Editing Tiberias (section)

===Ottoman period===
[[File:1822 Burckhardt sketch of Tiberias.png|thumb|[[Johann Ludwig Burckhardt]]'s sketch of Tiberias, published in 1822. Burckhardt noted that the a quarter of the population was Jewish, and had originated in Poland, Spain, North Africa and other parts of Syria.<ref>{{cite book|last=Burckhardt|first=Johann Ludwig<!--  |coauthors=Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa-->|title=Travels in Syria and the Holy Land|year=1822|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R9N70FsNRNYC|publisher=J. Murray|isbn=9781414283388 |quote=There are about four thousand inhabitants in Tabaria, one-fourth of whom are Jews… The Jews of Tiberias occupy a quarter on the shore of the lake in the middle of the town, which has lately been considerably enlarged by the purchase of several streets: it is separated from the rest of the town by a high wall, and has only one gate of entrance, which is regularly shut at sunset, after which no person is allowed to pass. There are one hundred and sixty, or two hundred families, of which forty or fifty are of Polish origin, the rest are Jews from Spain, Barbary, and different parts of Syria.|access-date=2020-09-17|archive-date=2021-05-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210518182703/https://books.google.com/books?id=R9N70FsNRNYC|url-status=live}}</ref>]]

[[File:Francis_Frith._Tiberias,_from_the_South.jpg|thumb|Tiberas, 1862]]

During the 16th century, Tiberias was a small village. Italian Rabbi [[Moses ben Mordecai Bassola|Moses Bassola]] visited Tiberias during his trip to Palestine in 1522. He said on Tiberias that "it was a big city ... and now it is ruined and desolate". He described the village there, in which he said there were "ten or twelve" Muslim households. The area, according to Bassola, was dangerous "because of the Arabs", and in order to stay there, he had to pay the local governor for his protection.<ref>Yaari, pp.[https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=36832&st=%D7%98%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%94&pgnum=154&hilite=155] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200226095847/https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=36832&st=%D7%98%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%94&pgnum=154&hilite=155|date=2020-02-26}}–156</ref>

As the [[Ottoman Empire]] expanded along the southern Mediterranean coast under Sultan [[Selim I]], the ''Reyes Católicos'' ([[Catholic Monarchs]]) began establishing [[Inquisition]] commissions. Many [[Converso|''Conversos'']], ([[Marrano|''Marranos'']] and [[Morisco|''Moriscos'']]) and [[Sephardi Jews]] fled in fear to the Ottoman provinces, settling at first in [[Constantinople]], [[Salonika]], [[Sarajevo]], [[Sofia]] and [[Anatolia]]. The Sultan encouraged them to settle in Palestine.<ref>Toby Green (2007). ''Inquisition; The Reign of Fear''. Macmillan Press {{ISBN|978-1-4050-8873-2}} pp. xv–xix.</ref><ref name= alfassa2>{{cite web |last= Alfassá |first= Shelomo |title= Sephardic Contributions to the Development of the State of Israel |date= 17 August 2007 |website= Alfassa.com |url= http://www.alfassa.com/contributions.pdf |access-date= 14 January 2015 |url-status= usurped |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071012042245/http://www.alfassa.com/contributions.pdf |archive-date= 2007-10-12}}</ref> In 1558, a Portuguese-born [[marrano]], [[Doña Gracia]], was granted tax collecting rights in Tiberias and its surrounding villages by [[Suleiman the Magnificent]]. She envisaged the town becoming a refuge for Jews and obtained a permit to establish Jewish autonomy there.<ref>Schaick, Tzvi. [http://www.donagracia.com/DonaGracia/DonaHouse/english/donagratzia.htm Who is Dona Gracia?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510235707/http://www.donagracia.com/DonaGracia/donahouse/english/donagratzia.htm |date=2011-05-10 }}, The House of Dona Gracia Museum.</ref> In 1561 her nephew [[Joseph Nasi]], Lord of Tiberias,<ref>Naomi E. Pasachoff, Robert J. Littman, ''A Concise History of the Jewish People'', [[Lanham, Maryland|Lanham]], Rowman & Littlefield, 2005, p.163</ref> encouraged Jews to settle in Tiberias and rebuild the city.<ref name="Gordon2">Benjamin Lee Gordon, ''New Judea: Jewish Life in Modern Palestine and Egypt'', [[Manchester, New Hampshire]], Ayer Publishing, 1977, p.209</ref> Securing a ''[[firman]]'' from the Sultan, he and [[Joseph ben Adruth]] rebuilt the city walls and lay the groundwork for a textile ([[silk]]) industry, planting [[Mulberry|mulberry trees]] and urging craftsmen to move there.<ref name="Gordon2" /> Plans were made for Jews to move from the [[Papal States]], but when the Ottomans and the Republic of Venice went to war, the plan was abandoned.<ref name="Gordon2" />

