Birthplace of Kabbalah and mysticism, it is an artistic center and a harmonious synthesis between past and present. Far from Israel's main tourist centers, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Safed has a fundamental historical importance in Judaism.
Away from Israel's main tourist centers, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and relatively little known to tourists visiting the country, the city of Safed has a fundamental historical importance both as an intellectual and religious center of Judaism, and as a pre-Zionist Jewish headquarters in Eretz Israel. Along with Jerusalem, Hebron and Tiberias, Safed is one of the four holy cities of Israel.
A Yemeni traveler who visited in 1567 was struck by the intense spiritual fervor that reigned in the city at that time:
"I entered the city and saw that the Divine Presence was established within it, because there lived a large community of 14 thousand members. It had 18 yeshivoth dedicated to the deepening of the Talmud. There I saw the light of the Torah, and for the Jews there was splendor; they surpassed other communities, they were the glory of glories and had opened a breach in the frontiers of wisdom: among them there were no ignorant ones."
Safed still has this same impact on the Jewish visitor to this day. In every corner, memories dear to our people and full of spiritual splendor are revived.
The road to reach the city, between tree-lined moshavim and kibbutzim, beautiful houses and mountains covered with olive trees and vines, intoxicates the heart with so much beauty: with an open heart the names and figures of the masters who lived there, synagogues and yeshivot come to mind. in which they prayed, studied and taught, tombs in which their mortal remains rest. Visiting these places and encountering the memories they evoke makes a deep and lasting impression.
Safed is undisputedly the main center of Kabbalah, later becoming an important Chassidic center.
It is the main city of Upper Galilee, located in a privileged position at an altitude of 850 meters, north of Tiberias and east of Acre. It has around 17 thousand inhabitants; its economy is based mainly on tourism and leisure, exploring its natural beauty and mountainous climate, deliciously dry and cool during the summer months.
In the Old Town, the picturesque artists' quarter, where numerous painters and sculptors live, work and exhibit, is a major tourist attraction with its galleries and exhibitions.
Spending Shabbat in the city is an unforgettable experience. On Friday there is a lot of excitement and movement in the streets, people are in a hurry, bus and car traffic and noise are intense and everywhere there are people buying flowers, fruit and gifts for their families. As Shabbat approaches, silence and peace descend on the streets and the arrival of the day of rest can be felt in the air. Suddenly, the silence is broken and there is movement again in the streets. People are no longer in a hurry. With majestic steps they head towards the synagogues. A varied and heterogeneous crowd parades: chassidim wearing fur hats and black silk cloaks, sabras wearing shirts with open collars, fathers leading their children by the hand, tourists from various countries. Everyone greets each other with a warm and cordial Shabbat Shalom and their faces radiate joy.
During the Kabbalat Shabbat prayer, the spirit of several generations of wise men is present in the air and everyone participates in this mystical experience.
In the old Jewish quarter, six ancient synagogues have been preserved to this day, two of Rav Isaac Luria: the first, belonging to the Sephardic community, dates from the 1837th century. XVI; the second, Ashkenazic, was restored after the XNUMX earthquake. Other famous synagogues are those of Rav Yosef Ha-Bannai, Rav Josef Caro and Rav Isaac Aboab.
In addition to visiting the synagogues, the tombs of the great Kabbalist masters buried in Safed are a place of frequent pilgrimage and a source of constant inspiration for the Jews of Israel and the diaspora. In the city there are also several ritual baths dating back to 200-500 years ago.
The city is not mentioned in the Bible. It probably identifies with the town of Sepph mentioned by the historian Josephus. In the Talmud Yerushalmi is mentioned as one of the high places from which fires were lit to send signals announcing Rosh Chodesh (New Moon) and festivities during the Second Temple period. After its destruction, some families of priests settled there.
Until the time of the Crusades, we have no more news of the city, which reappeared in 1140, under the name of Saphet, as a fortress built by King Fulk of Anjou. In 1188 it was occupied by Saladin. Reconquered by the Knights of the Templar Order in 1240, it passed from the hands of the Crusaders to those of Sultan Mamluk Baybars in 1266. He increased his fortifications and established the headquarters of his province that extended to Galilee and Lebanon.
The Jewish presence in Safed has been documented since the mid-XNUMXth century and continued to flourish in the following centuries under the protection of the Mamluk government.
Following the expulsion of the Jews from Spain (1492), the city received a notable influx of refugees and attracted numerous Jewish rabbis and intellectuals.
