Category: History

This old white stone building sits hilltop off Aliyah Bet Street. Some
300 years old, the Saraya has witnessed much of Zefat’s history, times
of glory and of fear.

At the start of the 18th century, D’har El Omar, a powerful Bedouin
Sheikh, took control over the Galilee. The chose a hilltop in Safed
and then built himself a large and magnificent living place for
himself and his family.  This was the Saraya.

The Saraya Under The Turks

Upon the conclusion of D’har El Omar’s rule in the late 1700s, the
ruling Turkish authorities, who controlled the area from 1517 to the
beginning of the 20th century, captured it. The Saraya then stayed
under Turkish rule until the collapse of their empire and the start of
the British mandate’s control in the holy land. But approximately 100
years after the Turks captured the Saraya, it was documented in a
British survey as being referred to as the ‘Turkish Han.’

Over the years, the Saraya began to crumble and fall into disrepair.
However, at the end of the 19th century, the building was newly
renovated and restored to its original grandeur at the hands of the
Turks. It was also properly given the name “The Saraya.”

The Saraya then began to serve as the central headquarters of the
local governing Ottomans (Turks). And at the turn of the 19th century,
the clock tower, which still stands today, was built in honor of Ebid
El Haamid II, the reigning.

British Central Command

Then, in the aftermath of World War I, the British took control over
Palestine and the Saraya was made it into the headquarters of British
legislation and power in northern Palestine.

During the riots of 1929, the British held the Jews here to protect
them from the Arabs, although some were killed from sniper bullets
while taking refuge here. For three days, the Jews huddled in fear
while the Arabs plundered the Old City.

The British wanted to evacuate the Jews from Safed, but the Jews
refused to leave and soon forced their way past the British guards.
They returned to the rubble of their destroyed homes. After the
British left and just before the War of Independence, the Saraya
became the Arab’s high seat of regulation.

Israeli Army Headquarters

On January 4, 1948, a historic day for the city of Safed, Lehi
fighters managed to blow up the building. By doing so, they were able
to break a link in the Arab’s chain of command.
After the War of Independence, the Saraya was rebuilt. It had many
functions, from being the Israeli army headquarters to a home for
pensioners.

A Community Center Today

In 1975, the Saraya was properly restored and finished, thanks to the
help of Sir Isaac Wolfson and his wife Edith. Sir Isaac was a very
prominent philanthropist and benefactor to Israel. The building was
then renamed “The Isaac and Edith Wolfson Community Center.”

Today, the Wolfson Center serves as home of the Noam synagogue, which
is functional both on Shabbat and during the week. It also houses a
music conservatory, offers Hebrew classes for new immigrants and a
museum on Jewish life in Hungary before the Holocaust. The Saraya
Courtyard is also used for outdoor concerts where music lovers can
listen to live music echoing off the old stone walls.

More recently, the bell atop the clock tower was restored. Chiming
across town every quarter hour, the bell is a charming reminder of
Safed’s rich and colorful past.

Rabbi Avraham Zeida Heller was born in Safed on Jan. 25, 1984, the fourth generation of his family in this city. He was the great grandson of Rabbi Shmuel Heller, a 19th century Safed rabbi, and a descendant of the famed Rabbi Yomtov Lippman Heller.

After attending Heder (Jewish parochial school), Avraham Heller learned in the Yeshiva (seminary) of the Ridbaz (Rabbi Yaakov Dovid Wilovsky, who was known by his acronym) and also attended the Yeshiva known as the Beit Chatam Sofer in Safed. Rabbi Heller received his ordination from Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook (first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi during the British Mandate in Palestine) and from other central rabbinic figures with whom he initiated dialogue on a number of important Jewish legal issues culled from both the Written and Oral Torah. In 1914 Rabbi Heller married Frieda Barzel and the couple had five daughters.

