1660 destruction of Safed

Background

Safed's central role in Jewish life in Galilee declined after the late 16th century, when it had been a major city with a population of 15,000 Jews. By the second half of the 17th century Safed still had a majority Jewish community with 200 "houses" (multiple family units) and some 4,000 to 5,000 Jewish residents, while about 100 "houses" in the town were Muslim. The district was under control of Druze emirs from the Maan family until 1660, when the Ottomans sought to regain local control by reorganizing the sanjaks of Safed and Sidon-Beirut into the province of Sidon. From the 1658 death of Emir Mulhim Ma'n to 1667, a struggle for power between his sons and other Ottoman-backed Druze rulers took place in the region. Mulhim's son Ahmad Maʿn emerged victorious among the Druze, but the Maʿnīs lost control of the area In the 2nd half of the 17th century, Safed became the capital of the Ottoman sanjak of the same name.

Destruction and displacement

Adler, Franco and Mendelssohn claim that the destruction of Safed took place in 1660, Mendelssohn writing that the Jews of Safed "had suffered severely" when the city had been destroyed by the Arabs.

Rosanes brings an account of Safed's Jewish community "utter destruction" in his book "History of the Jews in Turkish realm". However, Scholem writes that the reports of the "utter destruction" of the Jewish community in Safed in this time period "seem greatly exaggerated, and the conclusions based on them are false." He points out that Sabbatai Sevi's mystical movement was active in Safed in 1665. Scholem also attributes to the French trader Laurent d'Arvieux who visited Safed in 1660 an understanding of "the religious factor which enabled the community to survive," a belief "'that the Messiah who will be born in Galilee, will make Safed the capital of his new kingdom on earth'"

Aftermath

Only a few of the former residents of Safed had returned to the town after the destruction. Altogether, the town's Jewish community kept existing despite the events, with Barnai saying that "in the second half of the 17th century the Jewish presence in Palestine dwindled, and the Jewish presence in the Galilee also shrank. Only in Safed was there a small community."

References

References

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2. De Haas, Jacob. (1934). "History of Palestine".
3. Mendelssohn, Sidney. (1920). "The Jews of Asia: especially in the sixteenth and seventeenth century".
4. Franco, Moïse. (1897). "Essai sur l'histoire des Israélites de l'Empire ottoman: depuis les origines jusqu'à nos jours". Librairie A. Durlacher.
5. Schwarz, Joseph. (2018-07-20). "A Descriptive Geography and Brief Historical Sketch of Palestine". [[Carey & Hart]].
6. Barnai, Jacob. (1992). "The Jews in Palestine in the eighteenth century: under the patronage of the Istanbul Committee of Officials for Palestine". University of Alabama Press.
7. Rappel, Joel. (1980). "History of Eretz Israel from Prehistory up to 1882". Israel Ministry of Defense Publishing House.
8. Scholem, Gershom. (2016). "Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah, 1626–1676". [[Princeton University Press]].
9. Altshuler, Mor. (2018-03-14). "The Messianic secret of Hasidism". BRILL.
10. (1947). "Historical Memoranda". General Council ([[Vaad Leumi]]) of the Jewish Community of Palestine.
11. Firro, Kais. (1992). "A history of the Druzes". BRILL.
12. Abu-Husayn, Abdul-Rahim. (2004). "The view from Istanbul: Lebanon and the Druze Emirate in the Ottoman chancery documents, 1546-1711". I.B.Tauris.
13. Salibi, Kamal S.. (2005). "A house of many mansions: the history of Lebanon reconsidered". I.B.Tauris.
14. Scholem writes that there was definitely a Jewish community in Safed in 1664–1667.Scholem, ''loc. cit.'', p. 187.