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Updated: May 22, 2025
Safed is a large place on a mountain above the sea in sight of the Nazareth road, and was occupied by the French in 1799. It is said that the Jews have a tradition that the Messiah will come from this place. On the way back to Nazareth the driver stopped at the spring of Kefr Kenna and watered his horses and rested them awhile.
To our left, higher even than the hill we climbed, was holy Safed, to which it is thought our Lord may have pointed when he spoke of a city set upon a hill, that cannot be hid; and straight before us, the object of our hopes and efforts, was snow-clad Hermon, as beautiful, we thought, as an Alp.
Nevertheless, as we strongly recommended it, he wrote a letter to the Governor of Jerusalem, acquainting him with what had occurred, and requesting him to send a few men as a guard. Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore then attended both the German and Portuguese Synagogues, and distributed their benevolent gifts to the men, women, and children in the same way as at Safed and Tiberias.
"I then spoke to him on the subject of the Jews being admitted as witnesses at Safed, Tiberias, and Hebron, in the same manner as in Jerusalem.
"I hope," said Sir Moses in the course of conversation, "that the money I have had the pleasure of distributing yesterday, will produce some comfort and give assistance to the Jews in Safed, especially in their present forlorn situation. Their sufferings during the last five years must have been truly deplorable.
This being accomplished, his work for the day was over. "I am now anxious," said Sir Moses, "to have an interview with the Pasha at Alexandria, for the purpose of claiming of his Highness security for the persons and property of the Jews in Palestine, and particularly for those at Safed and Tiberias where they are continually exposed to insult, robbery, and murder.
All the country was in a most disturbed state, and the Jews of Safed were so much alarmed, that they fled from their homes and had reached Haifa in a very distressed condition. The people at Safed had received information that the Druses were coming to pillage the place. The Governor of the town had left it with the few soldiers he had under his command.
The country abounded in fresh streams and in fruits; the large farms were shaded with vines and fig-trees; the gardens were filled with trees bearing apples, walnuts, and pomegranates. The wine was excellent, if we may judge by that which the Jews still obtain at Safed, and they drank much of it.
Many are merely four mud walls, with a mat for a roof. I think the poverty of the Jews in Safed to be great beyond anything that can be imagined either in England or on the Continent of Europe; it must be seen to be credited. I am informed, and do believe, that many are actually starving, and that great numbers died last year of hunger.
We then went to the English Consul, who sent in the course of the day his janissary to attend Sir Moses while we continued in Beyrout. Several representatives of the Hebrew community called to welcome them, and many letters from Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed, and Tiberias were handed to them by special messenger.
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