Safed

Places of Interest - Israël

introduction

Safed is located in the mountains of Galilee, about 900 meters above sea level, making it the highest city in Israel. In winter there is often snow. This city is approximately founded in the year 66 in the area of Galilee in the north of Israel. On the southern slope is an old Jewish quarter, of which some houses date from the 16th century. There is also an impressive citadel with a beautiful view.

The city was twice conquered by the crusaders and has been struck in his history by earthquakes several times. In the 16th century Safed became a center of a mixture of Jewish mysticism, the kabala (a fusion of theosophy with messianism) and Muslim mysticism, Sufism; they studied together. You can take a look in the old Jewish (synagogue) district but also in the Arab-now artists' district where modern Kabbalah art reigns supreme.

highlights

Inner city of Safed (and the Synagogue district):

The most striking, literal and figurative sight in Safed is the Citadel park - Gan Hametsuda. It was here that the former Crusader castle stood which was once the largest fortress in the Middle East. Unfortunately it is nowadays no more than a ruiine but the view remains impressive.

When you walk into the center from the citadel up the hill you pass the former British police station from before the times of the foundation of the Jewish state. The walls are still full of bullet holes accreted to the Arab-Jewish war in 1948. If you walk further, you will reach the British-built steps of Ma'alot Olei HaGardom street. After the riots of 1929, the English decided that it was wise to relocate the rebels (Jews and Arabs) in separate neighborhoods and to put a staircase in the middle as a “divorce” line.

In the middle of the Synagogue district - the Jewish quarter stands the TIferet gallery building. It was here that the Haganah established their headquarters during the war in 1948. All around there are countless Kabbalah synagogues. The most important are the "Ha'Ari Ashkenazi" and Caro synagogue.

Artists district:

After the Jews had taken power after the war in 1948, all Arabs were expelled from the city. The old Arabic (Muslim) neighborhood that consisted of narrow cobbled alleys, squares and streets was transformed into an artists' quarter Qiryath Hazayarim where, among other things, workshops with glassblowers, candle makers, weavers and artmiths were established.

This was then encouraged to offer a free house including gallery to anyone who went to Safed for more than 180 days a year. Honesty spoken the great masters have now left the town and that the district will increasingly focus on the Kabalah art principle.

Other attractions:

To the north lie the cemeteries of Safed. Especially mythical will be a visit if you go during the early evening when it starts to get a bit dark (twilight zone) and you walk among dozens of burning candles. These are lit on the day of the deceased's birthday. There are ancient tombs to discover but also those of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

history

Safed in Galilee is mentioned by Flavius Josephus (1st century AD) as a fortress in the revolt against the Romans. On the tops of the mountains up to Jerusalem there were so-called masu's built (hilltop fireplaces) to announce the new month or a public holiday. At the highest point of the city are the remains of this fortress. The Crusaders of Anjou king "Fulk" also used this citadel (then called Saphet) to protect the road to Damascus.

This was destroyed by Saladin's troops and then rebuilt by the temple knights. In 1266 it was again destroyed by the soldiers of sultan Beybars. Thereafter, Safad became a regional administrative center during the Ottoman Empire. With its location halfway between Tire, Jaffa and Jerusalem, it was a crossroads with the main southern trade routes of Syria. Arabs and Jews therefore started to move to the high stronghold. Sephardic Jews began to form the majority by the year 1492.

From the beginning of the 16th century, when many Jews had to flee Spain after the recognition, many of those settled in Safed. A flourishing textile industry developed because of that reason. Many rabbis settled there too and Jewish religious and intellectual vitality developed. There were also numerous pogroms against the Jews and in 1549 the sultan had decided to build a wall and station a garrison to protect the Jewish population.

Nevertheless, at the end of the 16th century there were, among others, 13 synagogues. Jewish immigrants (including from the Caucasus but also surrounding Muslim countries) came over and Jews grow into the largest population group. The city grew together with Jerusalem, Hebron and Tiberias into one of the four holy places of Judaism. In the 20th century, the number of Palestinian Arabs grew faster than the Jewish one and skirmishes in the 1920s involved deaths and injuries on both sides.

Mahmoud Abbas, who was born in Safad in 1935, had to say goodbye to the town of his youth when his parents had to flee or be driven away with their families. With the capture of Safad in the Arab-Israeli War of 1948, the Palestinian village of Akbara was destroyed by military operations.

During the Arab-Israeli war of 1948, the Jewish quarter was closed by the Arabs for the outside world. The town was eventually liberated on 1 June by the Palmach, the command unit of the Haganah. He had 1000 men at her disposal. The town was defended by 400 volunteers from the Arab Liberation Army, of which Fawzi al-Qawuqji who collaborated with the Nazis during WW2, was the commander-in-chief. After the Palmach had first conquered the surrounding countryside, they managed to liberate the town on April 29th.

Except for 100 elderly, all Arab-Palestinian inhabitants were expelled. In 1974, 102 Jewish schoolchildren from Safed were taken hostage during a school trip in a school in Ma'alot by the Palestinian-Arab terrorist gang of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP). 22 of these Jewish children were murdered by them. In this region of Galilee it is being promoted to let Jews settle here in this predominantly Arab region.

tips & advice (2004)

The bus station of Safed is located about 500 meters south of Gan HaMetsuda (Citadel Park).