Want to feed your Jewish soul? Then come to Safed

There are cities in Israel where you go to party (Tel Aviv), others where you go to pray (Jerusalem), and then there’s Safed. Safed or Tzfat, depending on how Israeli you’re feeling, is a city where you go to stare into the distance and think about the nature of the soul. Probably while holding a hand-dipped candle and listening to a man in sandals explain Kabbalah.

Safed is the most unique of Judaism’s four holy cities. Jerusalem has the Temple Mount, Hebron has the Patriarchs, Tiberias has hot springs and Safed has mystics.

Purim being celebrated in the old Abuhav synagogue in SafedGetty Images

The city’s golden age of Judaism came in the 16th century when it became the spiritual refuge of choice for post-Inquisition rabbis. Chief among them was Rabbi Isaac Luria (the Ari), whose fame came to spread Kabbalah across the Jewish world and beyond. Since then celebrities as big as Madonna and David Beckham have come here.

Modern Safed still bears the Ari’s influence not least in the beautiful synagogue bearing his name. In the old city, the Artists’ Quarter, with its labyrinthine alleys and blue-painted arches, is packed with galleries, Judaica shops, and enough rams’ horns to supply an entire yeshiva’s High Holidays celebrations. Here you will find some of the most special Judaica in Israel and the twists and turns of the city’s alleyways are home to all manner of artisan from kosher whisky distillers, to makers of hand-plaited Havdallah candles and Yemeni flatbreads.

Prayer at the tomb shrine of sixteenth century mystic and Kabbalah scholar Rabbi Yitzhak Luria, in SafedGetty Images

Of course, even the most enchanted cities don’t exist in a bubble. Like the rest of northern Israel, Safed has felt the pressure of the last year and a half with rocket alerts, reserve call-ups, and a tourism season that’s been thinner than usual. But, the synagogues are open. The artists are still creating. The shopkeepers still offer you free tea you’re not sure you want. The reaction to the war here is different from the rest of Israel: it’s a quiet insistence on normality rather than a brash Tel Avivian resilience.

Safed is a city you have to absorb. You don’t leave with selfies – you leave with questions. Sometimes quite big ones. Is there a cosmic order to the universe? Can art be a form of prayer? And where, exactly, do you buy a normal sandwich?

Still, there’s nowhere quite like it. And if you’re the kind of Jew who wants your holidays with a side of soul-searching, plus the occasional embroidered challah cover, then Safed is calling.

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​Josh Kaplan was a guest of the Israeli Government Tourist Office