SIḤIN:

By: Joseph Jacobs, Schulim Ochser

Large and populous city in the territory of the tribe of Zebulon, near Sepphoris. After the destruction of Jerusalem it lost its importance, and was thenceforth called merely Kefar Siḥin. Josephus refers once ("B. J." ii. 20, § 6) to Sogane, near Sepphoris, and in another passage to the plain of Asoḥis, likewise near Sepphoris (ib. i. 4, § 2), both of which may be identical with the Talmudic Siḥin. In the Talmud the city is mentioned under different names. In Shab. 120b the vessels made at Kefar Siḥin are said to be equal to metal vessels in durability, and Shab. 121a mentions a conflagration in the house of Joseph b. Simai at Siḥin. At the end of the treatise Yebamot mention is made of Johanan b. Jonah of Kefar Siḥya. "Kefar Siḥon" occurs in Gen. R. xii.

J. S. O.