District: Northern
Situation and characteristics
The town of Safed (also spelt Zefat) lies 1,000m/3,300ft above the Jordan valley in the hills of Upper Galilee, 35km/22mi from Tiberias and 50km/31mi from Akko. From the 16th century it was a holy town to the Jews, a center of the ancient
mystical tradition of the Kabbalah. In the north of the town are a number of synagogues dating from that period. Safed is one of four cities holy to the Jews, the others being Tiberius, Hebron and Jerusalem.
In more recent times, thanks to its beautiful setting and its agreeable, mild climate, Safed has developed into a summer holiday resort much frequented by the Israelis. Most foreign visitors spend only a day or two in the town in the course of a tour.
History
In the first and second centuries A.D. a number of Mishnah and Talmud scholars lived in the Safed area. In 1102 the Crusaders built a castle here. After its destruction in 1188 by Saladin it was rebuilt in 1240 by French Templars, who were forced to surrender it to the Mameluke Sultan Baibars in 1266. It became a Jewish town in the 16th century, under Ottoman rule, and for a time was a separate sanjak (administrative unit). Jews came from many parts of Europe and North Africa to settle here, and around 1550 the town had a population of over 10,000. Among its inhabitants were Rabbi Jakob Berab, who wanted to restore the Sanhedrin, Rabbi Joseph Caro, author of the "Shulhan Arukh", a collection of maxims (c. 1560), and Rabbi Izhak Luria (b. Jerusalem 1531), known as Ha'ari, the Lion. The first book in Hebrew was printed at Safed in 1578.
During the 18th century the population declined, although in 1778 Chassidist Jews from Poland came to Safed, as well as to Tiberias. In 1834 the town was pillaged by Druze raiders, and in 1837 it was destroyed by an earthquake. Towards the end of the 19th century new settlers came to Safed, bringing its population to 6000 Arab and 6000 Jewish families. By 1936, however, as a result of violent Arab rioting, the Jewish population had fallen to 1800, and when Israel became independent in 1948 there were 12,000 Arabs and only 1700 Jews. Then in May 1948 a group of Palmach fighters (Haganah commandos) stormed the Arab positions and drove the Arabs out of the town, which since then has been purely Jewish.
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