Wedding traditions of Safed
A mountain town of Kabbalah where weddings are held near the grave sites of the sages.
Safed is one of the four holy cities of Judaism and a centre of Kabbalah since the sixteenth century. Its stone alleys and old synagogues are the setting for devout weddings. On Lag BaOmer, the day when the Omer mourning pauses, many couples marry in the north.
A wedding here
Observant families keep the tisch, the dancing, the seven blessings and the seclusion of the couple afterward. Some brides immerse in the mikveh the day before. The community may hold singing in the street and a feast for all.
The season and the calendar
The Omer period between Passover and Shavuot is a time when many Jews do not marry, except on Lag BaOmer and the days after. Weddings are also not held during the Three Weeks before Tisha B'Av.
Wedding customs of Safed
Also part of it, and being written: Kabbalah (The mystical tradition.), Mikveh (The ritual bath.), Lag BaOmer (The day of bonfires.).
A wedding trail idea for Safed
- Abuhav Synagogue An old synagogue in the Old City.
- Ari Ashkenazi Synagogue A synagogue named for Isaac Luria.
- Meron The gravesite of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai nearby.
Written by the EveryShaadi desk with AI assistance. Opening hours, venues and wedding-season dates change; check locally before travelling. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
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Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Chuppah: me, Public domain, source