Introduction

In recent years a large concentration of gravestones bearing Hebrew epitaphs from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries C.E. has been exposed in the ancient cemetery of Zefat, among them the gravestones of the disciples of Rabbi Isaac Luria ("Ha-ARI"), of the heads of Torah Academies in Zefat such as Rabbi Yehoshua Ibn Nun who was the first to publish the writings of Ha-ARI, and of well-known women of Zefat such as Rachel H’Ashkenazit Iberlin and Donia Reyna, the sister of Rabbi Chaim Vital. Some of the gravestones are of famous rabbis and Jews whose bones were brought to Israel from abroad, several of which might belong to the Nassi family, close relatives of Dona Gracia. To date (2012) some thirty such gravestones have been exposed, and that is so far the largest group of ancient Hebrew epitaphs that may be observed insitu at one site in Israel. Stylistically similar epitaphs can be found in the Jewish cemeteries in Istanbul (Kushta) and Salonika, the two largest and most important Jewish centers in the Ottoman Empire.

In 2011-2012 the ancient southern burial area in the old cemetery of Zefat (map ref. 24615/76365) was resurveyed in order to document and organize the information inscribed on these oldest of the gravestones of the cemetery. The documentation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority within the framework of the Association for the Preservation and Heritage of Zefat, was done by the members of the association, Y. Stepansky and E. Ben-Tovim (readings of the epitaphs and photography), with assistance from Prof. Y. Ben-Naeh (historical consultation and editing), Dr. Z. Sehayek, Dr. E. Davidson and Dr. D. Amit (historical consultation), Dr. E. Engel (paleographic analysis), Rabbi M. Stepansky (translation of the epitaph of Meir Benveniste) and D. Avshalom-Gorni, A. Hillman and H. Bron (antiquities inspection). The Israel Antiquities Authority (Conservation Department, Education Department and the Eastern Galilee and Golan District), Municipality of Zefat, Livnot U-Lehebanot Institute, Ministry of Housing and residents of Zefat are all partners in the project for the preservation of Zefat.

