החדות, מתקן אחסון תת-קרקעי בארץ-ישראל הרומית: פרק בריאליה תלמודית

Rabbinic literature contains a plethora of traditions concerning the material culture of Roman Palestine that can sometimes be used as ethnographic testimonies, enabling the reconstruction of different aspects of daily life. Often, however, rabbinic traditions are indecipherable, as the meaning of many terms and objects were lost over time. In this article we investigate one such term, demonstrating how archeological finds can sometimes assist in revealing the meaning of vague sources, and how the sources can assist in understanding the function of the silent archeological remains.The word ‘h· adut’ (or ‘dut’) is mentioned in several tannaitic sources, although it seems its meaning was obscured over time. It appears that the Babylonian amoraim did not know what the h· adut was used for and what it looked like. Similarly, the discourse of the Palestinian amoraim raises the suspicion that they were not familiar with the precise reality behind this term. The confusion regarding this term continues in the Geonim and Rishonim literature and up until modern commentators and scholars.A comprehensive analysis of the tannaitic sources in which this term is mentioned, leads to the conclusion that the h· adut is an underground chamber, similar inshape to that of a water cistern. It was usually placed directly under the house and entered through a hole in the floor, and was used for dry-storage of goods,such as agricultural produce or wine jars. It seem sthat the term originates in the Syriac ‘h· adut’, which denotes a silo or an underground granary.An investigation of the archeological literature shows that underground chambers, with features consistent with the ones mentioned above, were common in Hellenistic and Early Roman Palestine, especially below houses in Judea, Samaria and the Galilee. The entrances to these chambers were usually round and could be closed and sometimes camouflaged in different ways, making their opening and usage cumbersome.The identification of the storage chambers known from archeological records with the talmudic term ‘h· adut’, as well as the analysis of the finds found within such chambers, enables us to reinterpret and shed light on several obscure rabbinic sources.