Safed

Safed, one of the four holy cities of the modern Jews in Palestine, spreads in horseshoe shape round a hill 2700 feet above the Mediterranean, 6 miles NW. of the Sea of Galilee. Here dwell some 12,000 Jews, 5000 Moslems, and 200 Christians. The town was overthrown by earthquakes in 1759 and 1837. A castle of the Christians, built during the Crusades, was destroyed by the sultan of Damascus in 1220, and, having been rebuilt by the Templars, was again taken and destroyed by Beybars of Egypt in 1266. The Jewish colony has been settled here since the 16th century, and embraces many immigrants from Poland.