1500 - 1600 CE
Ottoman Rule & Tsfat’s Golden Age of Kabbalah
Explore Ottoman rule in Israel from 1517–1917, Tsfat's (Safed) flourishing Kabbalah era, Dona Gracia’s legacy, and Israel’s first Hebrew printing press.
In 1517, power in the Land shifted to the Ottoman Turks, who ruled from Constantinople, with their regime lasting exactly 400 years.
The effect of the Spanish expulsion reached the shores of Israel, spiking Aliyah (immigration to Israel) and bolstering the four main centers of Jewish life in Jerusalem, Tsfat, Tiberias, and Hebron.
The city of Tsfat (Safed) experienced its golden age in this century and was home to the largest Jewish community in the Land, with about 10,000 Jews at its peak. It also became the center of Kabbalah, the deeper spiritual and esoteric interpretation of the Torah, and granted residence to the most revered Kabbalistic scholars, including the Holy Ari, the Ramak, Rabbi Chaim Vital, and Rabbi Yosef Karo.
Donna Gracia played a key role in resettling European Jews in the Galilee, and the Land of Israel saw its first printing press established during this century.
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