At the end of the century (1596), the village of Tiberias had 54 households: 50 families and 4 bachelors. All were [[Muslim]]s. The main product of the village at that time was wheat, while other products included barley, fruit, fish, goats and bee hives; the  total revenue was 3,360 [[akçe]].<ref>Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 188</ref>

In 1624, when the Sultan recognized [[Fakhr-al-Din II]] as Lord of [[Mount Lebanon Emirate|Arabistan]] (from Aleppo to the borders of Egypt),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.angelfire.com/az/rescon/mgcdruze.html|title=The Druze of the Levant|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309141551/http://www.angelfire.com/az/rescon/mgcdruze.html|archive-date=2012-03-09}}</ref> The [[1660 destruction of Tiberias]] by the [[Druze]] resulted in abandonment of the city by its Jewish community,<ref>Joel Rappel, History of Eretz Israel from Prehistory up to 1882 (1980), Vol.2, p.531. 'In 1662 Sabbathai Sevi arrived to Jerusalem. It was the time when the Jewish settlements of Galilee were destroyed by the Druze: Tiberias was completely desolate and only a few of former Safed residents had returned..."</ref><ref>Barnay, Y. The Jews in Palestine in the eighteenth century: under the patronage of the Istanbul Committee of Officials for Palestine (University of Alabama Press 1992) {{ISBN|978-0-8173-0572-7}} p. 149</ref> Unlike Tiberias, the nearby city of [[Safed]] recovered from its [[1660 destruction of Safed|destruction]],<ref>Sidney Mendelssohn. ''The Jews of Asia: Especially in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century''. (1920) p.241. "Long before the culmination of Sabbathai's mad career, Safed had been destroyed by the Arabs and the Jews had suffered severely, while in the same year (1660) there was a great fire in Constantinople in which they endured heavy losses ..."</ref> and was not entirely abandoned,<ref>Gershom Gerhard Scholem (1976-01-01). ''Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah, 1626–1676''. Princeton University Press. p. 368. {{ISBN|978-0-691-01809-6}}. "In Safed, too, the [Sabbatai] movement gathered strength during the autumn of 1665. The reports about the utter destruction, in 1662 {{sic}}, of the Jewish settlement there seem greatly exaggerated, and the conclusions based on them are false. ... Rosanes' account of the destruction of the Safed community is based on a misunderstanding of his sources; the community declined in numbers but continued to exist."</ref> remaining an important Jewish center in Galilee.
[[File:PikiWiki_Israel_11910_leaning_tower_in_tiberias.jpg|thumb|"Leaning tower" at SE corner of [[Zahir al-Umar]]'s walls, part of Greek Orthodox Monastery of the Twelve Apostles]]
In the 1720s, the Arab ruler [[Zahir al-Umar]], of the [[Al-Zayadina|Zaydani clan]], fortified the town and made an agreement with the leader [[Nasif al-Nassar]] of the [[El Assaad Family|Al Saghir clan]] to prevent looting. Accounts from that time tell of the great admiration people had for Zahir, especially his war against bandits on the roads. [[Richard Pococke]], who visited Tiberias in 1727, witnessed the building of a fort to the north of the city, and the strengthening of the old walls, attributing it to a dispute with the Pasha of Damascus.<ref>Pococke, 1745, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009339611#page/n99/mode/1up 68]–70</ref> Under instructions from the [[Ottoman Porte]], [[Sulayman Pasha al-Azm]] of Damascus [[Sieges of Tiberias (1742–1743)|besieged Tiberias in 1742]], with the intention of eliminating Zahir, but his siege was unsuccessful. In the following year, Sulayman set out to repeat the attempt with even greater reinforcements, but he died en route.<ref>{{cite book|title=Palestine in the 18th Century|publisher=Magnes Press|year=1975|isbn=1-59045-955-5|pages=34–36|author=Amnon Cohen}}</ref>
[[File:Jewish House In Tiberias, 1893.jpg|thumb|Jewish house in Tiberias, 1893]]