It was Rabbi Heller’s father Zeev who was responsible for establishing the Yeshivat Chatam Sofer in Safed. When Zeev passed away in the year 1919, Avraham Zeida combined two Yeshivot, the Ridbaz Yeshiva and the Chatam Sofer, creating the Yeshivat Chatam Sofer-Ridbaz. Rabbi Avraham Heller was appointed as the head of this learning institution, or Rosh Yeshiva.

Mizrachi Movement

In addition to his work at the Yeshiva, Rabbi Heller set aside time to serve the people of Safed in a variety of ways, such as volunteering his time to establish the neighborhood known as Tzofia, on Har Canaan, and founding and standing at the head of a branch of the Mizrachi (Religious Zionist) Movement in Safed. Through his work in Mizrachi, he influenced the Safed community to greater activism within this organization. Heller was also involved in organizing the Hagana, the fledgling Jewish defense force, raising funds for the purchase of firearms. Rabbi Heller received a prize from the Hagana for his service to this cause.

During the War of Independence, Rabbi Heller stood at the head of the Homefront Command and of the local draft board where he fought against draft evasion even as families of draft evaders sent him death threats. During this time, Rabbi Heller entered the public conscious and won broad consensus with his Jewish legal precedents on waiving the observance of commandments in order to save lives.

In March of 1938, while on his way from Haifa to Safed, Rabbi Heller’s taxicab was attacked by a gang of Arab bandits, close to the village of Shazur. Heller, by dint of what seemed a miracle, was the only one saved among the passengers, victims of the cruelest type of slaughter.

Later Years

After Israel’s War of Independence, Rabbi Heller stood at the head of the Safed religious council, while continuing to manage the Yeshiva. He also published many books and articles. His major work, “The Rabbi, the Leader, and the Doctor,” was a biography of his great grandfather, Rabbi Shmuel Heller (1989). Avraham Heller received a medal honoring him as a Defender of Safed, from the former commander of the Palmach, Yigal Alon.

At the end of his life, Rabbi Heller lived in Central Israel but asked to be buried in the beloved city of his birth, Safed. Avraham Heller passed away on the 4th of the Hebrew month of Tevet 5751 (December 22, 1990) at the ripe old age of 96. Hundreds of Safed residents, most of them veteran fighters from the Hagana and the IZL, accompanied him to his final resting place in heavy rains to the old cemetery of Safed where he was buried near his ancestors. The mayor of Safed at that time, Zeev Pearl, eulogized Rabbi Heller, stating that he was, “among the heroes and the defenders of the city.”

Avraham Zeidah Heller was a symbol of tolerance and respect, and always had an ear for his fellow man.  He received the posthumous appellation Yakir (Beloved) of Safed, in 2003.

During the Middle Ages, the majority of the Jews living in the Land of Israel lived in Tzfat. During the 16th and 17th centuries A.D., Tzfat was a comfortable and inviting habitat for Jews. There were economic opportunities for people living in Tzfat, and Torah study was flourishing. Tzfat was also developing as the world center of Kabbalah study, and during this time, some of Judaism’s biggest rabbis and scholars came to live, study and work in Tzfat.
As time went by it became increasingly difficult for residents of Tzfat. Earthquakes leveled the city twice, and attacks by neighboring Arabs created panic. By the early part of the 20th century, the population had diminished considerably, and the famine caused by the Turks before and during World War I made the situation in Tzfat intolerable – the majority of the population left Tzfat, and by 1920, there were former-Tzfat families who had emigrated to every corner of the world.

Today, descendents of these families come back to Tzfat to visit from such far-flung places as Brazil, Australia, South Africa and Canada. They know almost nothing about their families’ history in Tzfat other than a few names and the fact that their ancestors had once lived in Tzfat. They are all curious about these ancestors and look for information that may help them put their genealogical puzzles together.

