For the week ending 17 March 2012 / 22 Adar I 5772
Teveriya - A Beautiful Sight
Tova riyata a beautiful sight is the description of the famous city on the shores of Lake Kinneret which is known by the contraction of those two words Teveriya.
The name more familiar to people outside Eretz Yisrael Tiberius echoes the Midrashic explanation that the Emperor Tiberius named it in his own honor during the Roman occupation of the Land.
The Talmudic Sages have another version. The citys name was originally Rakkat but was nicknamed Teveriya because it was in the tabur navel of the Land, a centrality arising from its location in the Galilee where the main Jewish community was concentrated after the destruction of Jerusalem.