Under Zahir's patronage, Jewish families were encouraged to settle in Tiberias.<ref>Moammar, Tawfiq (1990), ''Zahir Al Omar'', Al Hakim Printing Press, Nazareth, p. 70.</ref> He invited Rabbi [[Chaim Abulafia]] of [[Smyrna]] to rebuild the Jewish community.<ref name="JS2">Joseph Schwarz. [http://www.jewish-history.com/palestine/tiberias.html Descriptive Geography and Brief Historical Sketch of Palestine] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720195032/http://www.jewish-history.com/palestine/tiberias.html |date=2018-07-20}}, 1850</ref> The synagogue he built still stands today, located in the Court of the Jews.<ref>''The Jews in Palestine in the Eighteenth Century: Under the Patronage of the Istanbul Committee of Officials for Palestine'', Y. Barnay, translated by Naomi Goldblum, University of Alabama Press, 1992, p. 15, 16</ref><ref>''The Jews: Their History, Culture, and Religion'', Louis Finkelstein, Edition: 3 Harper, New York, 1960, p. 659</ref>

In 1775, [[Jazzar Pasha|Ahmed el-Jazzar]] "the Butcher" brought peace to the region with an iron fist.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}} In 1780, many Polish Jews settled in the town.<ref name="JS2" /> During the 18th and 19th centuries it received an influx of [[rabbis]] who re-established it as a center for Jewish learning.<ref>Parfitt, Tudor (1987) ''The Jews in Palestine, 1800–1882''. Royal Historical Society studies in history (52). Woodbridge: Published for the Royal Historical Society by Boydell</ref> An essay written by Rabbi [[Joseph Schwarz (rabbi)|Joseph Schwarz]] in 1850 noted that "Tiberias Jews suffered the least" during an Arab rebellion which took place in 1834.<ref name="JS2" /> Around 600 people, including nearly 500 Jews,<ref name="JS2" /> died when the town was devastated by the [[Galilee earthquake of 1837|1837 Galilee earthquake]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}} An American expedition reported that Tiberias was still in a state of disrepair in 1847/1848.<ref>Lynch, 1850, p. [https://archive.org/stream/narrativeunited02lyncgoog#page/n304/mode/1up 154]</ref> Rabbi Haim Shmuel Hacohen Konorti, born in Spain in 1792, settled in Tiberias at the age of 45 and was a driving force in the restoration of the city.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.haaretz.com/1.4705492|title=Crumbling Tiberias Synagogue to Regain Its Former Glory|first=Eli|last=Ashkenazi|date=27 December 2009|website=Haaretz|access-date=11 February 2018|archive-date=12 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180212143609/https://www.haaretz.com/1.4705492|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Zoltan Kluger. Tiberias.jpg|thumb|Tiberias 1937, Dr. Torrance's hospital centre of photograph]]