Thus, as expected, the temperatures will be lower, and rainfall will be more substantial. Therefore, from the weather perspective, you can visit Safed all year round. But I would suggest keeping a close eye on the weather during the winter. Rain and slippery sidewalks are half the problem.
Sometimes it starts snowing in the city. And though it will be a lovely experience, you might find yourself under blockade as all transport halts. In the previous section, we discussed the weather aspect. But there is also a religious one. Safed is a religious Jewish city. Thus most places will close on Friday afternoon and open only on Sunday. As I previously mentioned, on our first visit, we joined an overview tour. When planning the trip, I saw an offer that we could not refuse: a free overview tour on the Safed municipality website.
I do not see this tour anymore, but they started to offer a wide variety of excursions. Regardless of what you choose, know that taking a tour can be a good option of getting familiar with the town and not getting lost in the old city in the process. While walking in the Old City, I saw this ad for a virtual guide in Safed. It is an app called Simtaot. I have not used it, but you might find it helpful.
A midth-century structure built by Zahir al-Umar, the Bedouin ruler of Galilee, as a palace for his son Ail, governor of Safed. In , when Zahir al-Umar fell from power, the central Turkish government took over the building. A hundred years later, the building was identified by a British survey as a Turkish khan inn.
In the Mandatory period, the British administration took over the Saraya. Two of the Jews were shot by an Arab policeman assigned to protect them. During the War of Independence, the Saraya became the central Arab headquarters.
Upon the liberation of the city, it was taken over by the Israel Defense Forces. Later is served as a nursing home, and in , after extensive renovation, it became the Isaac and Edith Wolfson community center. From the Saraya, we followed Aliya Bet street, then turned left on Jerusalem street and followed it including a left turn till Safed city hall.
We headed to Davidka Square, near the municipality building, since it was the starting point of our tour. Its bombs were reported to be extremely loud but very inaccurate and otherwise of little value beyond terrifying opponents; they proved particularly useful in scaring away both Arab soldiers and civilians.
It is nominally classified as a 3-inch Source: Wikipedia. Davidka was named after its inventor David Leibowitch, but the reference to David and Goliath is inevitable. In the photo above, you can see a part of it.
The nearby building of Zefat Academic college was also part of the police station. And if you look closely, then you can see numerous bullet holes on both of these buildings. It served as a regular police station with mostly Arab and a few Jewish policemen in peace times. The courtyard was surrounded by concrete walls which were demolished after the War of Independence. There was a tall concrete pillbox at one end. The city police station was handed over to the Arabs when the British evacuated Safed, April 16, , along with several other vital positions in the city.
The longest and fiercest battle took place here on May 10, in which the company commander, Yitzhak Hochman, was accidentally killed. The main police building was occupied by the IncomeTax Department for many years. Today it is part of the Zefat Academic College.
Today this building serves as a tourist information center. Also, behind it, you can find restrooms. It was a pilot tour. Our guide played and sang, and each of us had headphones so we could hear him. From this point on, during our tour, we mostly visited synagogues. So here is a map of synagogues in Safed.
Many call Safed the city of Kabbalah. Here is one example: shortly, we will visit Ari Ashkenazi Synagogue. And it was named after Isaac Luria, who is considered the father of contemporary Kabbalah. A traditional Kabbalist in Judaism is called a Mequbbal. The definition of Kabbalah varies according to the tradition and aims of those following it, from its religious origin as an integral part of Judaism to its later adaptations in Western esotericism Christian Kabbalah and Hermetic Qabalah.
It forms the foundation of mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. Jewish Kabbalists originally developed their own transmission of sacred texts within the realm of Jewish tradition and often used classical Jewish scriptures to explain and demonstrate its mystical teachings.
One of the fundamental kabbalistic texts, the Zohar, was first published in the 13th century, and the almost universal form adhered to in modern Judaism is Lurianic Kabbalah.
Following the upheavals and dislocations in the Jewish world as a result of anti-Judaism during the Middle Ages, and the national trauma of the expulsion from Spain in , closing the Spanish Jewish flowering, Jews began to search for signs of when the long-awaited Jewish Messiah would come to comfort them in their painful exiles.
In the 16th century, the Safed community in Galilee became the center of Jewish mystical, exegetical, legal, and liturgical developments. The Safed mystics responded to the Spanish expulsion by turning Kabbalistic doctrine and practice towards a messianic focus. Moshe Alshich wrote a mystical commentary on the Torah. Shlomo Alkabetz wrote Kabbalistic commentaries and poems. The messianism of the Safed mystics culminated in Kabbalah receiving its most significant transformation in the Jewish world with the explication of its new interpretation from Isaac Luria The ARI — by his disciples Hayim Vital and Israel Sarug.
And our guide told us the unusual story of this synagogue. You probably guessed by its name. So what is the connection? He gathered other Jews from Tunisia and looked for a place to pray. Rabbi Kaplan offered to use the building of Vizhnitz. But one of their conditions was that Vizhnitz should remain in the name. Thus today, we got a synagogue with a multi-continent name. Our guide told us about Grandma Yocheved, who was sitting every day on these stairs and waiting for the Messiah. The old lady, who outlived her entire family, believed that the Messiah would pass through Safed on his way to Jerusalem and would surely enter the city via her alley.
