Template:Infobox Israel municipality 32°57′57″N 35°29′54″E / 32.96583°N 35.49833°E / 32.96583; 35.49833 Safed (Template:Lang-he-n, pronounced Tsfat; Arabic: صفد, pronounced Safad) is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Safed is one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Tiberias and Hebron, and a center for Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism. At an elevation of 800 meters (2,660 feet) above sea level, Safed is the highest city in the Galilee.[1]

History

According to the Book of Judges, the region was assigned to the tribe of Asher. [2]The city of Safed itself first appears in Jewish sources in the late Middle Ages.[3] 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.[4] Legend has it that Safed was founded by a son of Noah after the Great Flood.[5]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). [citation needed] In the 12th century, Safed was a fortified Crusader city known as Saphet.[6]In 1265, the Mamluk sultan Baybars wiped out the Christian population and turned it into a Muslim town called Safad or Safat. Safed rose to fame in the 16th century a center of Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism. A Hebrew printing press was established in Safed in 1577 by Eliezer Ashkenazi and his son, Isaac of Prague.[7] It was the first press in Palestine and the whole of the Ottoman Empire.[8]

Seraya: the Ottoman fortress

Under the Ottomans, Safed was part of the vilayet of Sidon. After the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, many prominent rabbis found their way to Safed, among them the kabbalists Isaac Luria (Arizal) and Moshe Kordovero; Joseph Caro, the author of the Shulchan Aruch and Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz, composer of the Sabbath hymn Lecha Dodi. The influx of Sephardi Jews made Safed a global center for Jewish learning and a regional center for trade throughout 15th and 16th centuries. In 1555, the Jewish population was 8,000-10,000. By the end of the century, it had grown to 20,000 or 30,000. [citation needed] An outbreak of plague decimated the population in 1742 and an earthquake in 1759 left the city in ruins. An influx of Russian Jews in 1776 and 1781, and of the Perushim in 1809 and 1810, reinvigorated the community.[9]

Muslim quarter of Safed circa 1908

In 1812, another plague killed 80% of the Jewish population, and in 1819 the remaining Jews were held for ransom by Abdullah Pasha, the governor of Acre. On January 1, 1837, an earthquake killed 4,000 Jewish inhabitants, mostly by burying them in their homes. In 1847, plague struck Safed again. Throughout the 19th century, the Jewish community suffered from Bedouin and Arab attacks.[10] The Jewish population was increased in the last half of the 19th century by immigration from Iran, Morocco, and Algeria. Moses Montefiore visited Safed seven times and financed rebuilding of much of the town. Virtually all the antiquities of Safed were destroyed by earthquakes.

Arab-Israeli conflict

Monument to the soldiers who fought in Israel's War of Independence

Twenty Jewish residents of Safed were murdered in the 1929 Safed massacre. In 1948, Safed was home to 12,000 Arabs. The city's 1,700 Jews were mostly religious and elderly.[11] In the Israeli War of Independence, the Arabs fled en masse, among them the family of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.[12][13]The city was conquered by Israeli forces on May 11, 1948.[14]In 1974, 102 Israeli Jewish teenagers from Safed on a school trip were taken hostage by a Palestinian terrorist group Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) while sleeping in a school in Maalot and 21 of them were killed .[15] In July 2006, Katyusha rockets fired by Hezbollah from Southern Lebanon hit Safed, killing one man and injuring others. On July 14, rockets killed a five-year-old boy and his grandmother. Many residents fled the town.[12] On July 22, four people were injured in a rocket attack.

Demographics

In 2008, the population of Safed was 32,000. [16] According to CBS figures in 2001, the ethnic makeup of the city was 99.2% Jewish and non-Arab, with no significant Arab population. 43.2% 1of the residents were 19 years of age or younger, 13.5% between 20 and 29, 17.1% between 30 and 44, 12.5% from 45 to 59, 3.1% from 60 to 64, and 10.5% 65 years of age or older.

Income

In December 2001, residents of Safed earned an average of 4,476 shekels per month, compared to the national average of 6,835 shekels. In 2000, there were 6,450 salaried workers and 523 self-employed. Salaried men had a mean monthly wage of NIS 5,631 (a real change of 10.2%) versus NIS 3,330 for women (a real change of 2.3%). The mean income for the self-employed was NIS 4,843. A total of 425 residents received unemployment benefits and 3,085 received income supplements.

Education

According to CBS, the city has 25 schools and 6,292 students. There are 18 elementary schools with a student population of 3,965, and 11 high schools with a student population of 2,327. 40.8% of Safed's 12th graders were eligible for a matriculation (bagrut) certificate in 2001.

Aous Shakra, a 20th century existential philosopher who taught at Harvard University, was born in Safed [citation needed].

Culture

Smoke rises over Safed after a Katyusha rocket attack

In the 1950s and 1960s, Safed was known as Israel's art capital. [17] The artists colony established in Safed's Old City was a hub of creativity that drew leading artists from around the country, among them Yosl Bergner, Moshe Castel and Menachem Shemi. Some of Israel's leading art galleries were located there. [18] In honor of the opening of the Glitzenstein Art Museum in 1953, the artist Mane Katz donated eight of his paintings to the city.[19] During this period, Safed was home to the country's top nightclubs, hosting the debut performances of Naomi Shemer, Aris San, and other acclaimed singers.[20]

References

  1. ^ A Guide to Israel, Zev Vilnay, Hamakor Press, Jerusalem, 1972, "Tsefat," pp.522-532
  2. ^ http://www.hadassah.org/news/content/per_hadassah/archive/2004/04_DEC/traveler.asp
  3. ^ A Guide to Israel, Zev Vilnay, Hamakor Press, Jerusalem, 1972, "Tsefat," pp.522-532
  4. ^ Encyclopedia Judaica, Safed, vol. 14, p. 626, Keter, Jerusalem, 1972
  5. ^ A Guide to Israel, Zev Vilnay, Hamakor Press, Jerusalem, 1972, "Tsefat," pp.522-532
  6. ^ A Guide to Israel, Zev Vilnay, Hamakor Press, Jerusalem, 1972, "Tsefat," pp.522-532
  7. ^ Encyclopedia Judaica, Safed, vol. 14, p. 626, Keter, Jerusalem, 1972
  8. ^ Ottomans and Safavids 17th Century
  9. ^ Hastening Redemption: Messianism and the Resettlement of the Land of Israel, Arie Morgenstern, Oxford University Press, 2007
  10. ^ Safed
  11. ^ Guide to Israel, Zeev Vilnay
  12. ^ a b Myre, Greg. 2 More Israelis Are Killed as Rain of Rockets From Lebanon Pushes Thousands South. New York Times, July 15, 2006.
  13. ^ Palestine Media Center - PMC [Official arm of PA]. "Full Israeli Withdrawal Not Enough -'Palestinians Would Never Give up 'Right of Return.'" May 16, 2005
  14. ^ Guide to Israel, Zeev Vilnay
  15. ^ Arafat the monster - The Boston Globe
  16. ^ http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1024907.html
  17. ^ http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1024907.html
  18. ^ http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1024907.html
  19. ^ http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1024907.html
  20. ^ http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1024907.html

Bibliography

See also

Panoramic view of Safed with Sea of Galilee in the background.
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