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מרכז לקבלה הצפתית

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Tzfat - The Magical City צפת - עיר קסומה

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Take a walk with us through the ancient cobblestoned city that is infused with art, music and spirituality. Licensed tour guide Adam Budenstein calls Safed (Tzfat) a "beautiful, mystical, magical place. Every stone has a different story to it."

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Zahi Shaked. Israeli tour guide צחי שקד. מורה דרך

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The Abuhav Synagogue is a 15th-century synagogue in Safed, Israel

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Zahi Shaked A tour guide in Israel and his camera zahigo25@walla.com +972-54-6905522 tel סיור עם מורה הדרך ומדריך הטיולים צחי שקד 0546905522 My name is Zahi Shaked In 2000 I became a registered liscenced tourist guide. My dedication in life is to pass on the ancient history of the Holy Land.

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The Origins and History of Kabbalah | carm

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Encyclopedia of Jewish and Israeli history, politics and culture, with biographies, statistics, articles and documents on topics from anti-Semitism to Zionism.

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Can you visualise a Friday night service without the stirring rendition of Lecha Dodi to welcome Shabbat? One could be mistaken to think that this song, with its moving tunes and poetic verses, has been here for eternity. Yet from a historical perspective, Lecha Dodi is relatively recent. It has only been around since the 16th century.

The author of Lecha Dodi was Rabbi Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz (d. 1584). He wrote his name in the first letter of each stanza of the song to form an acrostic, as was the custom of many of the authors of his age. Rabbi Shlomo HaLevi was born in Salonica shortly after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. He studied under some of the greatest Spanish Rabbis of that generation, and was a close contemporary of Rabbi Yosef Karo, the author of the Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law). In 1535, he moved to the city of Tzefat (Safed), where he became part of a circle of great Halachists and Kabbalists. It is recounted that he taught Rabbi Karo the esoteric secrets of the Torah. In exchange, Rabbi Karo taught Rabbi Alkabetz new insights into the revealed aspects of the Torah.

It was in this esoteric, mystical environment that Rabbi Alkabetz composed Lecha Dodi. It took no longer than one generation for this song to catch on across the Jewish world. Today it has become universal.

The words lecha dodi mean 'come my beloved one'. This is based on a Talmudic statement (Shabbat 119a) that on the Shabbat eve, the sage Rabbi Chanina would announce to his community, "Come, let us go out to greet the Shabbat queen".

For those of us who know the area, it is moving to imagine the hills and mountains surrounding Tzefat, with great scholars venturing out of their shuls into the fields, turning towards the west at the time of sunset to 'greet' Shabbat.

This became the refrain to the song. The queen or the bride is Shabbat. Although Shabbat is neither a thing nor a person, the metaphor resonates. It is with great expectancy that we wait every week - we yearn, we look forward with anticipation to the arrival of Shabbat, like a bridegroom welcoming his bride under the chupah.

A Midrash relates that Shabbat 'complains' to G-d that each aspect of creation has a companion, except for Shabbat. G-d declares, "Israel will be your partner". It is this companionship that we renew every week with Shabbat. We identify ourselves as a people connected to the Shabbat. The words of the poet Achad Ha'am (d.1927) resonate in the heart of the Jew: "more than the Jew has kept the Shabbat, Shabbat has kept the Jew."

"Come my beloved one, to greet the bride". "My beloved" is the same 'beloved' referred to in Song of Songs (Shir HaShirim 6:3) - "I am for my beloved and my beloved is for me". 'My beloved' is G-d, and we invite Him to join us as we go together to greet the Shabbat queen.

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Understanding the Siddur: Lecha Dodi (Part I)

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Can you visualise a Friday night service without the stirring rendition of Lecha Dodi to welcome Shabbat? One could be mistaken to think that this song, with its moving tunes and poetic verses, has been here for eternity. Yet from a historical perspective, Lecha Dodi is relatively recent.

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Rabbi Yosef Caro, author of the Beit Yosef and the Shulchan Aruch

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Rabbi Yosef Caro, author of the Beit Yosef and the Shulchan Aruch

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Encyclopedia of Jewish and Israeli history, politics and culture, with biographies, statistics, articles and documents on topics from anti-Semitism to Zionism.

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Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz, a Kabbalist who wrote "Lecha Dodi"

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Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz, a Kabbalist who wrote "Lecha Dodi"

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Encyclopedia of Jewish and Israeli history, politics and culture, with biographies, statistics, articles and documents on topics from anti-Semitism to Zionism.

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Rabbi Isaac Luria, a major Kabbalist in Safed

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Rabbi Isaac Luria, a major Kabbalist in Safed

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Encyclopedia of Jewish and Israeli history, politics and culture, with biographies, statistics, articles and documents on topics from anti-Semitism to Zionism.

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Find out about the many historical synagogues in Safed and learn all about the religious practices of this mystical city as well as hear about the many legends surrounding these holy buildings.

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Zahi Shaked. Israeli tour guide צחי שקד. מורה דרך

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The Rabbi Yitzchak Luria Ashkenazi HaAri Synagogue the Old City of Safed, Israel

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Zahi Shaked A tour guide in Israel and his camera zahigo25@walla.com 972-54-6905522 tel סיור עם מורה הדרך ומדריך הטיולים צחי שקד 0546905522 My name is Zahi Shaked In 2000 I became a registered liscenced tourist guide. My dedication in life is to pass on the ancient history of the Holy Land.

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Get in-depth information on the history of Safed and find out about the city's active historic time line.