Next stop was Tzefat where Sara met her sister Batya, who is learning in seminary for the year. We broke into a few groups and went to lunch. We have been doing this on the trip. It is called Pizur, from the shoresh to scatter. (By the way, the students are really looking around at translating the words and phrases they see based on their shoresh knowledge.) Each chaperone takes a group to the food choices they’d like. Today we had shawarma, pizza and bagel groups. Following lunch we all enjoyed ice cream and popsicles. Thank you again to our friends Joanne Brown and Yael Neffinger for sponsoring this delicious treat.
Tzefat’s history dates back to the 16th century and that is when Tzefat developed its spiritual personality. But before we go back to that time, let’s look at some more modern history. In 1947 when the UN voted for statehood for Israel Arab countries and Israel where preparing for an inevitable war. Tzefat was no different. Under British rule the Arabs and Jews were segregated. We viewed a staircase that had a spotlight on top. The Bristish would watch the stairs to make sure the Jews and Arabs walked on their correct sides. They would shoot at people in the wrong place or those who broke curfew. When the British pulled out of Tzefat in April of 1948 there was a battle to gain control of Tzefat.
Israel attempted to blow up a British police station, but 3 soldiers lost their lives in that attempt. Interestingly Israel; used the Davidka, a weapon that shot bombs to win the battle. They only had 3 of these weapons, but kept moving them around to give the impression of having more. The Davidka’s bark was worse than its bite. In 1948 the memories of the atomic bomb where very much alive and the Arabs believed the rumors that Israel had developed one and was shooting it at Tzefat. This assisted Israel in securing Tzefat before the War of Independence. We stood outside the Davidka and the police station as we heard of the miracles that Hashem performed for Tzefat.
Our 1st stop was the Arizal Askanazi shul. The Arizal was a famous kabalistic rabbi who lived in Tzefat. There are 2 shuls that have his name. One is sephardi and one ashkenazi and the Arizal davened at neither one because they were not built when he was alive. Unfortunately the Arizal shul was closed. It is in the spot that the Arizal and his students would go to every Friday and greet Shabbat. They spent hours davening to Hashem in the fields that overlooked Tzefat. It was here that his students, R’ Shlomo Alkibetz composed Lecha Dodi and R’ Eliezer Azkari composed Yedid Nefesh.
We mentioned there that we daven nusach Ari in school. In 1948 a rocket was shot into this shul. B”H it was shot as ‘Barchu” was being said. The man standing near the bima bent and was not hit. The shrapnel flew in and lodged in the bima. You can still see the mark it left today as a reminder.
Next we stood outside the Kosov shul which was dedicated to the community in Kosov that perished in the Holocaust. This is also the shul where a famous story occurred when the Arizal was alive. In brief the Rabbi had talked about the lechem hapanim and how it was a gift of bread for Hashem. A simple Jew used to then put challah each Fri. in the aron and a poor Jew would take them each Fri. night. The simple Jew thought G-d took them and the poor Jew thought G-d gave them. Eventually the secret was found out. This is the basis for the PJ story Bagels for Benny.
We spent lots of money in Tzefat shopping in the candle factory and the artist colony. There are many nice gifts coming your way.