[Avodah] kedushat EY = Bet Shean

[Eli Turkel]

The Yerushalmi states that the rabbis purposely did not give kedushat EY to
Bet Shean so that the poor could eat there during shmitta (for terumot and
maaserot a machloket Rashi and Rambam). In fact Rav Yehuda haNasi had to
overrule others who didnt want to permit it.
It is a machloket among modern poskim (eg CI and Rav Frank) how far Bet
Shean exptends whether some 2000 amot beyond the ancient walls or includes
the entire bet shean valley)

In any case it is clear that Bet Shean was a nonJewish city during its
existence and in the days of Ezra and Nechemia there probably were no Jews
at all in the vicinity to worry about. Only in the days of the Maccabbes
did there start a local Jewish population.
from wikipedia

The Hellenistic <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic> period saw the
reoccupation of the site of Beit She’an under the new name Scythopolis,
possibly named after the Scythian
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythian> mercenaries
who settled there as veterans. Little is known about the Hellenistic city,
but during the 3rd century BCE a large temple was constructed on the Tell. It
is unknown which deity was worshipped there, but the temple continued to be
used during Roman times... From 301 to 198 BCE the area was under the
control of the Ptolemies <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemies>, and Beit
She'an is mentioned in 3rd-2nd centuries BC written sources describing the
Syrian Wars between the Ptolemid and Seleucid dynasties. In 198 BCE the
Seleucids <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seleucids> conquered the region.
The town played a role after the
Hasmonean<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasmonean>Maccabee
Revolt: Josephus <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephus> records that the
Jewish High Priest Jonathan was killed there by Demetrius II
Nicator<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demetrius_II_Nicator>
. The city was destroyed by fire at the end of the 2nd century BCE.

Similarly Ashkelon was on the border of EY. Again from wikipedia

According to the Tanakh <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanakh>, Ashkelon is
one of the cities given to the Jewish people as a heritage. The
Jews<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jews>
 of Judea <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judea> drove the Greeks out of the
region during the Maccabean Revolt <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maccabees>,
which lasted from 167 to 160 BC. The Hasmonean
Kingdom<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasmonean> was
then established, which Ashkelon thereafter became a part of.
So Ashkelon is Jewish only from the Chashmanoim revolt.

Another border city was Acco. Again from wikipedia

The city was captured by Alexander
Jannaeus<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Jannaeus>
, Cleopatra VII of Egypt <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra_VII>
and Tigranes
II of Armenia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigranes_the_Great>. Here
Herod<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_the_Great> built
a gymnasium <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnasium_(ancient_Greece)>, and
here the Jews met Petronius, sent to set up statues of the emperor in the
Temple <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple>, and persuaded him to turn
back. St Paul <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Paul> spent a day in
Ptolemais (Acts 21:7). A Roman
colonia<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonia_(Roman)> was
established at the city, Colonia Claudii Cæsaris.[*citation
needed<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed>
*]After the permanent division of the Roman
Empire<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire> in
395 AD, Akko was administered by the Eastern (later Byzantine) Empire.


In summary the EY of Ezra and Nechemia was limited to the environs of
Jerusalem and there would be no reason for them to give kedushat ha-aretz
until acco but not strips around it, to include up to Ahkelon and to
purposely leave out Bet Shean for the poor Jews in the neighborhood. These
were all events that occurred many years later mainly during the
Chashmanoim wars against the neighboring countries and the expansion of EY
especially under Yannai.


-- 
Eli Turkel
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