Listen to Ze’ev Safrai’s JP article “Gergesa, Gerasa, or Gadara? Where Did Jesus’ Miracle Occur?”
A Personal Tribute to Professor Shmuel Safrai, Recipient of the Israel Prize
I would like to congratulate Professor Safrai on his award, and add a personal note: I have known Professor Safrai since 1965 when he was one of my instructors at the Hebrew University. I have spent literally hundreds of hours with him. Not only is Professor Safrai one of the greatest scholars that the Hebrew University has ever produced, he is also a mensch. Kind, well-mannered, and above all, patient, he has been a model of right living to his many students.
Gergesa, Gerasa, or Gadara? Where Did Jesus’ Miracle Occur?
Christian tradition, at least since the fourth century, has identified Kursi-Gergesa with the miracle of the swine. But can this tradition be trusted? An Israeli geographer-historian gives us his answer.