Tzefat is a city of miracles and mystics. These miracles were around from the 15th century all the way until today. We will begin our visit with a modern miracle. Our bus driver Yakov shared a personal story. One of his sons had been married for many years before being blessed with children. A rebetzin they knew told the couple to visit the graves of holy men. The couple went to the grave of R’ Meir Ba’al Hanes and the Arizal, which is located in Tzefat. During one visit to the Arizal’s grave, Yakov’s son prayed that if they were blessed with a son, they would name him after the Arizal. Exactly 9 months later Ari Meir was born.
There are 4 holy cities in Israel and each one corresponds with one of the 4 elements of the world.
Yerushalayim = Fire corresponding to the Temple offerings
Tevarya = Water corresponding to the Kineret
Chevron = Earth corresponding to the holy graves of the patriarchs and matriarchs
Tzefat = Wind corresponding to the holy atmosphere
The Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe would say that weekdays in Tzefat feel like the holiness of Shabbat. There is just something special in the air. Our 1st stop was walking through a narrow path. There used to be a woman lovingly known as Savta Yocheved, who lived at the top of this path. Each day she put out a table with biscuits and 2 cups of tea. One was to serve Moshiach when he would arrive as it was traditionally believed that Moshiach will come through a narrow path. Narrow, because the road to Moshiach is one that makes us work on ourselves and sometimes we feel that we are in a narrow pathway. Savta Yocheved is just one citizen of Tzefat from whom we can learn and see how the atmosphere there encourages people to go the extra mile for Torah and mitzvot.
As we sat outside the Arizal shul, Rabbi Kosofsky shared with our fellow travelers foundational concepts of Kaballah and Chassidus. Everything in this world is created by Hashem. There was no raw material when Hashem created the world. Hashem created it with Light of Hashem called אור אין סוף , the infinite light. This light gave off existence and what we see is not the real essence. It is a light of Hashem that makes things exist. Without this light, creation would not be. This is the main idea of the Zohar, written by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (where we began our day). This is what the Holy Arizal spread in Tzefat. This is the Achdut , Unity of Creation. When we say
שמע ישראל ה' אלקנו ה' אחד Hear O’ Israel G-d is our G-d, G-d is One We are reflecting on the unity of creation.
אחד numerically equals 13. Yes, do you remember that number from Meron. It now shows unity and love. What amazing connections we are learning.
Even though the Arizal only lived in Tzefat for a short time, his Kabbalistic teachings live on. He taught that the entire week leads to Shabbat and when we take in Shabbat we should take it in earlier. That is why we begin davening Kabalat Shabbat a bit earlier on Friday. It was the Arizal who would take his students to the apple fields each Friday evening to sing and dance. It was his student who Rabbi Shlomo Alkibitz, who composed Lecha Dodi.
We entered the Arizal Shul, which itself has its own miraculous story. During the War of Independence, a grenade was thrown outside and the shrapnel flew into the shul. Miraculously it hit the bima as the men were bending during davening and no one was hurt. Yet another amazing Tzefat story.
Next shul we visited was the Kosov shul. Notice the similarity to Kosofsky. This shul began with people from the town of Kosov in Europe. This is the shul where after hearing the Rabbi teach about the show bread, a congregant would put challah in the aron for G-d. Each Friday the poor shames, would find the bread and think G-d miraculously sent him food. This exchange went on for weeks. The giver feeling happy and the recipient feeling happy, until one day the rabbi saw what was going on.
This rabbi was not happy and did not react in a nice manner. The Arizal sent him a message that Hashem had received so much joy from this gift and now the rabbi stopped it. The Arizal’s message rings true today. Our job in this world is to elevate the physical to help others. That is part of partnering with Hashem in creation.
Next shul was the Abuhav Shul from Toledo, Spain. Yes, you heard that right. Tradition says that this shul flew over from Spain. After the expulsion Rabbi Abuhav had moved with many Jews to Tzefat. After he died he appeared in a dream to many of his students in Tzefat with a message of woe about his now desecrated shul in Toledo. The next morning when the students all met, low and behold an amazing site met their eyes. The shul from Spain had arrived on its own. This is one of the beautiful stories that could only happen in Tzefat.
By now our travelers were very hungry. They heard there was delicious shawarma in Tzefat. All they had to do was climb 135 steps. Believe us when we say every bite was worth it.