Tzfat. Safed. Sefad. However you like to spell the holy city’s name, her mystical, artistic and airy quality remains. Tzfat is one of Israel’s four holy cities, included in the cadre of Chevron, Tiveria and, of course, Yerushalayim, and she certainly holds her weight in the Jewish world. The birthplace of both the Shulchan Aruch codified by R’ Yosef Karo or the Kabbalistic cannon of the Arizal, Tzfat projects Torah 24/7 from pshat to sod. Her stone walls echo music, song and dance, not only during the yearly summer Klezmer festival, but also during a routine yom shlishi. Musicians can be seen walking the streets with their guitars and trumpets, just as routinely as kollel students can be seen walking with their Zohar. Art fills the air in the old city’s artist’s quarter and spills over into the art shuk, where paint covers the walls. Tzfat is the place of dreams come true, since the atmosphere is palpable with the coming of Mashiach. And this is not by chance. The inhabitants of Tzfat are actively preparing to greet the Mashiach on his way to Yerushalayim from the north of Israel, from where he will emerge. And thus, the happiness of his coming and anticipation is a daily reality.
Thus, it should be no surprise that Hadarta.org has chosen Tzfat for its future continuous care retirement community, which hopes to attract North American retirees to the holy city in pursuit of a spiritually fulfilling, slower-paced and musical life full of Torah. In that vein, Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Wilbur, MD of Windemere, New York (now Yerushalayim) and Rabbi Dr. Yosef Glassman, MD, have launched Go2IsraelNow.com as a vehicle to attract interest in Tzfat as a choice option for Israeli retirement, merging the finest of physicality and spirituality. The Go2IsraelNow project has secured the support of the mayor of Tzfat, Shuki Ohana, as well as the chief rabbi of the city, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, shlita. Rabbi Dr. Wilbur will be flying in from Israel to talk with Bergen County residents over the age of 55 about the exciting possibility of retirement in Tzfat in a no-obligation, non-fundraising seminar on February 15, Motzei Shabbat, at the home of Osnat and Rabbi Dr. Yosef Glassman at 8:30 p.m. Please email [email protected] or text/WhatsApp him at 617-610-9416 for precise address. For those who truly want to be part of a strong core, ready to plan an amazing project that will attract North American retirees to the holy city of Tzfat, followed by their children, please join on Feb 15.