Preface: The Ancient Jewish Cemetery of Zefat - History of Research

The ancient cemetery in Zefat is the most complete and best preserved ancient Jewish cemetery in Israel and among the largest and best preserved in the entire Jewish world. It was not as badly damaged as the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives (R. Yizrael, 2004. The Ancient Sephardic Cemetery on the Mount of Olives. In: R. Yizrael [ed.], Avnei Derech B’Yediat Ha-Aretz. Jerusalem, pp. 161-201 [Hebrew]). Despite the damage caused to it by nature during the past five hundred years and the continuous interments that have damaged the ancient burial layers, thousands of gravestones can still be discerned scattered throughout the cemetery on both of its hills, in the north and south. The ancient cemetery was closed to further burial in 1962 and since then all burials are done in the new cemetery located at the bottom of the slope to the west of the ancient cemetery.
In the early 1960’s Yissachar Dov Fetman, assisted by Herschel “Shamis” Hertz, recorded approximately three thousand gravestones with epitaphs, in twenty-four burial plots throughout the cemetery. In the early 1990’s Rami Yizrael carried out a survey in the cemetery on behalf of the religious council and documented some two thousand four hundred gravestones bearing epitaphs, mostly dating to the eighteenth-twentieth centuries. The survey was halted due to a lack of funds and its results have not yet been published (Yizrael R. 2002. The Ancient Jewish Cemetery in Zefat. In: E. Shiller and G. Barkay [eds.], Zefat and its Sites [Ariel 157-158], Jerusalem, pp. 216-225 [Hebrew];Yizrael R. 2004. The Ancient Jewish Cemetery in Zefat. In R. Yizrael [ed.] Avnei Derech B’Yediat Ha-Aretz, Jerusalem, pp. 297-313 [Hebrew]). The historian Chaim Sidor continued the survey and compiled a computerized database of the gravestones from the ancient cemetery in Zefat, a project first supported by the Zefat Foundation but today an initiative continuing very slowly without any financial backing. The database includes more than thirty five hundred gravestones, more than seven hundred and fifty of them photographed, and almost five hundred of them mapped. Sidor estimates there are more than nine thousand gravestones with epitaphs throughout the cemetery, and so far more than ten thousand names have been recorded in the database. During the long years of research Mordechai Shababo, the “guardian of the graves” and a longtime resident of Zefat, has greatly assisted in the documentation.
Since 1990, parallel to these documentation projects, the government authorities by means of the cemetery endowment ('Hekdesh') and the Zefat religious council, together with the “Committee for Saving the Graves of our Ancestors – Our Forefathers”, have been engaged in cleaning, arranging and rehabilitating parts of the cemetery that have been neglected for generations. Within this framework suspended iron bridges were built that lead visitors to the burial plots of venerated persons, first and foremost to the gravesite of The ARI (‘ARI’ = ‘Adonenu Rabbi Itschak’, referring to Rabbi Yitschak Luria) and the other kabbalists buried near him. Hundreds of ancient and old gravestones were re-erected in place and new gravestones were built of fieldstones and concrete in the open areas where the original burial stones are no longer visible above the surface. As part of the work in recent years the ancient burial area in the southern part of the cemetery was also rehabilitated, on both sides of the channel descending west from the Ha-ARI miqwe. Burial caves with loculi and arcosolia are hewn in the southern side of the channel. Based on their style, these caves - including the one popularly named “The Cave of Hannah and Her Seven Daughters” - may be dated to the Roman and Byzantine periods. An impressive burial structure with a prominent dome is situated on the northern side of the channel. In a letter by a student of Rabbi Obadiah of Bartenura from the fifteenth century CE this site was identified as the tomb of the prophet Hosea Ben Beeri (the structure itself dates from the 16th century); however, since the second half of the sixteenth century it has been identified according to the tradition of the Ha-ARI written down by his student Rabbi Haim Vital with the tomb of Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Hanania. In this area of the cemetery, particularly along the slope north of the tomb of Hosea Ben Beeri until the tomb of Rabbi Yosef Karo, gravestones are exposed that date to the sixteenth century-seventeenth centuries CE (Fig. 1). The gravestones were discerned by David Afnezer, the supervisor in charge of the rehabilitation work on behalf of the Religious Council, and Eliyahu Ben-Tovim, a resident of Zefat, who began researching the inscriptions and the history of the people mentioned in them. Thanks to their vigilance, many of the ancient gravestones bearing epitaphs were not buried beneath the new gravestones that were erected there; rather they were left in place or re-erected on the spots where they were exposed. Nevertheless, their exposure to the weather conditions of Zefat is liable to endanger their future preservation and it is therefore important to fully document the epitaphs as soon as possible. All of the gravestones were exposed or have been uncovered in recent years within the framework of the rehabilitation work that was done on the surface of the cemetery, and none was revealed in an archaeological excavation. It is hoped that this preliminary publication will encourage the continued research of the cemetery, which holds a treasure trove of information about Zefat in its golden era, a time when it was the major Jewish center in Israel and one of the most important in the entire world.

The Epitaphs

This list comprises a preliminary publication of eighteen of the epitaphs, the vast majority of which are engraved or chiseled in limestone, except for one that is engraved on a marble gravestone (see below, No. 4). The list is arranged in chronological order, from the earliest to the latest, based on the date mentioned in the epitaph or a date that is based on a historical source. The last gravestones in the list are not dated. It should be noted that dots or inverted commas were usually engraved above the words written as initials. With the exception of the epitaph on the gravestone of Rabbi Yehoshua Ibn Nun (see below, No. 8), these are not noted in the transcription in this publication.
In this preliminary publication, the inscriptions are rendered in their original Hebrew writing, accompanied by photographs of the gravestones; to most of them are added a proposed preliminary english translation. A short evaluation and history (if known) of the individuals mentioned in the inscriptions follow in English.

