Judas of Galilee, fl. A.D. 6, a leader of the Zealots, a radical revolutionary Jewish sect. He raised an insurrection against the taxation census of Cyrenius (A.D. 6) on the grounds that no one but God was Israel's master, and he was killed. He is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles.

Galilee, Sea of, Lake Tiberias, or Lake Kinneret, lake, 64 sq mi (166 sq km), 14 mi (23 km) long, and 3 to 7 mi (4.8-11.3 km) wide, NE Israel; its surface is c.700 ft (210 m) below sea level. The lake, occupying a downwarped basin, is fed and drained by the Jordan River. The Syria border follows part of the eastern shore, now occupied by Israel as part of the Golan Heights. Mineral springs, some of them hot, discharge into the lake, giving it a saline character. Israel's National Water Carrier Project uses the Sea of Galilee as a reservoir for water pumped south, via the National Water Conduit, to the Negev desert for irrigation and to the coastal plain to recharge the overdrawn watertable. However, despite the project, Israel's water supply in the late 20th cent. was restricted by a drop in the water level due to seasonal drought and increasing demand. In the time of Jesus there was a flourishing fishing industry in the lake; some fishing is still carried on. In the Old Testament the Sea of Galilee was called the Sea of Chinnereth or Chinneroth. In the New Testament it is named variously from nearby geographical features—Galilee, Gennesaret, or Tiberias.

Galilee, region, N Israel, roughly the portion north of the plain of Esdraelon. Galilee was the chief scene of the ministry of Jesus. The Sea of Galilee (see Galilee, Sea of), the countryside, and the towns—Cana, Capernaum, Tiberias, Nazareth—are repeatedly referred to in the Gospels. Jesus himself was called the Galilean, and his disciples were chosen from the local fishermen. After the destruction of Jerusalem (A.D. 70), Galilee became the main center of Judaism in Palestine. Zionist colonization of the region began at the end of the 19th cent. The Beit Natufa Dam there is part of the National Water Carrier System, of which the main reservoir is the Sea of Galilee. Galilee is divided into Upper and Lower sections. The major towns in Upper Galilee are Zefat and Tiberias; Nazareth is the largest town in Lower Galilee. Jews, Arabs, and Druze compose the bulk of the population. Most of the towns of the region are industrialized, and the fertile agricultural areas produce an abundance of olives and grain.

or Sea of Galilee

Freshwater lake, northern Israel. It is 13 mi (21 km) long and 7 mi (11 km) wide; it lies about 700 ft (212 m) below sea level and receives most of its inflow from the Jordan River. The region has been inhabited for millennia: archaeological finds dating to some 500,000 years ago are among the oldest in the Middle East. In the 1st century AD, the region was rich and populated; Christians know it as the scene of many episodes in the life of Jesus. Today the lake's waters irrigate the surrounding agricultural region. Modern health resorts have grown up, and the baths at Tiberias are among Israel's winter resort attractions.

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Hebrew Ha-galil

Northernmost region of biblical and modern Israel. It contains two of the four holy cities of Judaism, Tiberias and Zefat. It was the boyhood home of Jesus Christ and the setting for much of his ministry. It became the centre of Jewish scholarship after the destruction of Jerusalem (AD 70). In the modern era, the first wave of Jewish immigrants settled there (1882). The first kibbutz, Deganya, was established in 1909 on the shore of Lake Tiberias, through which flows the Jordan River.

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