Safed (Zefat) Photos

View north: This photo was taken from Mt. Arbel across the Israeli town of Migdal, looking toward Safed (top center). Below Safed, you can see the Wadi Amud making its way toward the Sea of Galilee.

View south: This photo was taken from the citadel of Safed overlooking the Sea of Galilee. Safed is sometimes used to represent the “City on a hill” from the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:14).

View north: Safed (upper center). This photo was taken with a telephoto lens from the eastern slope of Mt. Arbel on a trail descending to Magdala (see “Magdala” on page 211).

View south: The IDF Monument at the Safed citadel, overlooking the Sea of Galilee (center right), Lower Galilee, and parts of the Golan (not pictured; See the bottom photo on page 76).

View northwest: Mt. Meron, the highest mountain in Upper Galilee, viewed from the west side of the citadel. The communication towers on the northern peak were targeted by Hezbollah rockets in 2024.

View northeast: This photo was taken from the east side of the citadel, looking toward the hills that make up the modern city of safed.

View west: a typical street scene in Safed with an open-air restaurant (center) and an orthodox Jew walking up the street, gazing at his smartphone.

The owner of the Lahuhe restaurant that serves original Yemenite food. It is, according to him, “one of the best food experiences in Israel.” After eating my lunch (bottom center), I had to agree.

The inside of the mid-sixteenth-century Ari-Ashkenazi Synagogue named after Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534–1572), founder of Lurianic Kabbalah.

View north: the southern entrance to Safed’s Artists’ Quarter, with shops that sell photography, prints, sculpture, ceramics, handmade jewelry, paintings, and Judaica (Jewish-related objects).

one of many artist galleries with paintings that depict different themes. Often the salesperson is the artist themselves. Some galleries feature the work of more than one artist.

The entrance to the “Tzfat Kabbalah Center,” where they hold classes and provide an excellent audio-visual presentation on Kabbalah.

The Safed Candles Gallery contains familiar biblical scenes, including this one of Samson destroying the Philistine building in Gaza, killing himself and three thousand others (see Judg. 16).

View north: The blue graves in the Safed cemetery belong to Holy Men, or Tzadikim (םיקידצ means “righteous” in Hebrew). Holy men are those who don’t have evil inclinations.

Mt. Meron (top right) and the Safed Cemetery. Many important Jewish leaders are buried in the cemetery, including Rabbi Isaac Luria (see photo on page 81).

This store is an example of one of Safed’s many Judaica shops. In the window you see silver candle holders and menorahs in various styles. The banner on the right advertises other objects for sale.