Mapping The Cemetery

Several resources exist for such researchers. One resource is a unique tour guide, David Amiel , who has extensively studied Tzfat’s history. David is interested in the people who lived in Tzfat, and his vast knowledge has made him a valued resource for many researchers who have contacted him – he graciously shares whatever he knows about each family, which is generally extensive and detailed….who married who, where they lived, what they did, and most importantly, what has happened to the various family members. David has helped many families reunite with cousins from throughout the world. David can be contacted at amiel64@walla.com.

Tzfat’s second resource for genealogy researchers is another well-known tour guide, Haim Sidor, who has embarked on a remarkable project of mapping the Tzfat cemetery. With little support or funding, Haim has, for many years, been quietly visiting the Old Tzfat cemetery several times each month, walking through the weeds which cover the tombstones to try to decipher the names, birthdates, parents’ names, and any other information which can be found on these tombstones. Genealogists see cemeteries as gold mines for finding information about ancestors, and this is doubly true in Jewish cemeteries where the names of the deceased are often written together with the names of the deceased’s parents.

Haim is a known figure in Tzfat – he is one of Tzfat’s most popular and knowledgeable tour guides.  His work in mapping the cemetery is a labor of love, as he believes that remembering the names and histories of the people who build Tzfat and filled her streets with Torah and Judaism is the ultimate respect that can be shown. Haim can be contacted at hsidor@netvision.net.il

Finally, the Tsfat Roots Online Resource is a website created to enable researchers to look for historical and genealogical information from one centralized site. Haim Sidor’s cemetery mapping is here, as are a number of historical documents, including burial and population records, passport registration records, a list from the Tzfat Old Age Home, and a membership list from the 1912 Kollel (Study House). The lists can be accessed at http://www.tsfat.com/projects/tsfatroots/tsfatroots.htm

With the long, hopefully rainy winter still usually in the stage of anticipation at Chanukah-time, Israelis welcome Chanukah as a sort of last fling before hunkering down in their houses next to the heaters for the coming winter months.

Chanukah comes out on the Jewish calendar in December.  It’s a week-long holiday of school vacation. There are, however, no major religious preparations, restrictions or laws, aside from the tradition of lighting the Hannukia, or Menorah (8-branched candelabra) every evening. So it’s a holiday that is enjoyed in a relaxed atmosphere by all.

Background of Chanukah

Chanukah may be known in some circles as “the Jewish Christmas” because it falls in December, seen by some as a convenient  Jewish alternative to Xmas. It’s anything but that. Chanukah commemorates the victory of the Jews of the second century B.C.E. over the Hellenists who sought to bury Judaism in favor of pan-Greek ideology. Consecrated oil found in the trampled Temple of Jerusalem was enough to burn for one day, but instead, miraculously burned for eight days – hence Chanukah is celebrated for eight days.

In some parts of Israel, the Christmas tradition of giving gifts has become popular, but not so in Tzfat, where Chanukah is still fairly simple – some families buy small presents for their children, but it’s not prevalent and certainly not as gift-oriented a holiday as in other parts of Israel. In Tzfat, even those gifts which are bought tend to be board and card games which the children can play (during the week-long school vacation) with family and friends.

Most businesses close early during Chanukah to enable the employees to return home in time for candle-lighting which, ideally, is done at nightfall. Some businesses, however, are unable to close early. It’s not unusual to be shopping in a Tzfat supermarket on Chanukah and hear, over the loudspeaker, “we will now be lighting the Chanukah lights at the front of the store. All shoppers are invited to join.” At that point, most shoppers leave their carts, and more interestingly, workers leave their counters and cashiers leave their stations as everyone gathers in the front of the store to say the blessings and light the candles.

Festival of Lights in Tzfat

One of the laws that is associated with Chanukah is the injunction to “publicize the miracle” by placing the Chanukah lights in a public place. In most countries, Jewish families put their menorahs by their windows so that they can be seen from outside. But in Israel, and especially in Tzfat, many people own glass coverings which are fitted on a box over their menorah. These boxes, with the lit menorah inside, are hung on hooks next to the doorways and the gates of the homes, on the outside (street-side) of the house. Although many of these menorahs are quite expensive, no one has ever heard of one being stolen, and it’s a beautiful sight to walk down the streets of Tzfat and see the lights of the menorahs burning in the windows and doorways of the homes. Many families have the tradition of giving a separate menorah to each child, and some homes are full and bright with Chanukah lights, lighting up the entire town.

