Zefat Candles and Ari Synagogue Traditional Cache
Zefat Candles and Ari Synagogue
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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This cache offers a 3 for one package. It is located a mere 30 meters from 3 of Zefat’s main attractions.
- The candle museum is free of charge and very fun to visit.
- The Ari Synagogue is worth a visit to get a feeling for the spiritual part of the city. There is a recorded audio explanation at the site.
- Finally, this is the starting point of the artist’s colony.
The cache is a small plastic container the size of a 35mm container.
Please use stealth as this site is often packed with visitors….
More information:
Safed Candles
The Candle Factory
Safed Candles is such a central site for visitors to Tzfat that it's hard to realize that its history goes back only 18 years.
But in fact, that's the period that the Safed Candles has been situated in the Old City, drawing visitors who marvel at the beautiful candles and beeswax sculptures that are on display there.
Safed Candles was begun almost two decades ago by a Tzfat resident, a member of the Breslav Hassidic sect, who was looking to start a small business that would provide employment for some local residents. He set up his shop in a small cubby-hole on the edge of the Old City, next to the Ari Ashkenazi synagogue. There, a small staff of men and women hand-dipped and wove candles from beeswax into candles to be used for Jewish ceremonial purposes - for welcoming the Sabbath, for the Sabbath-close ceremony, Hannukah candles and others.
Ari Synagogue
The Ari Ashkenazi Synagogue, located in Safed, Israel, was built in memory of Rabbi Isaac Luria, (1534 - 1572), who was known as the "Ari".[1] It dates from the late 16th-century, it being constructed several years after the death of Luria, a great kabbalist who arrived in Safed in 1570. A Hebrew inscription above the entrance lintel reads: "How awe-inspiring is this place, the synagogue of the Ari of blessed memory.” The synagogue is known for its colorful and ornate Holy Ark. It may be the oldest synagogue in Israel that is still in use.
The synagogue was established by Sephardic immigrants from Greece who arrived in Safed during the sixteenth century. When Rabbi Isaac Luria arrived he prayed in this synagogue on the eve of the Shabbat. During the service, he was accustomed to leave the synagogue with his disciples and walk to a nearby field to welcome the Sabbath. The Ari’s tradition of welcoming the Sabbath during Kabbalat Shabbat is still echoed in Jewish communities around the world during the singing of Lecha Dodi, when worshippers turn toward the entrance of the synagogue to "greet" the sabbath.
In the eighteenth century, with the arrival of the Hasidim from Eastern Europe, the synagogue came to serve the Ashkenazi community. The synagogue was destroyed in the Galilee earthquake of 1837, and was rebuilt 20 years later. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War a bomb is said to have fallen in the outside courtyard. Shrapnel flew into the synagogue while it was packed with people seeking shelter, yet miraculously no one was hurt. This event was considered one of many miracles said that took place in Safed. Though the synagogue is associated by name with the Ashkenazi community, today it serves as a place of worship for Hasidic and Sephardic Jews and remains popular among worshippers of different affiliations.
The Holy Ark was carved from olive wood by a craftsman from Galicia, in the style of the synagogues of Eastern Europe. It includes an anthropomorphic image of a lion, alluding to Rabbi Luria's acronym Ari, which means lion.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Evtug haqre gur orapu ng gur irel raq (fbhgu)