Early Safed History
(Hebrew: צפת / Pronounciation: Tse-fat / Spelling: Tzfat, Zefat, Zfat, Safet, Tzfad, Zfad, Tsfat / Other Names: Safed / Definition: Known history of Tzfat, Israel)
Historians and archaeologists are not certain when Tzfat was settled nor how far back Jewish settlement of Tzfat can be traced. However, tevidence from a number of different directions indicate that Tzfat has played an important part in Jewish history for over 2000 years.
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Early Settlement
The earliest archaeological evidence in Tzfat is dated as approximately 4000 years old. These artifacts, notably a sword and some bracelets found near Safed, have no connection to any Jewish community.
Isralite Settlement
The Isralites conquered the Land of Israel approximately 1300 BCE. The Tzfat region was settled by the Tribe of Naftali. Historians believe that pagans lived in the area after the Assyrians exiled the Ten Tribes from the Land of Israel in roughly 726 B.C.E. but Jews returned to the area when the Hashmoni’im reconquered the region 2100 years ago.
City of Refuge
Some scholars believe that, during this time, Safed was a City of Refuge, on of a network of such Biblically-ordained cities. According to the Torah, Cities of Refuge provided murderers, in certain cases, a place where they could escape to live out their days. No archaeological evidence exists to support this presumption.
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 the Rosh Hashana “masechet” -- section -- 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” -- First and Second Temples -- 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
A further reference to Tzfat comes from Josephus, the Jewish General who fought against the Romans and ultimately joined the Roman cause. Josephus wrote in Chapter 25 of his book “The War of the Jews” that he had stationed a battallion of Jewish soldiers on the hilltop of a town in the Galilee that he called “Seph” /”Zeph.” Historians believe that this refers to the area that is present-day Tzfat and agree that this description jives with existing knowledge of Josephus’s battle strategy against the Roman legions and the battles that were fought in the region.
Tzfat Cemetery
The Tzfat cemetery is best known for the graves of the great rabbis and kabbalists of the Middle Ages but graves of ancient rabbis and other personalities attest to the importance of the site, both before and during the Roman era.
Grave of Hannah and her Seven Sons
Along the southern edge of the cemetery a small cave is set into the hillside. Tradition relates that this grave is the grave of Hannah and her Seven Sons. According to the tradition, Hannah watched as her seven sons were killed by the Hellenist rulers in the 1st century B.C.E. She urged her sons to submit to death rather descecrate “halacha” -- Jewish Law. After her youngest son was killed Hannah killed herself and the community buried them together, in the cave below Safed.
Graves of Hoshaya the Prophet and Tannai’im
Nearby is the gravesite of Hoshaya the Prophet and a few minutes walk away from that “kever” is the gravesite of Pinchas Ben Yair, a “tanna” -- compiler of the Talmud. Other “tana’aim” buried in the area are Binyamin HaTzaddik and Nachum Ish Gamzu whose graves are located in a southern Tzfat neighborhood.
Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Era
After the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem many survivors fled to the North. Talmudic scholars and teachers, including compilers of the Talmud, settled in Tzfat.
City of Refuge for Priests
No written mention is known of the fate of Tzfat’s citizens during the revolts against the Romans. Two readings, Eikhah Yashevah and Zekhor Eikhah, which were written by Eleazar Kallir to be read on the Ninth of Av, the Jewish day of mourning, refer to Safed as a place where the priestly families of Jakim and Pashhur settled after the destruction of the Temple.
Byzantine and Post Byzantine Era
Historians note that the Byzantines massacred many Gallilean Jews in 628 CE in revenge against the Jews who helped the Persians conquer the country in 618 CE. The Jews of Tzfat may have also suffered this fate.
The Cairo Genizah provides evidence that a community of Jews lived in Safed from the end of the Byzantine era until the Crusaders conquered the region in the 11th century.