Safed

The ancient tree in this picture is at least one thousand years old.  Its diameter is almost two meters wide.  The insides of olive trees get hollow as they grow older, and their trunks twist in a spiral around their hollow core.  I remember taking my wife and kids there when they were younger and all of us could fit inside the hollow core of this beautiful and ancient tree.
 
Several years ago I walked down to the small grove that contains this tree (and four or five other ancient olive trees) and discovered to my horror that someone had taken a chainsaw to these ancient trees… more

The Abuhav Synagogue is one of the most beautiful synagogues in Safed. Rabbi Yitzchak Abuhav was a leader of the Spanish Jewish community expelled from Spain in 1492.  He died on his way to the Holy Land.  The synagogue was built by his students to house his personal Torah scroll which is still read three times a year.

A legend claims that this synagogue was actually built in Spain before the Expulsion and then magically transported to Safed.

I painted this picture from two photographs I took many years ago, one with the camera pointing upward; and one with the camera… more