Safed - Synagogues

Between the artists' quarter and the old town of Safed to the north, with its many synagogues, is a broad flight of steps called Ma'alot Olei Hagardom. The name means "men who were hungry" - referring to the hardships suffered by the Jewish inhabitants of the town during the Arab siege.

Just above the steps is Hameira House, with a privately owned collection of material on the history of Safed and Jewish life in the town. Beyond this, in a maze of narrow winding lanes, are a number of synagogues which externally can hardly be distinguished from the surrounding houses. They are all named after well-known rabbis. Here, with a little luck, can be found the Joseph Caro Synagogue, built on the foundations of the house once occupied by the 16th century rabbi of that name. Nearby is the Ha'alsheh Synagogue. Farther north are the Abouav Synagogue, which preserves, housed in a wooden shrine, a Torah written by Rabbi Abouav in the 15th century; the Joseph Bena'a Synagogue, also known as the Shrine of the White Holy Man; and the Ashkenazi Ha'ari Synagogue, with a vaulted roof borne on antique columns, which has an olive-wood Torah shrine carved at the end of the 19th century by a craftsman from eastern Europe. The Sephardi Ha'ari Synagogue, the oldest in Safed, lies on the lower western edge of the town; it has an enclosed recess in which the rabbi used to pray.