At the time of the Ottoman conquest, in 1516, Safed had 300 Jewish families of Sephardim, Ashkenazim and Italians who lived mainly from the trade of spices, olive oil, cheese, fruits and vegetables.
In the mid-716th century, the city experienced a great spiritual flourishing, a certain economic prosperity, and a growth in the Jewish population (XNUMX families), becoming the largest center of Jewish mysticism.
Among the most prominent figures we remember Rabbi Josef Caro (1488-1575), a great coder, who wrote the Schulchan Aruch, a reference work in religious Judaism. Caro was also a great Kabbalah, and at this point lies the specificity of Safed, called "the city of Kabbalah", as the greatest mystics in Israel lived there. Kabbalists valued a more intimate and profound experience of Judaism, unattainable, in their view, through the path of reason and intellect.
The main Kabbalists of Safed are Rabbi Moisés Cordovero (1522-1570), one of the richest and most fruitful writers in all of Jewish literature, who did a great job of synthesizing the Kabbalist system of his time, and the great figure of Rabbi Isaac Luria Askenazi (1534-1572), called Ha-Ari, whose complex philosophical system was intended for a small circle of initiates. He introduced into the universe of Jewish mysticism the concept of Tzimtzum (contraction of Divine Light at the moment of the act of creation), perhaps a kind of Kabbalist term that anticipates the "Big Bang" theory of the XNUMXst century. XX.
Luria's teachings, who left nothing written, were transmitted to us through the work of his greatest disciple, Rabbi Chaim Vital, with his Sefer Etz Ha-Hayim (Book of the Tree of Life). This work was widely publicized in Europe throughout the XNUMXth century and was also translated into Latin.
It was also in Safed that in 1573 the Ashkenazim brothers established the first printing press for Jewish books not only in Israel but in the entire Middle East. They brought with them from the city of Lublin their printing apparatus, their plates, their types and their decorations.
During the 21th century, with the gradual decline of Turkish rule, the economic conditions of the Jewish community began to deteriorate. Initially the drop in living standards did not affect the spiritual level and the city had 18 synagogues and XNUMX schools.
But the decline advanced rapidly at the end of the century. XVII, worsened by an epidemic and an earthquake that decimated the city's population. After the disaster, most of the survivors left.
The situation of the Jewish community of Safed only improved at the end of the 1778th century, with the establishment of a more stable government in Galilee and with a new wave of migration originating from Eastern Europe. In 300, 1810 chassidim settled in Safed, disciples of Rabbi Israel Ben Eliezer Baal Shem Tov and led by Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk, and in XNUMX the disciples of Rabbi Eliahu Gaon of Vilna came. Fighting between the Bedouins and a new epidemic caused another exodus of Jews, especially towards Jerusalem.
During the 1837th century, the population of Safed experienced several ups and downs, which culminated in the 1.500 earthquake in which five thousand people died, including four thousand Jews. The Jewish community, which numbered 1839 people in 400, was reduced to a mere 1845 people in 2.100. Then the Turkish government benefited the city and new immigrants arrived, taking the Jewish population to 1856 people in 6.620, 1895 in 1913 and eleven thousand in XNUMX.
With the First World War, the city, which lived off the aid it received from Europe, found itself cut off from its source of sustenance and the population was decimated by hunger and disease.
In 1918 it was occupied by General Allenby's British troops. During the British mandate the conditions of the Jews of Safed deteriorated again and they became less than two thousand of the city's twelve thousand inhabitants.
After the War of Independence, in 1948, the city was occupied by Palmach forces and the Arab population withdrew.
Safed has since become a Jewish city that quickly recovers its spiritual and mystical identity. The almost thousand-year-old Jewish memory that the city preserves comes back to life thanks to the strength and value of study and faith.
Bibliography
1. M. Michalson, Y. Slomon, M. Milner, "Mekomot Kedoshim U Kivrei Tzadikim Be Eretz Israel." Defense Ministry, 1996.
2. Rabbi Moise Cordovero, "Le Palmier de Debora", collection "Les Dix Paroles", Verdier 1985
3. Laurent Cohen, "Safed: beauté et l'esprit", Tribune Juive Nº 1397, 6 March 1997
4. Jewish Encyclopedia: Safed
5. E. Barnavi, M. Eliau Feldon, M. Opatowiski, "A Historical Atlas of the Jewish People", Schocken Books, New York
6. Michael Shapiro, "The Jewish 100", "Isaac Luria".
7. I. Gutwirth, "The Kabalah and Jewish Mysticism."