1. Rabbi Moshe Hadayan (Figs. 2, 3)
Location: Slightly north of the Tomb of Hoshea Ben Beeri.
Hebrew epitaph:

הציון הלז של החכם / השלם הח הע כמוהר / משה הדיין זצול בן / הח הש כמהר יצחק / הדיין זל נשיאי הלוים / נפטר שנת הרפה

(קריאה מלאה: הציון הלז של החכם השלם החסיד העניו [?] כבוד מורנו הרב רבי משה הדיין זכר צדיק וקדוש לברכה בן החכם השלם כבוד מורנו הרב רבי יצחק הדיין זכרונו לברכה נשיאי הלויים נפטר שנת ה'רפ"ה [1525 לסה"נ] ).

Preliminary english translation: This tombstone belongs to the perfect sage, the devout and the humble [?] [man], our honorable master the Rabbi Moshe Hadayan may the memory of this righteous and holy man be blessed, the son of the perfect sage, our honorable master , the Rabbi Yitzchak Hadayan, blessed is his memory, leader of the Levites, deceased in the year 5285 [1525 c.e.].

This is the oldest dated epitaph discovered so far in the cemetery at Zefat. Rabbi Moshe Hadayan is mentioned in a few historical sources. He was one of the heads of the community in Zefat in the early sixteenth century but was a controversial figure: Musta'arabi scholars complained that he surrounded himself with unsuitable students, and Rabbi Yishmael, a scholar from Damascus, protested about the hostile attitude he was shown by him when he wanted to settle in Zefat (Shor N. 1983, Toldot Zefat, Tel Aviv, p. 38 [Hebrew]).

2. Rabbi Azriel Tarabut (Fig. 4)
Slightly northwest of the grave of Hoshea Ben Beeri.
Hebrew epitaph:

אב... / ראש ישיבה / פה בצפת אשר / בגליל עליון... / הגאון כמוהרר [= כבוד מורנו הרב רבי] / עזריאל טרבוט / זל נתבק[ש] / בישיבה של / מעלה ... / יא טבת הרפט / תנצבה [= תהיה נשמתו צרורה בצרור החיים]

Preliminary english translation: Av… Rosh Yeshiva, here in Zefat in the Upper Galilee… the Gaon our honorable master the Rabbi Azriel Tarabut of blessed memory [who] was called to a meeting in heaven… 11 Tevet 5229 [1529 c.e.] may his soul be bound up in the bond of everlasting life.

Rabbi Azriel Tarabut, who died in 1529, was of Italian ancestry and head of an Italian family of rabbis that appears in sources postdating his death in the city of Ancona in the province of La Marche, central Italy. His title of "Rosh Yeshiva" (head of a Torah Academy) and the existence of the yeshiva in early 16th century Zefat were unknown until now. It seems he was one of the most important rabbis of Zefat between the generation of Rabbi Peretz Colon (Colobo, Colombo late fifteenth century) and Rabbi Yosef Saragosi (early sixteenth century), and the generation led by Rabbi Ya'akov Beirav (fourth decade of the sixteenth century).

3. Rabbi Abraham Sorogon (Figs. 5, 6)
Slightly south of Hoshea Ben Beeri, in front of the “Cave of Hannah and Her Seven Daughters”.
Hebrew epitaph:

הציון הלז ומי בתוכו / נגנז הישיש ומעול[ה] / זקן ונשוא פנים כהר / אברהם סורוגון זלהה [= זכרונו לחיי העולם הבא [ / יום ו ה / השה

Preliminary english translation: This tombstone and who is interred within, the aged and excellent, elderly and esteemed, our honorable Rabbi Abraham Sorogon, may his memory live in the world to come, [deceased] on Friday the fifth… 5305 [1545 c.e.].

Rabbi Abraham Sorogon (or Sorojon, Surujon, Souroujon), who died in 1545, was probably from a Romaniote family, from those exiled to Istanbul by Sultan Mahmud II in the fifteenth century. One of his descendants might have been Aharon Tsurujon, the author of Benei Aharon, published in Kushta (Istanbul) in 1678.

