How Safed Became One of the Four Holy Cities of Eretz Israel in the 16Th Century1

HOLY INHABITANTS OF A HOLY CITY: HOW SAFED BECAME ONE OF THE FOUR HOLY CITIES OF ERETZ ISRAEL IN THE 16TH CENTURY1 Yair Paz Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, Israel Introduction In 1492, in the wake of the Expulsion from Spain, Jews began migrating eastwards towards the Ottoman Empire. In 1516 the Ottomans conquered Eretz Israel and after that the stream of Jews coming to settle there and particularly in Safed increased. In fact the period of flourishing in the city from 1525 to 1575 is known as ‘the golden age of Safed.’ The Jewish population of the city, which at its height—according to cautious estimates—was about 5,000 (out of a total population of 10,000), made it the second largest aggre- gation of Jews in the world (after Salonika). Other estimates give it more than twice that number. (Schechter 1908; David 1993, 108–110; Shur 2000, 49; Avizur 1983, 353–360). For comparison, in Jerusalem, which was the second largest Jewish community in Eretz Israel, there were only 1,000–2,000 Jews and that number remained unchanged in those years, as did the populations of other Jewish centers in Eretz Israel. Beside the impressive demographic growth, it is important to note the characteristics of the immigrants: one of the outstanding features of this population is that it included several hundred sages who reached Safed in those years, most of them involved in mysticism. Among them were the figures that became the leaders of the Kabbalists of Safed, R. Isaac Luria (Ari), R. Haim Vital, R. Joseph Karo, R. Moses Cordovero, R. Solomon Alkabez, R. David Ibn Zimra and other influential Kabbalists. That ‘holy inhabitants’ made Safed ‘the city of Kabbalists’, the main popularity and importance of which in the Jewish world derived from spiritual fermentation that took place there at that time. 1 I wish to thank my colleagues at Schechter institute, Dr. Doron Bar and Prof. Renée Levine Melammed who read the article and commented on it. 238 yair paz The purpose of this article is to discuss the intriguing question as how a small and remote mountain town, almost unmentioned in ancient sources (except for two marginal mentions) became in a short time such an important Jewish center and even received the title of being one of the four ‘holy cities’ of Eretz Israel. Was the strong attraction to Safed the result of historical-economic conditions alone that brought about the ‘sanctification’ of the town, or were there more spiritual reasons or unknown traditions in the background of the exceptional attraction of that ‘holy inhabitants’ to the town and these caused the dramatic change in its status?2 This question will be considered from a relatively new inter-disciplinary point of view combining the methodologies of historical-geographical research and the study of the history of mysticism in the 16th century, which is called cultural-historical geography (Baker & Biger 1992; Ben-Arzi 1996, 18–45). Discussion of Historical-Geographical Conditions Most of the researchers involved in the historical background and geographical-economic conditions of 16th century Safed follow in the footsteps of the studies by Ben-Zvi (Ben-Zvi 1976) and Avizur (Avizur 1963; For the historical background see Rozanes 1933, 168–208). Specialists in the history of Kabbalah in Eretz Israel also generally rely on Avizur with regards to the centrality of Safed at that time (e.g. Zak 2002, 51–52 and the references there). Avizur, on the basis of industrial infrastructure in the Safed area at that time, concludes that there were 18,000 Jews living there out of a total population of 25,000 (Avizur 1983, 358). He cites four primary factors that brought about this dramatic prosperity: The stable secu- rity situation of the Ottoman Empire in the sixteenth century; the low cost of living; (relative) proximity to the port of Sidon; the attrac- tive economic base of the Safed area (in particular the springs as a basis for the wool industry). He concludes: ‘The waters of Safed 2 The expression ‘four holy cities’ is particularly noticeable in Izhak Ben-Zvi’s studies, but is common in the terminology of the history of Ottoman Eretz Israel and differs from the more routine expression ‘holy community’ which was attached to every Jewish community, such as Jaffa, Gaza or Shechem. The question of the unique growth of Safed is sharpened in the light of the rapid decline of this glo- rious period in the history of the city, in the last quarter of the century..

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