Safed (Hebrew: צְפַת, Tzfat; Arabic: صفد, Ṣafad) is a city in the Northern District of Israel. At an elevation of 800 meters (2,660 feet) above sea level, Safed is the highest city in the Galilee. Since the sixteenth century, Safad has been considered one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Hebron and Tiberias. From that time until today, the city has been a center of Jewish mysticism.
According to the Book of Judges, the regio...
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Safed (Hebrew: צְפַת, Tzfat; Arabic: صفد, Ṣafad) is a city in the Northern District of Israel. At an elevation of 800 meters (2,660 feet) above sea level, Safed is the highest city in the Galilee. Since the sixteenth century, Safad has been considered one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Hebron and Tiberias. From that time until today, the city has been a center of Jewish mysticism.
According to the Book of Judges, the region was assigned to the Tribe of Naphtali. The city of Safed itself first appears in Jewish sources in the late Middle Ages. 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. Legend has it that Safed was founded by a son of Noah after the Great Flood. 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).
In the 12th century,...
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