Different destinations serve different vacation purposes. For sun and sea, head to the Mediterranean coast, but if it’s a spiritual spa you’re seeking – head for the hills: The Holy City of Safed (Tzfat) perched atop the mountains of Galilee comes with a mystical vibe that’s hard to ignore.
My soon-to-be soldier son and I headed to the Capital of the Galilee recently for a two-day trip. When we arrived the city was preparing for the annual Klezmer Festival but the surge of COVID cases resulted in the event being postponed. Nonetheless, nothing stops the music in Safed. The sounds of weddings and barmitzvahs were heard emanating from the town’s picturesque courtyards and alleyways and tour guides and visitors burst into song at various points. It’s hard to visit the place where Rabbi Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz in the 16th century wrote Lecha Dodi, and where Rabbi Isaac Luria (Ha’Ari) created the custom of kabbalat shabbat, welcoming the Sabbath, without at least humming the tune.
The green Galilean mountains have a certain timelessness to them. “Who even has a watch?” one local replied when I tried to ascertain when we were meant to meet. Later, admiring the spectacular sunset over Mount Meron I appreciated the sentiment. There is a natural rhythm, like the time for prayers, dictated in terms of sunrise and sunset.
Safed is one of Israel’s four holy cities, along with Jerusalem, Tiberias and Hebron. Kabbalists – and you meet many in Safed – will tell you that each of the cities is associated with one of the four elements. Safed is air – ruah in Hebrew, meaning both wind (air) and spirit. It has been known throughout the ages as the “City of Sages and Mystics.”
We were invited as the guests of Ascent, a spiritual center offering programs from short trips to longer retreats, Sabbath stays, volunteering and programs on Kabbalah and the Jewish experience.
Pre-corona, some 60,000 visitors a year took part in one program or other. Ascent is a hostel with a Jewish accent. It was founded in 1983 by Rabbis Shaul Leiter and Yerachmiel Tilles, both of whom were influenced by the Woodstock experience, along with Rabbi Moshe Wisnefsky. The hippy-turned-Chabad atmosphere prevails.
Dan Marans, Ascent’s director of strategic development, related how he first arrived as a young self-searching student, having just returned to Israel from India. “Ascent serves as a hostel but is much more than that,” he explained. “Our purpose is to touch people’s hearts. Many Jewish youngsters live in a disconnected and alienated digital world. Ascent helps them reconnect to their past, to themselves, to their families and to the Jewish people.”
We met on the patio with an astounding view of the Galilee and were invited to participate with a group from abroad in a “percussionist workshop.” This was a chance to learn about instruments, some homemade, from around the world eventually coming together to create the Safed spiritual sound. Adding to the atmosphere, the session was held in an Ottoman-period cavern with impressive arches. Later Marans set up an impromptu shofar preparation workshop which also appeals to all ages.
From the music workshop, we made our way on a tour of the city guided by Ascent’s “Arbel Hametayel” (roughly translated as Arbel the Wanderer). Safed’s heart is the Old City with its quaint cobbled alleys and stone steps. During our short stay it became clear that it’s best to take a guided tour (and there are many tour guides looking for work). Arbel showed us places we might have missed and filled in the background stories and local color. In Safed, the predominant color is blue – loaded with spiritual significance in Judaism – and the stories include many miracles and tales like that of Savta Yocheved (Grandma Yocheved) who every day sat in a narrow alleyway waiting to offer sustenance to the Messiah on his way to Jerusalem.
All tours of Safed include stops at some of the most beautiful and meaningful synagogues. Visiting hours tend to be limited. We managed to enter only some of the most famous: The Ashkenazi Ha’Ari Synagogue, the heart of Kabbalah; the Abuhav Synagogue; and the Alsheich Synagogue which has remarkably survived intact from the 16th century, despite the earthquakes that left their mark around the city. We left for another time the Joseph Caro Synagogue and the Sephardi Ha’Ari Synagogue.
Ascent offers low-cost guesthouse facilities which include dormitory-style sleeping areas, meals and activities. It is currently renovating the former “Tel Aviv Hotel” opposite the hostel, which is now known as Habayit Betzfat. Habayit is clean, comfortable and conveniently located. The renovations were still ongoing during our stay and it lacked the finishing touches. Ascent aims to operate Habayit Betzfat as a three-star hotel, not fancy but an affordable base for local activities.
We got a taste for opulence when we dined at the Sumac Restaurant in the Villa Galilee on Mount Canaan. The 23-room boutique hotel with a pool and spa has a decidedly French ambiance. The meal, based on fresh local ingredients, was excellent. My meat-eating son in particular enjoyed the culinary range.
We also ate at Boulangerie, which, under chef Noam Bahar, boasts of being Safed’s first dairy restaurant, offering great seasonal food with a French touch and a Galilean twist. In both Sumac and Boulangerie, we received the good advice to leave room for dessert. Maybe this is good advice for life in general.
The Artists Colony has been the hallmark of Safed for years. A new attraction in the Old City is Lahuhe, where the colorful chef Ronen fills Yemenite crepe-like pancakes with a choice of the local cheeses, vegetables and olives delivered with a showman’s patter that attracts attention and patrons.
At the Old Safed Winery, Moshe and Karen Alon told us of their spiritual story and craft.
Long known for its cheeses and wines, the city now has a new spot for culinary tours. Tzfat Distillery 148 offers award-winning Golani whisky. The establishment is beautifully decorated, a reflection of the fact that the owners are the famed Emmanuel Gallery. They chose Safed for the Golani Whisky Visitors Center, General Manager Elio Pereira explained, not only because of its rich history “but also its recent revival as the best place to rejuvenate the soul and dive into the magic of Israel.” When renovations were carried out on the site, a 350-year-old house was discovered underneath, now serving as the perfect wine cellar.
Safed is definitely a city of layers, metaphysical and physical, the result not only of centuries of conquests but also of earthquakes. Perhaps the best way to get a view of Safed’s hidden past is via the Tunnel Tour offered by Livnot U’Lehibanot. Livnot also offers year-round inspirational programs on Jewish heritage. The tunnels, a National Heritage Site, lead you from under today’s Artists Colony, back in time and place to Beit HaKahal, the old Community Center in Safed’s Golden Age, some 500 years ago. Along the way you see a heated mikveh, a communal oven (where halla-baking workshops are now held) and other reminders of the city’s fascinating past.
Our journey also took us to the Canaan Gallery and weavers workshop where we mesmerized as we watched a colorful custom-made tallit being made on a wooden loom. Canaan owner Orna Moor voiced the plight of all those dependent on tourism in the age of corona. Although we saw Birthright and other groups of young visitors, it was clear the town is suffering badly from the lack of foreign tourists who usually pack its narrow streets, choosing arts and crafts to take home.
Many locals were relying on a boost from the now-postponed Klezmer festival but domestic tourism can’t replace the foreign visitors who add to the city’s vibe in normal times.
But the town that survived the Romans, Crusaders, Mamlukes, Ottomans and British Mandate rule and still came through spiritually strong and singing will get through the corona era, too. Mysticism in the mountains has its own eternal power.
liat@jpost.com
The writer was the guest of the places mentioned.