Galilee Overview

When the ancient Israelites described their country as flowing with milk and honey, they must have been talking about the Galilee. This lush and fertile region—bordering the West Bank to the south, the Golan to the east, Lebanon to the north, and the Mediterranean coast to the west—is laced by cool, refreshing rivers and carpeted with rolling, green hills. The Galilee was originally a province of the ancient Israelite kingdom, ha-Galil (the district) in Hebrew, whose inhabitants prospered by fishing and farming. As communities in the Galilee grew, religious leaders flocked to the area. Jesus grew up in Nazareth, performed many of his first miracles near the Sea of Galilee, and gave his famous sermon atop the Mount of Beatitudes. His apostles lived and taught in nearby Capernaum. Fifty years later, when Romans destroyed the second Temple in Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin relocated to the Galilee and resided there for the next 250 years. Dozens of armies swept through the region during the following millennium. Despite a history of almost continuous war, today Galilee is one of the most peaceful areas in Israel. Since Israel captured the strategic Golan Heights in 1967, putting the Galilee out of range of Syrian rockets, the region has blossomed into a tourist mecca. Busloads of pilgrims descend into the Jordan River where John is believed to have baptized Jesus; wind surfers and cruise boats skim over the Sea’s blue waters, watched by shoppers on the bustling Tiberias promenade; and hikers crowd the trails of the Upper Galilee where Crusader fortresses keep watch over forested valleys. Meanwhile, the ancient synagogues of Tzfat and the churches of Nazareth continue to attract the faithful.