36km (22 miles) NW of Tiberias; 74km (46 miles) E of Haifa
From Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee, our next destination is the ancient and mystical city of Safed (Zefat, Zfat, Tsfat, Tzfat), about 45 minutes northeast of Tiberias and less than 2 hours due east of Nahariya. Once Israel's major mountain resort, Safed is now more religiously oriented.
Skirting the Yermak mountain range (900m/2,953 ft.), you finally climb up into Safed (pronounced with one syllable, Tsfaht, in Hebrew), which, at 837m (2,746 ft.), is Israel's highest town. This quiet city is built on three slopes and looks down onto a beautiful panorama of villages and tiered hillsides. Safed's name comes from a Hebrew root word, tsafeh, meaning to scan, or look -- in other words, a lookout.
Safed's known history began in A.D. 66, during the time of the Second Temple, when Flavius Josephus started building a citadel on the mountaintop in the center of Safed. In 1140, the Crusaders again built a fortress on this peak, the ruins of which can be seen today. But whatever community existed here in those centuries was small and unimportant.
During the 16th century, the Ottoman Turks chose Safed for the provincial capital, and it became the primary government, economic, and spiritual center for the entire Galilee region. It was during this period that Sephardic Jews from Spain came here. Having escaped the horrors of Spain under the Inquisition, many of these Jewish intellectuals launched into a complex and mystical interpretation of the Hebrew scriptures called cabala (cabbala, kabala, kabbalah). The town became a great center of learning, with a score of synagogues and religious schools. The first printing press in the East was introduced during this period of intellectual mysticism, and in 1578 the first Hebrew book -- a commentary on the scroll of Esther -- was printed. During this golden age of Safed, Ashkenazi Jews were also attracted to Safed, and the entire community and its rabbinical scholars became renowned and revered throughout the Jewish world. At its height, the Jewish community numbered about 10,000, but by the 18th century, Safed was in serious decline.
In 1837, the entire town was leveled by a powerful earthquake after which both the Jewish and Muslim communities of Safed struggled on in increasing poverty. The wave of anti-Jewish rioting that swept British Mandate Palestine in 1929 was particularly severe in Safed, where the Jewish population was mainly elderly and religious. During the 1948 war, control of the strategic heights of Safed was crucial to control of the Galilee. Although outnumbered, Israeli forces held the town, and the large Arab population of Safed fled amid panic and rumors. Since then, the center of Safed (pop. 24,000) has had three parts to its personality -- a resort town, an artists' colony in the abandoned Arab neighborhoods of the city, and the long-established religious community. Until the 1960s, Safed, with its cool nights, was Israel's favorite summer resort, but as Israelis became more international in their vacation habits, Safed's tourism industry withered; the once-vibrant Artists' Quarter is now relatively quiet, all the better for those who decide to explore the town. Although large apartment complexes have been built on the periphery, and Jerusalem Street is an architectural hodgepodge, the back streets of Safed, winding, cobbled, and resounding with the chant of prayers, are still medieval. July and August are the most popular months because of Safed's cool climate. In the winter, it can be windy and as much as 20° cooler than Tiberias. Year-round, especially at night, Safed is usually the coldest city in the country.
