צְפַת‎‎ Tzfat part 1 The Citadel

There are so many words that look so wierd when they are translated from hebrew to english, Tzfat is one of them. But that only adds to the mystical history of the the city. So our first stop in Safed (yes that is another spelling) was The Citadel the drive up here was an experience (not an easy or comforting one) but once we got to the top we were able to get out of the car and walk around.


There are seating areas there were built in the early 1200's.













At the very top is the memorial to The Independence fighters who started their battle to regain control of Tzfat on the evening of May 5, 1948 and their battle was successful and they regained control on May 9th. On a clear day (which Tuesday wasn't) you can see Tiberius so we just listened to the recording and read the plaques.

צְפַת‎‎ Tzfat part 2 The Religious side

As I said earlier Tzfat also called the mystical city is famous for many things military battles, candles, artists and Religion.










So as we were walking amongst all the different artist we found all these different religous sites The Sanz Congrgation which was founded in 1869.




But I think the most amazing site that we found was" The Yosef Caro Synagogue" the synagogu that Rabbi Joseph Caro, scholar and Kabbalist, author of the "Shulchan Aruch" actually practiced and developed Kabbah Judaism.















one of the more amazing things that we saw but they wouldn't let me take a picture of was the Genizah where they have books and other religious items dating back to the 14th century.

On Tour with Ashleigh and Morgan July 20

Sunday, July 20th: Group 8 woke up in Hanaton this morning and after Shacharit and breakfast went to the mystical city of Tzfat. Among the many people who came from Tzfat are the prominent kabbalists, Isaac Luria and Moshe Kordovero. Besides the kabbalists, Safed also attracted numerous other Jewish scholars and spiritualists, including Joseph Caro, the author of the Shulchan Aruch and Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz, composer of the Sabbath hymn Lecha Dodi. The group had a tour of the city and three of the synagogues, and had an opportunity to go shopping at the famous candle factory. After lunch at this beautiful place, they went to Acco, a city in the western Galilee, which was used by the British as a prison mainly for political prisoners, and as a location for a gallows. Jewish underground movement activists, such as Zeev Jabotinsky and Shlomo Ben-Yosef, an Irgun activist, were jailed in the citadel-prison of Acco. From there they drove to Rosh Hanikra where they walked through the beautiful grottos created by the water hitting the rock for hundreds of years. After a special mincha service for the fast day of the 17th of Tammuz, the group rested for a bit, before ending the fast and eating dinner.