ASCENT OF SAFED was founded in 1983 in the picturesque old city of Tsfat. Since 1990, it has been located in a former hotel building with 85 beds, industrial size kitchen, dining room with hot drinks and a refrigerator for guest use, lecture hall, three levels of porches with breathtaking views - west towards Mt. Meron and awe-inspiring Tsfat sunsets and south as far as Mount Tabor, a synagogue, a garden, a meditation cave, and a Jewish library and multi-media center on premises.
ASCENT runs comprehensive programs for English and Hebrew speakers. A year-round visitors' center, Jewish youth hostel, and religious retreat located in the most picturesque part of the old section of Safed, ASCENT OF SAFED reveals as much of the essence of the Tsfat experience to the visitor as possible. The program includes everything from hikes through a scenic, fruit-tree lined wadi (a dry riverbed) in the Galilee, to genuine Kabbalistic studies and meditation, barbecues, a lively concert and the Safed mystical Shabbat experience, including baking your own challah and enjoying a Shabbat dinner in the home of a local family. And all this for a very low price!
Go to MyAscent.org to learn more details about accommodations and to reserve a place.
First come, first served!
At any given time, you might find a group of a dozen students from Hebrew University of Jerusalem, or a bunch of volunteers from a kibbutz, mixed in with a summer family tour group from a temple in Oregon, plus a newlywed couple from Brazil and a lone searcher from Prague. The warm and friendly staff members are as competent on the trail as they are in the late-hour discussion sessions in the lounge, tea garden and porches.
At least twice a month, visitors to ASCENT participate in special calendar or topical related seminars. They may be taught to make their own Chanukah menorahs and fill them with olive oil from local groves of olive trees, to bake challah for Shabbat and eat shemurah matzot on Pesach, or set out at 4:30am on Shavuot morning to hear the Ten Commandments read from the oldest Torah scroll in the world that is still in regular use. Unique to Ascent is its "Personal TorahScope" combination of software, made available to visitors and by email order for a contribution.
Originally started for English-speaking visitors from abroad, Ascent now presents full programs to the resident Hebrew-speaking population from all over the country. Besides English, Hebrew and Russian, seminars have also occasionally been conducted (so far) in Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, German, Parsi and Mandarin Chinese! The latest addition is seminars and Shabbatons tailored specially to the needs of Israeli soldiers, at the request of the IDF itself!
Last year, more than 20,000 visitors passed through ASCENT. The likelihood of hearing ASCENT's name mentioned in connection with Tsfat and Israel is not just a coincidence anymore, it's the norm. This year, we are looking forward to welcoming you too!