A Town Celebrates

Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Israel Independence Day, is preceded by several days of remembrance in the Jewish calendar – Holocaust Remembrance Day, Tzfat Day (commemorating the liberation of Tzfat during the 1948 War of Independence) and Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers.

So it almost comes as a bit of a surprise when, at the moment that the siren for Memorial Day sounds to end that day, celebrations break out to usher in Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel Independence Day. The fireworks begin, the music blares, and Tzfat explodes in lights and excitement as residents stream to the center of town from all neighborhoods to celebrate together.

Colored lights are strung throughout the main street of the town – no matter how far the new neighborhoods are from the center of town, everyone is drawn to the main street for the major festivities.

By sunset, youngsters start patrolling Jerusalem Street, Tzfat’s “main drag” with cans of silly string, which they spray on anyone who crosses their path, and when night falls, these kids are racing around the street covered in foam of many colors.

Central Stage

The central stage of Tzfat’s Independence Day gala is generally set up outside, next to the historic Saraya building. The city does this for practical purposes…..it’s the area with the most open space in the vicinity of Jerusalem Street. But there’s also a bit of poetic justice in seeing Israelis celebrating their independence at the site of the government headquarters of both the Turkish and the British governors, both of whom represented occupying powers which tried to thwart the Jewish dream of an independent Jewish country.

The stages have performances by Tzfat’s youth clubs’ dancing and singing groups. Almost everyone has a child or neighbor who is performing, so for the first few hours, most merrymakers can be found in this vicinity. Then, after the 10:00p.m. fireworks, the main performance begins as a well-known performer who has been invited to Tzfat for the evening commences his or her evening performance. Various social groups of elderly citizens stake out their corners of the town and watch, bemusedly, as the festivities get underway.

One “performance” which is mandatory is the mayor’s speech. Every mayor in recent memory has tried to speak, and only those with exceptionally strong amplifying systems have succeeded, but there’s plenty of politics as representatives of the various political parties and interest groups work the crowds, promoting their particular stand or belief. Recent years have seen a proliferation of ecological and environmental activists out and about at the Yom HaAtzmaut celebrations – a sign that, even in Tzfat, times change, often for the better.

The Days Following Passover

Judaism has sometimes been referred to as a schizophrenic religion – it jumps from one extreme to another so quickly that it’s hard to keep track of what is being celebrated, remembered, memorialized, commemorated, observed, marked or honored from one day to the next.

Nowhere in the Jewish calendar is this more apparent than in the weeks following Passover. Passover itself is a culmination of weeks of pressured cleaning and cooking, preparing for the seven-day festival (eight days outside of Israel) when households must be rid of all the food, crumbs, dishes and utensils from the rest of the year, and clean “Pesach utensils” and new Kosher-for-Passover food must be stocked. When the holiday finally begins, sighs of relief can be audibly heard throughout the city as residents begin a week of celebration and relaxation. And an ideal way to spend vacation time is in a Safed Passover holiday home.

The second day of Passover begins the 7-week “sephira” or counting, when Jews count the 50 days between Passover and Shavuot, between the historical Exodus of the Children of Israel from Egypt to the day when they stood at Mt. Sinai and received the Torah. This period has several days of commemoration, some of which have a very special significance for the people of Tzfat.

