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History
Sanhedrin (Συνέδριον in Greek, meaning "assembly") was a group of 71 judges who formed the supreme Jewish court of justice during the Second Temple period. Its seat was in Jerusalem. In the year 70 CE, after the fall of Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin was expelled and relocated to the city of Yavne. Following the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 CE, the Sanhedrin was once again expelled—this time to Galilee. In Galilee, it established several stations: Usha, Shefaram, Beit Shearim, Tzipori, and finally Tiberias, where it remained until its complete dissolution in the year 425 CE.
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Beit Shearim National ParkBeit Shearim (בית שערים = House of Gates) is an archaeological park that includes a necropolis with tombs believed to belong to Jews from Israel and the Diaspora between the 1st and 4th centuries CE.
Among others, here lies the tomb of Yehuda HaNasi (יהודה הנשיא = Judah the Prince), who presided over the Sanhedrin around the year 200 CE. During his leadership, the compilation of the Mishnah was completed—a collection of six volumes or orders of legal treatises from the Torah. It is considered the Oral Torah, in contrast to the Written Torah, which comprises the first five books of the Old Testament. According to rabbinic tradition, this monumental work was undertaken after the destruction of the Temple and the crushing defeat of the Bar Kokhba revolt in 132 CE. Faced with widespread exile and assimilation, the Sanhedrin, led by Yehuda HaNasi, decided to write down the Oral Torah to preserve it for future generations.
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Tzipori National ParkThis settlement was one of the stations of the Sanhedrin. Yehuda HaNasi, head of the Sanhedrin, completed the compilation of the Mishnah here.
This city became a classic example of a Hebrew city transformed into a Roman one. When Roman Emperor Hadrian arrived in 130 CE, he renamed the city Dio-Caesarea. Even before that, it had already taken on a Roman character, with a Roman Cardo street. This mosaic belongs to a synagogue (see Synagogues in Galilee) dating back to the 5th century CE.