Difference between revisions of "Safed" - New World Encyclopedia
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The history of Safed during the first half of the nineteenth century is but a series of misfortunes. The plague of 1812 carried off four-fifths of the Jewish population; and seven years later Abdallah Pasha, the governor of Acre, imprisoned the remainder in his stronghold, and released them only on the payment of ransom. In 1833, at the approach of Ibrahim Pasha, the Jewish quarter was plundered by the Druze, although the inhabitants escaped to the suburbs. The following year it was again pillaged, the persecution lasting 33 days. On January 1, 1837, more than 4,000 Jews were again killed by an earthquake, the greater number of them being buried alive in their dwellings. Ten years later the plague again raged at Safed. | The history of Safed during the first half of the nineteenth century is but a series of misfortunes. The plague of 1812 carried off four-fifths of the Jewish population; and seven years later Abdallah Pasha, the governor of Acre, imprisoned the remainder in his stronghold, and released them only on the payment of ransom. In 1833, at the approach of Ibrahim Pasha, the Jewish quarter was plundered by the Druze, although the inhabitants escaped to the suburbs. The following year it was again pillaged, the persecution lasting 33 days. On January 1, 1837, more than 4,000 Jews were again killed by an earthquake, the greater number of them being buried alive in their dwellings. Ten years later the plague again raged at Safed. | ||
Revision as of 04:53, 10 December 2008
| Safed | |
 | |
| Hebrew | צְפַת |
| (Standard) | Tzfat |
| Arabic | صفد |
| Name meaning | Lookout (from the Hebrew root tzafa) |
| Government | City |
| Also spelled | Tsfat, Tzefat, Zfat, Ẕefat (officially) |
| District | North |
| Population | 28,500[1] (2007) |
| Mayor | Yishai Maimon |
Safed (Hebrew: צְפַת, Tzfat; Arabic: صفد, 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.
History
According to the Book of Judges, the region in which Safed is located was assigned to the tribe of Asher. Legend has it that Safed was founded by a son of Noah after the Great Flood. It is mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud as one of five elevated spots where fires were lit to announce the new moon and other festivals during the Second Temple period. However, other Jewish sources speak of its foundation dating from the second century of the common era (Yer. R. H. 58a). The city as such is not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament. Safed has been also been tentatively identified with Sepph, a fortified Jewish town in the Upper Galilee mentioned in the writings of the Roman Jewish historian Josephus (Wars 2:573).
After its mention in the Talmud, there is no further mention of the town for many centuries. In the twefth century, it was a fortified Crusader city known as Saphet. In 1265, the Mamluk sultan Baybars wiped out the Christian population of Sapher and turned it into the Muslim city called Safad or Safat. Under the Ottomans, Safed was part of the vilayet of Sidon.
The number of Jews living there at this time is uncertain, but in 1289 Safed had a substantial enough of a Jewish community that Moses ben Judah ha-Kohen was known as the chief rabbi of the city. In that year he went to Tiberias, the site of the tomb of the great Jewish philosopher Maimonides pronounced a curse of anathema on all who condemn his writings. The Jewish community of Safed was apparently not prosperous, for in 1491 the chief rabbi of Safed, Perez Colobo, who was so poorly paid that he was obliged to carry on a grocery business.
Safed's golden age
This was soon to change, however, as Safed benefited from the misfortunes of Spanish Jewish were were expelled in the following year, when the community was reorganized by Joseph Saragossi, a Spanish immigrant. From this point on, the record becomes more clear. The next chief rabbi of Safed was Jacob Berab (1541), followed by the great codifier of the Shulchan Aruch, Joseph Karo (1575). A Hebrew printing press was established in Safed in 1577 by Eliezer Ashkenazi and his son, Isaac of Prague. It was the first press in Palestine and the whole of the Ottoman Empire.
As a result of the influx of Jews fleeing persecution in Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Safed become a major center of Jewish intellectual activity and mystical thought. It was there that Isaac Luria (1534 – 1572), Moses Cordovero (1522-1570), and Hayyim ben Joseph Vital (1543 - 1620) revived Jewish interest in the Kabbala in Palestine, and Joseph Karo wrote the great compendium of Jewish law known as the Shulchan Aruch. These two events would have a major impact on the attitudes and practice of Judaism for centuries to come. Moses Galante the Elder held office beginning in 1580, followed by Moses mi-Trani (1590), Joshua ben Nun (1592), Naphtali Ashkenazi (1600), Baruch Barzillai (1650), and Meïr Barzillai (1680).
Declines and revivals
The eighteenth century, however, was a period of decline, as Safed was devastated by the plague in 1742 and and earthquake in 1769. The latter compelled most of the population of Safed to emigrate to Damascus and elsewhere, so that only seven families repotedly remained, compared to nearly 10,000 Jews in 1555. In 1776 Safed was repopulated by an influx Russian Jews. Five years later two Russian rabbis, Löb Santower and Uriah of Vilna, brought there a number of families from Volhynia, Podolia, and the Ukraine. The consuls of Russia and Austria taking these foreign Jews under their protection during this period of Ottoman rule.