Days of Remembrance

The first is “Yom HaShoah”, Holocaust Memorial Day. Coming one week after the end of Passover, the days leading up to Yom HaShoah are somber, as Tzfat residents who survived the Holocaust speak in schools and public forums about their experiences. On Yom HaShoah, a siren sounds at 10 a.m., which is a signal throughout the country for people to stand for 2 moments of silence of respect. Many people make an effort to come to the main street of the town, Rehov Yerusalayim, in order to stand together with other Jews at this time. When the siren goes off, everyone stops where they are, though oftentimes, one can see some of the younger people moving over to stand next to the survivors.

The scene repeats itself a week later on Memorial Day, when the country commemorates the soldiers who have given their lives during Israel’s wars and struggles for survival.

First the city commemorates Tzfat Liberation Day, when the miracle of Tzfat’s liberation during the War of Independence is remembered. Elderly men and women, veterans of the battles for Tzfat, make their way up to Tzfat from throughout Israel for the commemoration, and they are honored in an evening ceremony at the town’s central auditorium. The names of the slain soldiers and civilians are read and memorialized, and the evening ends with the Defenders of Tzfat 1948 standing throughout the auditorium, singing their anthem.

On Memorial Day itself the main activity takes place in the military cemetery. Streams of people start moving to the cemetery from the morning hours, and at 11:00a.m., the central memorial ceremony begins – standing together in the small cemetery which borders and overlooks Tzfat’s ancient cemetery are hundreds of Tzfat citizens, friends and relatives of the soldiers and civilians who died in Israel’s wars. The crowd represents every facet of Israeli society…..Ultra Orthodox stand next to secular, Sepharadim (North African Jews) hug Ashkanazim (Eastern-European Jews) and the chants of prayers of remembrance are heard in a dozen accents, dialects and traditions as all Tzfat stands together in honor of these young men and women.

Beginnings of the Jewish Nation

After the Exodus from Egypt, the Children of Israel walked towards Mt. Sinai where, 50 days after they fled Egypt, they received the Torah from God.

Remembering this period, Jews today count “the Omer” — 50 days from the beginning of the Passover holiday until they reach the Shavuot holiday, the holiday when Jews commemorate receiving the Five Books of Moses, the Torah.

The 7 week Omer period is a somber time, when religious Jews traditionally refrain from hearing live music or attending performances, holding large celebrations (including weddings) or even getting haircuts. Each day, during morning prayers, Jews “Count the Omer”, saying “this is the third week and the 2nd day (the 23rd day) of the Omer”, etc.

Feast of the Pentecost

As the fiftieth day approaches, preparations for Shavuot, also known as the Feast of the Pentecost,  begin in earnest. Since Shavuot has few requirements, it’s an easy and fun holiday to prepare for…..it’s traditional to eat dairy foods on Shavuot (since the Children of Israel are said to have refrained from eating meat until they received the Torah and its laws of kashruth) so during the week preceding Shavuot the dairy counters of the Tzfat supermarkets are crowded, and the workers often find themselves dispensing cooking advice with the cheeses (“try this one, it makes a great quiche”).

One Shavuot tradition which is observed throughout the world today has its roots in Tzfat – that of staying up throughout Shavuot night to study Torah. The ARI, the great Kabbalist R’ Isaac Luria, began that tradition when he lived in Tzfat in the 16th century, and today it is practiced by Jewish communities worldwide. In Tzfat, children remain with their parents, usually the fathers, for much of the night, wandering home alone when they are ready to go to sleep. The streets are full of people on Shavuot night, moving from synagogue to synagogue, class to class, and no one thinks twice about an 8-year-old who is walking home alone.

One Shavuot law states that everyone is required to hear the Ten Commandments read aloud. Groups of young men walk through Tzfat on Shavuot day, calling to residents who may not have been in a synagogue yet that day, inviting them to come outside and hear the portion read. On streets and lanes throughout the town, little groups gather on street corners and in local parks to hear the readers chant the Ten Commandments. Oftentimes, the readers are called into the homes of people who are confined to their apartments, and they go in joyfully, pleased to help someone fulfill the law of hearing the Ten Commandments read.

