Safed

Safed

City of mysticism and the center of Kabbalah

Safed, high in the Upper Galilee, is one of Judaism's four holy cities and the center of Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition. After the expulsion from Spain in 1492 many scholars and mystics settled there, among them Isaac Luria, known as the Ari, and Joseph Karo, who wrote the Shulchan Aruch. The Ari Synagogue and the cobbled lanes of the old Jewish quarter preserve that period. Today Safed is also an artists' colony, with galleries in the Artists' Quarter, and a summer retreat for its cool mountain air.

Glossary: Safed (Tzfat)