Safed is the principal town of Upper Galilee, situated on a mountain 2,780 ft. (850 m.) high, 30 mi. (48 km.) east of Acre, 25 mi. (40 km.) north of Tiberias. Not mentioned in the Bible, Safed has sometimes been identified with Sepph (Gr. Σεπφ), the city fortified by Josephus in the Upper Galilee at the time of an expected Roman attack in 66 C.E. (Wars, 2:573); the name is missing in a parallel list (Life, 187–8). In the Jerusalem Talmud (RH 2:1, 58a) Safed is mentioned as one of the mountaintop points from which fire signals were given to announce the New Moon and festivals during the Second Temple period. Two liturgical poems for the Ninth of Av by R. Eleazar Kallir , Eikhah Yashevah and Zekhor Eikhah, refer to Safed as a place where priestly families (Jakim and Pashhur) settled after the destruction of the Temple. The name is repeated in the various kerovot (hymns recited before the Amidah) by poets who wrote in the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries. Jewish settlement in Safed is attested by genizah documents from the first half of the 11th century. However, Benjamin of Tudela, who visited the city in 1170/71, stated that no Jews lived there. Fifty years later the settlement was revived under Mamluk protection; R. Zadok, head of an academy of the gaon Jacob, was its most prominent member. Genizah documents confirm that there was a community at Safed in the 13th century; it continued to exist in the time of R. Estori ha-Parḥi (early 14th century). In 1481 the Jewish community of Safed and of the villages in its vicinity numbered 300 families; it flourished under the protection of the Mamluk governors. Toward the end of Mamluk rule the community was greatly strengthened by an influx of refugees from Spain (1492). In 1495 the Jews of Safed were reported as trading in spices, cheese, oil, vegetables, and fruits. The Sephardi element further increased after the Ottoman conquest in 1516. In 1522 R. Moses Basola found 300 Jewish families in Safed, composed of Sephardim, Moriscos, and Jews from the Maghreb. Later,Page 659 three groups emerged among the Jews of Safed: Sephardim, Ashkenazim, and Italians. Among the prominent leaders of the community in the 16th century was R. Jacob (I) Berab , who tried to reestablish the Sanhedrin and renew rabbinical ordination (semikhah ). Other prominent rabbis included R. Joseph Caro , the author of the Shulḥan Arukh, and his contemporary R. Moses Trani . The leading kabbalist R. Isaac Luria lived in Safed and his important disciple R. Ḥayyim Vital resided there for some time. In the 16th century Safed was the center of Jewish mysticism. The spiritual flowering of the town was accompanied by material prosperity. The newcomers established looms, whose products competed with those of Venice . In addition the Jews of Safed traded in the local produce of Galilee: oil, honey, silk, and spices. They also received both Jewish and gentile pilgrims in their homes.

Turkish statistics of 1548 show Safed as the center of a district of 282 villages. Approximately 1,900 families of taxpayers lived in the town (716 of them Jewish), as well as 251 single taxpayers (only 56 of them Jewish). In 1563 the brothers Ashkenazi set up the first printing press in the town (see below); it was not only the first one in Ereẓ Israel but also the first in the Orient. The Jews of Safed had eight synagogues; they numbered their town among the Four Sacred Cities of the Holy Land, calling it also Beth-El. In addition to the Jewish community, Samaritans also lived there during the 16th century. With the gradual decline in the quality of Turkish rule in the 17th century, the prosperity of the Jewish community also began to drop off. The material decline did not immediately influence the spiritual level of the community. In spite of high taxes and 1,200 poor living on charity, there were 300 rabbinical scholars, 18 schools, 21 synagogues and a large yeshivah with 100 pupils, and 20 teachers at the beginning of the 17th century. The Jewish community at that time split into four congregations: Ashkenazim, Portuguese Jews, Provençal Jews, and Italians. Toward the end of the 17th century the community declined rapidly – in 1695/96 only 20 Jews paid the poll tax. An epidemic decimated the community in 1747 and an earthquake in 1759 killed 2,000, among them 190 Jews. After the disaster the survivors began to leave the town; by 1764 there were only 50 Sephardi families in Safed.