Safed
Hebrew transcription(s)
• Hebrew	צְפַת
• ISO 259	Çpat
• Translit.	Tz'fat
• Also spelled	Tsfat, Tzefat, Zfat, Ẕefat (official)
Arabic transcription(s)
• Arabic	صفد
Logo
Safed
Coordinates: 32°57′57″N 35°29′54″E / 32.96583°N 35.49833°E / 32.96583; 35.49833Coordinates: 32°57′57″N 35°29′54″E / 32.96583°N 35.49833°E / 32.96583; 35.49833
District	North
Founded	Canaanite age
Government
• Type	City
• Mayor	Ilan Shohat
Elevation	900 m (3,000 ft)
Population (2010)[1]
• Total	30,100

Safed (Hebrew: צְפַת‎‎, Tzfat; Arabic: صفد‎, Safed, Ashkenazi: Tzfas; Biblical: Ṣ'fath, ISO 259-3: Çpat),^{[dubious – discuss]} is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of 900 metres (2,953 ft), Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and of Israel.^[2] Due to its high elevation, Safed experiences warm summers and cold, often snowy, winters.^[3] Since the sixteenth century, Safed has been considered one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Hebron and Tiberias;^[4] since that time, the city has remained a center of Kabbalah, also known as Jewish mysticism.

Due to its beautiful setting surrounded by pine forests and its mild climate, Safed has become a summer holiday resort frequented by Israelis and foreign visitors alike.^[5] It has a lot of historic tourist attractions for both religious and secular Jews, as well as foreign tourists.

History[link]

Ancient history[link]

View of Safed

According to the Book of Judges, the area where Safed is located was assigned to the Tribe of Naphtali.^[6] Legend has it that Safed was founded by a son of Noah after the Great Flood.^[3]

Classic antiquity[link]

Safed has been identified with Sepph, a fortified Jewish town in the Upper Galilee mentioned in the writings of the Roman-Jewish historian Josephus (Wars 2:573).^[7]

It is mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud as one of five elevated spots where fires were lit to announce the New Moon and festivals during the Second Temple period.^[8]

Crusader Kingdom and Mamluk Sultanate[link]

Crusader citadel ruins in Safed

The city appears in Jewish sources in the late Middle Ages.^[3] In the 12th century, Safed was a fortified city in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem known as Saphet.^[3] The Knights Hospitaller built a castle there. In 1240, Theobald I of Navarre, on his own Crusade to the Holy Land, negotiated with the Muslim Ayyubids of Damascus and Egypt and finalised a treaty with the former against the latter whereby the Kingdom of Jerusalem regained Jerusalem itself, plus Bethlehem, Nazareth, and most of the region of Galilee with many Templar castles, such as Saphet.^[9] In 1260, the Mamluk sultan Baybars declared the treaty invalid due to the Christians working in concert with the Mongol Empire against the Muslims, and launched a series of attacks on castles in the area, include on Saphet. In 1266 he wiped out the Christian Templar population and turned it into a Muslim town called Safed or Safat. Samuel ben Samson who visited the town in the 13th-century mentions the existence of a Jewish community of at least fifty there.^[10] According to al-Dimashqi (who died in Safed in 1327), writing around 1300, Baybars, after levelling the old fortress, built a "round tower and called it Kullah..".The tower is built in three stories. It is provided with provisions, and halls, and magazines. Under the place is a cistern for rain-water, sufficient to supply the garrison of the fortress from year's end to year's end.^[11] According to Abu al-Fida, Safed "was a town of medium size". It has a very strongly built castle, which dominates the Lake of Tabariyyah. There are underground watercourses, which bring drinking-water up to the castle-gate...Its suburbs cover three hills... Since the place was conquered by Al Malik Adh Dhahir from the Franks, it has been made the central station for the troops who guard all the coast-towns of that district."^[12]

Jewish center in the Ottoman period[link]

Old Yishuv
Jewish life in the Land of Israel before Modern Zionism
Key figures
Nahmanides • Yechiel of Paris • Bartenura • Yehuda he-Hasid
Economy
Kollel • Halukka • Etrog
Communities
Sephardim • Perushim • Hasidim
Synagogues
Ramban • Ari • Hurva • Shomrei HaChomos
Related articles
History of the Jews in the Land of Israel • History of Zionism (Timeline) • Anti-Zionism (Timeline) • Haredim and Zionism • Edah HaChareidis • ShaDaR • Yishuv • Three Oaths
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