Safed

Safed, also known as Tzfat, is a city in Israel's Northern District in the Upper Galilee, at an elevation of roughly 850 to 937 meters that makes it the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel. It has been identified with the ancient fortified town of Sepph mentioned by the historian Josephus, served as a Crusader fortress in the 12th century, and grew into a prosperous Ottoman administrative center with substantial Jewish and Muslim populations. During the 1948 war most of its roughly 12,000 Arab residents fled, and the city has since been almost entirely Jewish, with a population of 38,687 in 2024. Safed is one of the Four Holy Cities of Judaism and became a major center of Kabbalah study during the 16th century, and it remains home to a notable Haredi community, Zefat Academic College, and an artists quarter that shaped Israeli art movements.