The history of Safed during the first half of the nineteenth century is but a series of misfortunes. The plague of 1812 carried off four-fifths of the Jewish population; and seven years later Abdallah Pasha, the governor of Acre, imprisoned the remainder in his stronghold, and released them only on the payment of ransom. In 1833, at the approach of Ibrahim Pasha, the Jewish quarter was plundered by the Druze, although the inhabitants escaped to the suburbs. The following year it was again pillaged, the persecution lasting 33 days. On January 1, 1837, more than 4,000 Jews were again killed by an earthquake, the greater number of them being buried alive in their dwellings. Ten years later the plague again raged at Safed.
Despite these tragedies, the city continued to attract new residents. In the second half of the nineteenth century Jews emigrated from Persia, Morocco, and Algeria to the city. Its houses and synagogues were rebuilt by Sir Moses Montefiore, who visited the city seven times between 1837 and 1875, and by Isaac Vita of Triest. The chief rabbis of the Sephardic Jews in the nineteenth century were: Reuben Behar Baruch (c. 1800), Abraham Kohen (c. 1820), Abraham Anhori (c. 1824), Ḥayyim Mizraḥi (c. 1846), Raphael Maman (c. 1870), Manasseh Sethon (c. 1874), Samuel Abbo (1874-79), Solomon Hazan (1888), Joseph Ḥakim (1890), and Jacob Haï Abbo (1890-1900). Among the important Ashkenazic chief rabbis were Abraham Dov Beer (c. 1835) and Samuel Heller (c. 1880).
Twentieth century
As the Zionist movement began to gain momentum in the twentieth century, episodes of violence between Jews and Arabs occasionally flared in Safed. About 20 Jewish residents were murdered in the 1929 Safed massacre. Jewish immigration to Palestine, however, now focused on other locations more in keeping with the secular Zionist vision. By 1948, Safed was home to 12,000 Arabs, with the city's 1,700 Jews being mostly religious and elderly.
In the Israeli War of Independence, the Arabs fled the city en masse, among them the family of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The city was conquered by Israeli forces on May 11, 1948.
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. 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. On July 22, four people were injured in a rocket attack.
Demographics
In 2008, the population of Safed was 32,000.[1] 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
In the 1950s and 1960s, Safed was known as Israel's art capital. 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. In honor of the opening of the Glitzenstein Art Museum in 1953, the artist Mane Katz donated eight of his paintings to the city. 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.[2]
See also
- Balady citron
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Table 3 - Population of Localities Numbering Above 1,000 Residents and Other Rural Population. Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (2008-06-30). Retrieved 2008-10-18.
- ↑ http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1024907.html
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
External links
- Experience Tsfat Resource Guide (English)
- Official Site (English)
- Official Site (English&Hebrew)
| North District | ||
|---|---|---|
| Cities | Afula | Acre (Akko) | Beit She'an | Karmiel | Kiryat Shmona | Ma'alot-Tarshiha | Migdal HaEmek | Nahariya | Nazareth | Nazareth Illit | Safed | Sakhnin | Shaghur | Shefa-'Amr (Shfar'am) | Tamra | Tiberias | File:Israel north dist.png
|
| Local councils | Abu Sinan | Arraba | Basmat Tiv'on | Beit Jann | Bir al-Maksur | Bu'eine Nujeidat | Buq'ata | Daburiyya | Deir Hanna | Eilabun | Ein Qiniyye | Ein Mahal | Fassuta | Ghajar | Hurfeish | Hazor HaGelilit | I'billin | Iksal | Ilut | Jadeidi-Makr | Julis | Ka'abiyye-Tabbash-Hajajre | Kabul | Kafr Kanna | Kafr Manda | Kafr Yasif | Kaokab Abu al-Hija | Katzrin | Kfar Kama | Kfar Tavor | Kfar Vradim | Kineret | Kisra-Sumei | Maghar | Majdal Shams | Mas'ada | Mashhad | Mazra'a | Metula | Mevo Hama | Migdal | Nahf | Peki'in | Rame | Reineh | Ramat Yeshi | Rosh Pinna | Sajur | Sandala | Sha'ab | Shlomi | Shibli-Umm al-Janam | Tuba-Zangariyye | Tur'an | Yafa an-Naseriyye | Yanuh-Jat | Yavne'el | Yesod HaMa'ala | Yirka | Zarzir | |
| Regional councils | Al-Batuf | Beit She'an Valley | Bustan al-Marj | Northern Jordan Valley (Emek HaYarden) | Gilboa | Golan | Jezreel Valley | Lower Galilee | Upper Galilee | Ma'ale Yosef | Matte Asher | Megiddo | Merom HaGalil | Mevo'ot HaHermon | Misgav | |
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