Safed

Principal town in northern Israel, situated in the mountains of the Galilee.

The Hebrew name of the town is Zefat. The earliest known Jewish settlement in Safed seems to have been in the time of the Second Temple as it is mentioned both in the Talmud and in various prayers and hymns composed during the talmudic period.

In Crusader times (12th to 13 th centuries) the town developed into an important strategic site, described as "a fortress of very great strength between Acre and the Sea of Galilee."

In 1266 it passed from the Crusaders to the Mamluks who improved conditions there for its citizens. Toward the end of the Mamluk rule the Jewish community was greatly strengthened by an influx of refugees from Spain. The Sephardi population increased after the conquest of Safed by the Ottoman Empire in 1516.

By the 16th century, Safed emerged as one of the major centers of Jewish learning, especially of Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah. The leading kabbalist, Rabbi Isaac Luria, lived in Safed as did his disciples. The Jews of Safed had eight synagogues during this period and numbered their town among the Four Sacred Cities of the Holy Land, calling it "Beth-El." Their economic condition was good, based primarily on the marketing of honey, silk and spices.

This material success declined, however, in the 17th century as Turkish rule deteriorated. An epidemic in 1747 and an earthquake in 1759 further decimated the failing community and many of the survivors left the impoverished town.

Towards the end of the 18th century, settlement improved as immigrants arrived from Eastern Europe. In 1778, over 300 Hasidim settled in Safed, to be followed by their opponents, the Mitnaggedim, in 1810. For the next century the community suffered from a series of epidemics, earthquakes and Bedouin and Arab attacks. Though some attempts were made at establishing industrial and agricultural support, most of the community remained dependent on donations from abroad. When these donations ceased during World War I, the Jewish population was hard hit by hunger and disease.

By the time of Israel's War of Independence in 1948, less than 2,000 of Safed's 12,000 inhabitants were Jews. However, during the war, the entire Arab population fled, and Safed became a completely Jewish town. Today, Safed's Jewish population, comprising immigrants from all over the world, numbers about 20,000. lts clear mountain air, quaint artists' colony, and historical sites dating mostly from the 16th century kabbalist community, provide a major attraction for tourists and vacationers during the spring and summer months.

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