Nadene Goldfoot
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Safed sits on top of a mountain in Israel which is 2,720 feet high. Because of this, one has a splendid panorama and is a summer resort for Israelis. It's always been an art center. Many artists just live here part time. Safed has cool breezes because of its location. It's most like the Pacific Northwest locales because it has a forest below it of fir trees, stunted compared to the American ones, but nevertheless, a forest of them. I lived there from 1981 to the end of 1985, leaving just before the end of November. I taught English at the local junior high which was right across the street from me. I never took my coat off while at school in the winter as the school had no heat.
Josephus mentioned Safed located in the upper Galilee in his writings, only it was called Sepph then. The Talmud also mentioned it as one of the places where beacons were lit to mark the New Year.
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Crusaders joined up with each other while in Europe and slashed their way to Jerusalem, killing all Jews as they rode. (Eleazar ben Judah of Worms, Germany of the Kalonymus family, (1160-1238), a codifier, Kabbalaist and liturgical poet; a native of Mainz, Germany, relates that he had reached the parashah Vayeshev), when two Crusaders entered his house and killed his wife Dulca (Dolce), his two daughters Belet (Belette) and Hannah, and wounded him and his son Jacob who did not escape. Eleazar had been rabbi at Worms since 1201.
This was even written about in "THE SOURCE" by James Mitchener. The major ecclesiastical impetuses behind the First Crusade were the Council of Piacenza and subsequent Council of Clermont, both held in 1095 by
It first appears to be important in crusading times. Fulk, of Anjou, king of Jerusalem, built a fortress there in 1140. It became Templar property in 1168 and was destroyed by Sultan Baybars in 1266.
From 1265 to 1271, Baybars conducted almost annual raids against the crusaders. In 1265 he received the surrender of Arsūf from the Knights Hospitalers. He occupied ʿAtlit and Haifa, and in July 1266 he received the town of Safed from the Knights Templar garrison after a heavy siege.
Baybars’s ambition was to emulate Saladin, the founder of the Ayyūbid dynasty, in the holy war against the crusaders in Syria. As soon as he was acknowledged as sultan, Baybars set about consolidating and strengthening his military position. 'Father of Conquests'), was the fourth Mamluk sultan of Egypt and Syria, of Turkic Kipchak origin, in the Bahri dynasty, succeeding Qutuz. He was one of the commanders of the Egyptian forces that inflicted a defeat on the Seventh Crusade of King Louis IX of France. He also led the vanguard of the Egyptian army at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, which marked the first substantial defeat of the Mongol army and is considered a turning point in history.
Up to this point, the Jews and Muslims of Jerusalem and the rest of Israel had been suffering from out of the blue attacks of Crusaders since 1095; over the past 96 years. Luckily, Safed wasn't important to the Crusaders like Jerusalem was, but their attacks in Jerusalem affected the development of Safed in becoming quite important.
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In Mameluke times, Safed was one of the administrative centers of Palestine and Jews already lived there in the 11th century, like 10xx. The Mamluks (lit. slaves) were a military class that ruled Egypt from 1250 to 1517 and Syria (including Palestine) from 1260 to 1516.Dhimmi Laws surfaced: Sometime in the first century or so of Mamluk rule, a humiliating oath which Jews had to take when appearing in Muslim courts was reintroduced after a hiatus of some 500 years (the text of the oath, from al-Umarī's Tarif, is found in Stillman, Jews of Arab Lands, 267–68).
In the second half of the 14th century restrictive laws and various vexations followed. Non-Muslim officials were dismissed in Damascus in 1356 and in 1363. At that time Jews and Christians were forbidden to ride horses and mules. They were allowed to ride donkeys only, using packsaddles and mounted so that both feet were on one side of the animal. In public baths they had to distinguish themselves by wearing little bells around the neck, and women had to wear one black and one white shoe. In 1365 Muslim zealots in Damascus searched Jewish and Christian homes for wine and poured the wine they found into the streets and rivers. Restrictive laws were again enforced; Jewish and Christian women were forbidden to frequent the public baths. Although the frequency of these ordinances proves that the discriminatory laws were not systematically kept, it is evident that their periodic enactment humiliated Jews and Christians whose communities were sizably weakened and diminished by the end of the rule of the Baḥrī Mamluks in 1382.
By the 16th century, Safed became a most important center of rabbinical and kabbalistic activity. This is what my friends concentrated on in talking about Safed's history. We never heard of anything previously. Writing this article opens the door to history I had never known about. Down below the Old City of Tzfat, towards the base of the mountain, lies the famous cemetery of Tzfat. People come to the cemetery from all over the world, to sit, pray, beseech, or simply be in the company of the great rabbis who are buried there.
The Cemetery's Illustrious "Residents"
The most famous of these rabbis is Rabbi Isaac Luria, also known as the ARI. The ARI came to Tzfat in 1530 from Egypt. He was one of the most famous Kabbalists of all times, and while in Tzfat, legend has it, he learned new Kabbalistic insights while studying with Elijah the Prophet in a cave in the synagogue located above the cemetery - today named the ARI Sepharadic Synagogue. Hassidim revere the ARI, and the anniversary of his death every summer is a time when thousands of Hassidim come to pray at his tomb. The grave of the ARI is the most notable gravesite in the cemetery, with a platform built around it to make it easier for people reach the site. As with all the graves of the great Rabbis in the cemetery, the ARI's grave is painted a deep blue.
Here lived the kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534-1572) and his pupils, while the rabbinical authorities included Rabbi Joseph Caro (1488-1575). Luria was born in Jerusalem but educated in Egypt. By 1570 he lived in Safed, well known because of kabbala, his ascetic life and saintly character.
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Caro was born in Toledo, Spain, a codifier and the family was expulsed in 1492 from Spain. They wandered, looking for a home to settle in, and ended up in Constantinople in 1498. In 1525 he made aliyah to Palestine and founded a Yeshivah in Safed. Here he wrote his code, "the House of Joseph," along with many others which usually were opposed by Ashkenazi scholars who claimed that they were based on the codifications of Spanish rabbis, ignoring the French and German traditions. Nevertheless, the Shulhan Arukh, printed together with Isserles' strictures, became the authoritative code and is still recognized by Orthodox Jews throughout the world. His interest in Kabbalah brought him to comment that religious secrets were told to him by a supernatural messenger, a maggid (preacher).
Safed had a Hebrew press in 1588. The Turkish empire was starting to decay in administrative areas which led to a decline in activity in Safed. It seemed to be caused by wars between the Bedouin tribes. They all suffered from epidemics and earthquakes, especially the one in 1837 which brought the ruin of the whole community. By 1845 there were only 400 people in Safed. By 1948 they had 12,000 Arabs and 1,800 Jews.
Thought the Arabs had a higher number of people, they fled from Safed after some bitter fighting. The population by 1990, after I had left, was 16,400. It's a center also for religious Jews who come to pray at the cemetery.
I had friends who made a profession out of presenting a show about Safed. I even wrote a play and had a theater group aside from teaching during the day. My husband was a Little Theater actor from Brooklyn and Miami, so now had this outlet, and did we have fun!
I also had friends that dug out a single family home (we just didn't have any in the 80's all high apartments, in which I was in the top floor once when we had another earthquake! Anyway, they refurbished this home they dug out of the soil and had themselves a gorgeous home they brought up to date with plants, pillows, etc.
Resource:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Baybars-I
https://www.safed.co.il/Tzfats-Cemetery.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleazar_of_Worms
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/joseph-caro/
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