Children also look forward to Shavuot for another reason…..Shavuot is the unofficially opening of summer.  Throughout the town, children bring their water balloons and water guns to the local parks and public squares as Shavuot water fights break out. Most adults know that this is the time of day to stay inside, but after their nights of learning, they are prepared to hand the streets over to the children, who gleefully enjoy ushering in the summer with their water wars.

Passover in Safed

Pesach is a holiday that celebrates freedom. Want to feel truly liberated? Freed from the scrubbing and cleaning and turning over your house so it is Pesach certified? A Passover vacation rental will do just that.

For Passover 2016, treat yourself like royalty. In a Passover house rental, the scrubbing has already been done and the cupboards and rooms are all cleaned of chametz. If you wish to use the dishes, Pesach meat and milk dishes, cutlery, utensils and pots and pans are provided so you can cook with ease in the state-of-the-art kosher for Pesach kitchen.

If a Passover villa appeals to you, check out Villa Tiferet in the heart of the Artists’ Quarter of Tsfat. Combine a spiritually uplifting stay in Tsfat and private family time in a large, deluxe home. And during chol hamoed, enjoy the beauty of Israel’s north right at your doorstep.

Preparing for Passover

One April, not many years ago, a group of Christian tourists from the Netherlands were walking through the lanes of Tzfat’s Old City. In addition to the regular tourist sites….the galleries, synagogues and shops, the visitors watched in amazement as the local residents scurried around, preparing for Passover.

Buckets of water seemed to be washed out of every house that they passed. Entire families had set up tables and chairs outside their front doors so as to not bring breadcrumbs into their Passover-ready homes. Children raced through the streets with wagons of pots and pans to be taken to a synagogue – the utensils would be rendered kosher for Passover by immersing them in a vat of boiling water.

At some point on their tour, the group’s leader, a minister, stopped a local resident. “If you would be so kind” the minister asked him “we are aware that you are preparing for your Passover holiday. But we are curious about what we are seeing here today. Can you explain?”

The resident proceeded to give the group a short rundown of the holiday and the preparations necessary for religious Jews to celebrate it properly. He explained how Jews clean out their entire house to make sure that no bread crumbs are left in the house. He described how Jews replace their eating utensils with Passover dishes, pots and pans which are unboxed just for this one week holiday. He told them that religious Jews scrub their kitchens, pick through corners with toothpicks, and take a blowtorch to their stovetops in order to render everything kosher for Passover. And he described how Jews completely replenish their pantries and food stocks so as to insure that no “chametz” or non-Passover food is eaten during the holiday.

When the 10-minute explanation had finished, the group’s members thanked the resident for helping them to understand the holiday more fully. But as the resident walked away, he was heard to mutter, “they must think that we’re crazy. We are ABSOLUTELY crazy.”

Passover in Tzfat

One of the things that makes Passover so special in Tzfat is that, with very few exceptions, the entire population of the town is doing exactly the same thing. Everyone, no matter where they fall on the spectrum of religious observance, is cleaning and changing over their kitchens to a kosher-for-Passover one. While some areas of the country have strongly secular populations which are not interested in the traditions and laws of Passover, the number of such people in Tzfat can probably be counted in the double digits, if that.

Aside from the certainty that most people have of being able to eat in their neighbors’ houses during Passover, this almost-universal adherence to the laws of Passover in Tzfat has other benefits, which the shoppers, mainly women, can attest to.

Since shopping for Passover involves buying absolutely everything for the holiday afresh, the shopping expedition for Passover is generally a 2-3 hours affair for the average household. As people wait in line with their purchases, women begin to swap recipes. Thus, one can, in a few minutes, collect a wide variety of recipes for Passover – last year, one housewife related that her shopping trip netted her recipes for Moroccan fish, Tunisian stew, Persian cookies, Polish Passover pancakes, and Russian Passover “bagels”. This year, she claims, she’s going to ask for invitations to all of these homes to taste the various dishes.