For the source text click/tap here: Megillah 6
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On yesterday’s daf we learned that Chizkiya asserted that Tiberias was a walled city dating back to the time that the Jewish people entered the land of Israel at the end of their exodus from Egypt.
This assertion is supported by a passage in Sefer Yehoshua (19:35) that lists walled cities included in the area set aside for the tribe of Naftali, and includes cities in the vicinity of the Kinneret, including one that is identified as Tiberias.
Contemporary Tiberias was established in the year 18 CE by King Herod, who named the new city in honor of the Roman Caesar Tiberius.Although the city was built anew, it was established on the ruins of an ancient city – according to most opinions in the Gemara, of the city Rakat.
We review the halachic aspects of naming ancient cities with walls for the sake of megillah reading and second day Purim, then move onto a mediation on the history of Tiberias, its archeology and the curious visit of Rebbe Nachman during a plague 5569.
Finally, the dazzling work by Motti Zohar on the great earthquake of 1837, using reconstruction of three-dimensional models of the city prior to and after the earthquake enabling a 360º examination of the damage distribution in high resolution and evaluation of the overall impact of the earthquake.