petach Tikva, Israel to a Dutch-German Jewish family. Following in the footsteps of his grandfather, a renowned cantor of the Rotterdam synagogue, the Netherlands, Oded has served and performed as a Cantor in communities worldwide, for over thirty years.
