Tours to Safed and the Jewish Holy Places Walk the narrow alleyways of the Jewish Mystics in Safed in the 16th century. This is known as the Kabbalah based on the book written by Shimon bar Yohai.Tzfat (Safed) The town of Tsfat is so called because of its location high in the mountains of Upper Galillee. This location made it a safe place for people to live quietly, untroubled by marauding nations, even though they could watch them from their high perch, as they marched, the Egyptians marching to make war on the Babylonians, the Phoenicians on their way to make war on the Egyptians and so on. They sat safely while nations below them, like Babylon and Egypt clashed in battle for the riches and the strategic value of other towns in Israel, which lay, like a bridge between East and West and North and South. Because they weren’t on the main highways, deep ravines separated their town, perched high above all the action and the all-important trade routes, such as the Via Maris. Having li...