Early Safed History
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|image = [[File:Space holder.jpg|215px|alt=Early Safed History]] | |image = [[File:Space holder.jpg|215px|alt=Early Safed History]] | ||
|header1 = Hebrew: | |header1 = Hebrew: | ||
− | |data2 = ההיסטוריה | + | |data2 = ההיסטוריה של צפת |
|header7 = Description: | |header7 = Description: | ||
− | |data8 = | + | |data8 = Known early history of Tzfat, Israel from Biblical through Roman times.}} |
− | Historians and archaeologists | + | Historians and archaeologists are not certain when [[Safed]] was settled nor how far back Jewish settlement of Tzfat can be traced. However, evidence from a number of different directions indicate that Tzfat has played an important part in Jewish history [[Safed History|for over 2000 years]]. |
== Early Settlement == | == Early Settlement == | ||
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== Talmudic References == | == Talmudic References == | ||
− | Safed, at an elevation of 900 meters above sea level, is the highest city in Israel. The earliest known written reference to Tsfat comes from the Talmud. Talmud Yerushalmi, in Masechet Rosh Hashana mentions “Zefath” as one of the five elevated spots where the fires would be lit to mark a “Rosh Chodesh” -- new month. During the times of the Beit HaMikdash and for several centuries afterward, witnesses in Jerusalem would testify when they spotted a New Moon, as this signified the onset of a new month. A massive bonfire would be lit in Jerusalem and immediately afterward, on successive mountaintops throughout the country. This served as a kind of “smoke signal” to alert the country’s Jews that a new month had begun. The | + | Safed, at an elevation of 900 meters above sea level, is the highest city in Israel. The earliest known written reference to Tsfat comes from the Talmud. Talmud Yerushalmi, in Masechet Rosh Hashana mentions “Zefath” as one of the five elevated spots where the fires would be lit to mark a “Rosh Chodesh” -- new month. During the times of the Beit HaMikdash and for several centuries afterward, witnesses in Jerusalem would testify when they spotted a New Moon, as this signified the onset of a new month. A massive bonfire would be lit in Jerusalem and immediately afterward, on successive mountaintops throughout the country. This served as a kind of “smoke signal” to alert the country’s Jews that a new month had begun. The Safed mountaintop is believed to have been the northernmost spot where these bonfires were lit, visible to the Jews who lived over the borders of the Land of Israel in today’s Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. |
== Roman Era == | == Roman Era == |