The thin metal pipes that the Jewish Municipality of Sated installed for her as hand-rails can still be seen on either side of the alley. Note: To make it easier to follow our path, I marked all points of interest on the Google Map above.
Yeshiva students have a dedicated course where they both learn and serve in the IDF. Our guide gave us some free time. While some used it to visit nearby restrooms, we headed to Safed Candles. You can find the complete guide at Safed Candles. After visiting Safed Candles, we headed to the nearby Ari Ashkenazi Synagogue marked as 10 on the map at the beginning of this post.
To find additional details about this place, see Ari Ashkenazi Synagogue. From Ari Ashkenazi Synagogue , we continued to Alkabets street, where you can find the entrance to the underground tunnels. And in front of the Underground Tunnels , at Alkabets 18 street, you can find the Lahuhe original — Yemenite food bar.
Our next stop was the Abuhav Synagogue marked as 20 on the map at the beginning of this post. To find additional details about this place, see the guide to Abuhav Synagogue. As you visit Safed, you will notice one dominant color. Blue appears everywhere.
It decorates synagogues, fences, walls, and other items. Nobody is sure what is the exact reason. But I will list several of the common explanations that I found. That is not a new tradition, and in the 16th century, the houses were painted blue. We reached the end of the guided tour, and to give you a time perspective, I will say that it lasted almost two hours. What is Lahoh? Lahoh or Luhuh is a porous, pancake-like bread that originated from Yemen.
Lahoh is prepared from a dough of plain flour, self-raising flour, warm water, yeast, and a pinch of salt. The mixture is beaten by hand until soft and creamy. Sorghum is the preferred flour for making Lahoh.
A sweet-tasting variety of the dish and another variety made with eggs. Lahoh is traditionally baked on a metallic circular stove called a Taawa. Lacking that, it can also be baked in an ordinary pan.
At this place, they prepared Lahoh on pans and covered it with several types of cheese, veggies, and spices. Then they fold it, and you are ready to eat. By the time we finished eating, the Underground Tunnels were already closed. Thus we headed to Safed citadel. But do not worry, we will visit Underground Tunnels on another occasion. You can find the additional details below. We took the stairs up, and in the following photo, you can see the City Police Station where we started our guided tour to the left and Safed municipality to the right.
At the entrance to Citadel Park, you can find both informational stands and audio guides in several languages. Safed Citadel is a central site in the history of the city.
The extensive excavations carried out at the site since have not found evidence of this. At the beginning of the Crusader period , Safed was part of the Galilee Region. Each gallery is in and of itself a story, waiting to be explored.
After Jerusalem , Tsfat is probably the best place in Israel to get Jewish cultural and religious items, as well as quality artwork. These shops are also known for pictures that are made up of the words of songs or Scripture. For a more intimate experience of the inspiration behind Tsfat's artwork, seek out artists' private galleries throughout the Old City and Artists' Colony. Buy quality artwork direct from the artist.
Don't miss the opportunity to spend time with local artists and buy their quality art. Hear their stories and get a sense of how traditional Jewish sources inspire their work.
Most people staying overnight in Tsfat choose to stay at the small guest houses located throughout the Old City, Artists' Quarter and the South of Tsfat. You can also stay in nearby Amirim. Safed is an ideal location for basing many day trips in the northern area of Israel. Especially for the "mehadrin" or "glatt" traveler, basing northern trips in Safed is adventageous with the availability of mehadrin lodging and food. This city travel guide to Safed is an outline and needs more content.
It has a template , but there is not enough information present. Please plunge forward and help it grow! Hidden categories: Has custom banner Has mapframe Has see listing Has map markers See listing with no coordinates Articles with dead external links Has do listing Articles with formerly dead external links Has buy listing Buy listing with no coordinates Has eat listing Has sleep listing Sleep listing with no coordinates Has routebox Outline cities Outline articles City articles Upper Galilee All destination articles Has Geo parameter Pages with maps.
Namespaces Page Discussion. Views Read Edit View history. Main page Travel destinations Star articles What's Nearby? Tourist office Random page. You don't have to browse through several websites and compare prices to find cheap car rental in Zefat — we will do it for you! Car rental offices nearest to Zefat the city centre.
Compare Zefat car rental offers by various suppliers. Compare prices on flights to and from the closest airports to Zefat. We search through offers of more than airlines and travel agents.
When you find a deal you want, we provide link to the airline or travel agent to make your booking directly with them. No middlemen. No added fees. You always get the lowest price. Airports nearest to Zefat are sorted by the distance to the airport from the city centre.
Follow relate airport hotel guides for accommodation booking. You can also dive right into Zefat on unique 3D satellite map provided by Google Earth. No placemark has been added to this place yet. You can add the first. If you would like to recommend this Zefat map page to a friend, or if you just want to send yourself a reminder, here is the easy way to do it.
Simply fill in the e-mail address and name of the person you wish to tell about Maplandia.
0コメント