THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Mystical History of Safed Is Preserved in Remains of Ancient Synagogues There' mystic who fathered the Kabalist movement. Time stands still in Safed, Ari-Kodesh, the Holy a weathered city of an- Ark, is resplendent with tiquity; with its crooked, intricately carved fruit: Oriental alleyways and apples, pears,fat clusters labyrinths of winding, cob- of grapes. Painted col- ' bled streets. It is an ancient umns are crowned by bastion of Jewish schol- elaborate carvings. A arship and mysticism, majestic chandelier whose houses are perched hangs from 'the domed, precariously one atop an- vaulted ceiling in this other, stitching a fairy tale "Hall of Sacred Apples." tapestry of style and sym- Extensive reconstruction metry. was necessary after the "In Safed," it was said, "is 1837 earthquake in which the purest air of the Holy 4,000 people were killed. Land and there is not a Ha'ari Hasephardi, which place where_ they under- withstood the devastation of stand better the profun- the earthquake, has beauti- dities and the secrets, of the fully carved doors, served as Holy Torah." a Hagana barricade, and is It was in Safed in-the year adjacent to the old cemet- 66 that Josephus Flavius, ery, the resting place of its then known as Ben Mat- saintly, medieval scholars. tatia, led the Jewish rebels in their war against the At nearby Mount Meron, Romans and fortified the. Israel's highest peak, are town. In this period, Galilee ruins of a synagogue from had the ra.rgest Jewish the Third Century, quarried population in Palestine. It out of a cliff. Two huge- was here that the priestly, blocks of stone support a families settled after the de- central slab, whose fall, it is struction of the Temple. believed, heralds the advent Within the artists' col- of the Messiah. ony, occupying the old Every year at Meron a Arab quarter, creativity pilgrimage takes place to is at its optimum. The the tomb of Rabbi Shimon, a area abounds in splendid second Century scholar. virtuosity —more than 40 Tl(ousands congregate from resident painters, em- every region, an observance pjoying various media: unbroken for 400 years. oils, lithographs, water Just before nightfall the colors, ceramics. celebration starts with Rehov Yerushalayim prayers in the shrine and runs the length of the city, dancing in the courtyard of circling the top of Safed. the tomb. Throughout the Citadel Hill, at the center, night, bonfires are kindled. has been converted into a Following .a kabalist tradi- public park. From its ter- tion, little boys got their raced garden is an over- whelming panorama of the Galilee down to Lake Korczak Memorial Tiberias. Ancient pine trees , and twisting paths accom- pany the climb up to Givat HaMetzuda, built over the ruins of the Crusaders' for- tress, which rests on the foundation Josephus laid, almost 2,000 years ago. By GLORIA CHARNES (Copyright 1978, JTA, Inc.) . On the summit is a simple war memorial, com- memorating a , miracle, the famous "Davidka," the mor- tar which tricked the Arabs into believing the Jews had a secret weapon during the War of Independence. Against insurmountable odds, 130 Palmach com- mandos infiltrated Arab lines and drove the enemy out. Synagogues stem from mat.he Middle Ages, although any have been rebuilt in part, because of repeated This monument to earthquake-.damage. Down a narrow lane is the Janusz Korczak, who sanctuary of Joseph Caro, was martyred with his where he compiled the schoolchildren by the Shulkhan Arukh, the Nazis, was unveiled re- codification of Jewish law cently at the Yad Vashem from 1555 to 1563. Of sim- Holocaust memorial in ple design, the bima is Jerusalem. enclosed by a wooden rail- ing on floor level. Congreg- Call from Home ants sit cross-legged on CLEVELAND — The cloth-covered couches against walls of delicate Cleveland Aliya Council blue. Women are segre- has arranged for former gated behind a lace curtain. Cleveland residents now Two of the synagogues liviNg in Israel to send free are named for Rabbi telex messages to their Isaac Luria, the famed families in Cleveland. first; haircut under a tre- mendous tree and the clip- pings are ceremoniously cast into the flames. From earliest times, Safed has figured promi- nently in the chronicles of the land. Geniza documents confirm the existence of a Jewish community at the begin- ning of the 11th Century. In 1481, a visitor from Italy, Joseph de Mon- tagna, said about Safed, "It is a pleasant commu- nity of 300 househol- ders." At the start of the 16th Century, which initiated Ottoman rule, Safed be- came the spiritual center of the, country Aid of Judaism. Fdllowing thlir expulsion from Spain, multitudes of Jews fotind asyluin here. They arrived, with business acumen and religious devo- tion. "L'Cha Dodi," the song. of greeting to the Sabbath Queen, a refrain that still forms part of services, was composed here by Rabbi Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz. The firstl printing press in Asia Minor was established in Safed by a father and son from Prague who printed the Book of Esther in 1577. In the early 1700s, Polish Jews, fleeing the persecu- tion of the Cossacks, sought refuge here. Miraculously, despite catastrophic assault by man and nature, Safed has sur- vived. In this town of twisted back alleys and venerable houses of worship Friday, December 22, 1978 27 Wishing All Our Friends & Customers . -where meandering lanes and pathways climb up and down with no logic or direc- tion, one senses a spiritual alliance with the past — the invincible tongues of the Old Testament, of the prophets — Moses and Elija, of Mica and Zecharia. A HAPPY HANUKA PRESCRIPTION OPTICAL CO. 5437334,3,. Oak Park - - — They say it's better to give than receive... not true! Especially if the gift is from: David Wachler& Sons Internationally famous award winning Jewelers American Federal Savings Building 24700 Northwestern Hwy. • Southfield, MI • (313) 356-7322 Your Master Charge and VISA Card Welcome .DEAL CUT DiAtv0i4D JEWELER Rich ground aroma and the fresh perked taste, right for any occasion. 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