Beeri HaNavi
Beeri HaNavi was the father of the prophet Hoshea. Beeri himself was also a prophet and served as the Nasi of the Tribe of Reuvan at the time of their exile by Tilglas Pileser, king of Assria. A small part of his prophesies were relevant for all generations but were not enough justify the creation of an independent book and was instead included as two verses in the Book of Yeshaya, verses 19 and 20 of chapter 8.
According to some early dairies of kevrai Tzadikim, the prophet Be'eri is buried in the Old Tzfas Cemetery right across from the kever of Rebbe Yehoshua ben Chananya that was mistakenly attributed to his son Hoshea. In 2012 a sign was placed on the opening of his burial cave by Yisrael Meir Gabai and Ohali Tzadikim marking the location of the Kever. It is possible that the mistaken identification of Kever Rebbe Yehoshua ben Chananya as Kever Hoshea ben Beeri is due to the nearby proximity of Kever Beeri. Yehoshu sounds like Hoshea and people could have assumed that he was buried right across from his father, until this mistake was corrected by the Holy Ari.
Although it can be assumed that Beeri passed away in Assyrian exile, there is a legend that Hoshea ben Beeri passed away in Bavel and before his death instructed his students to place his coffin on the back of lone camel. This camel then traveled by itself to Tzfat where the coffin was buried by the remaining local Jews. Knowing that Hoshea himself in not buried in the Tzfat cemetery, it is possible that this story occurred with his father Beeri and the names were confused.
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Geographic Coordinates
- Latitude: 32.96751
- Longitude: 35.488865
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