4. Rabbi Yeshua Halevi (Fig. 7)
Slightly north of the grave of Hoshea Ben Beeri, next to his father Rabbi Moshe Hadayan. The gravestone is made of marble rather than limestone and the letters of the epitaph are in relief. The epitaph is extremely well-preserved.
Hebrew epitaph:

זה / הציון הלז היקר מזהב / ומפז של החכם השלם הרב / הדיין המוסמך המאושר / בכל עניניו הוא מאור הגולה / מורינו ורבינו כהר [= כבוד הרב רבי] ישועה / הלוי זלהה [=זכרונו לחיי העולם הבא] בן החכם / השלם כמוהר [= כבוד מורנו הרב רבי] משה הדיין / הישיש החסיד / תנצבה [= תהיה נשמתו צרורה בצרור החיים] / שנת ה שו ליצירה

Preliminary english translation: This tombstone which is worthy more than gold belongs to the fully wise Rabbi, The ordained and certified Dayan, The luminary of the exile in all of his matters, our Master and Rabbi, the honorable Rabbi Yeshua Halevi may his memory live in the world to come, the son of the perfect sage, our honorable teacher Rabbi Moshe Hadayan, the aged and devout, may his soul be bound up in the bond of everlasting life, [deceased] in the year 5306 [1546 c.e.] since creation.

The Dayan (religious judge) Rabbi Yeshua Halevi, who passed away in 1546, is probably Rabbi Yeshua, the Dayan of the Musta'arabi community in Zefat at the time of Rabbi Ya'akov Beirav (Davidson E. 2009. Safed’s Sages between 1540-1615, Their Religious and Social Status. Ph.D dissertation, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Part I, pp. 70, 75, 81 [Hebrew]). Rabbi Yeshua was most probably one of the sages of Rabbi Ya'akov Beirav’s yeshiva and it is possible that the title "The ordained and certified Dayan" shows he was among the rabbis who were directly ordained by Rabbi Ya'akov Beirav or under his authority when the ordination was renewed in Zefat in the 1530s. The title “Luminary of the Exile” is hard to understand and needs to be studied.

5. Meir Ben-Veniste (or Ben Benveniste) (Fig. 8)
Southeast of the gravestone of Rabbi Yosef Karo, on the roof of the Alsheich Cave.
The epitaph is on a large splendid stone plaque (0.45 × 1.10 m) that was exposed in the nineteenth century, was covered and revealed again in the 1960’s and was covered and exposed once again in the 1990’s.
Hebrew epitaph:

לפני עליון כיום יאיר / אם גוף נטמן תוך גוש עפר / במרום שחק נפשו ישאיר / יזהיר זוהר הרקיע / תוך גן עדן מזהיר מאיר / ראש יחס שבטי ישראל / בן באנשת ושמו מאיר / רודף צדקה וחסד הגביר אדון מאיר בן באנבנשת זלהה [= זכרונו לחיי העולם הבא] / יום ו' ח' לאלול שנת השיג

Preliminary english translation : Before the One Above, as the day is alight, whilst the body is interred in the Earth, in the highest Heavens the Soul remains, the firmament shines bright,
within Gan Eden illuminates Meir, a leader of Israel of distinguished lineage, Ben-Veniste whose name is Meir, pursuer of righteousness and kindness, the lord-master Meir ben Ben-Veniste may his memory live in the world to come. Friday 8 Elul [deceased] in the year 5313 (1553).

The epitaph was published with a slight omission (Yizrael R. 2002. The Ancient Jewish Cemetery in Zefat. In: E. Shiller and G. Barkay [eds.], Zefat and its Sites [Ariel 157-158], p. 217 [Hebrew]).
Until recently this gravestone was thought to be the oldest epitaph in the cemetery. We now know it is among the earliest, and is the longest and most magnificent of the ancient epitaphs of the sixteenth century. It seems that Meir Ben-Veniste (or ben Ben-Veniste), who passed away in 1553 CE, was an affluent and respected Jew that was active in the first half of the sixteenth century in Zefat or abroad. Benveniste (Benvenisti) is the name of a well-known family that has its roots in Spain prior to the exile. Davidson suggested identifying the deceased with Don Meir Benveniste who is mentioned in the responsa of Rabbi Isaac Adarbi, Divrei Rivot, which was printed in Salonika in 1582 (Davidson E. 2009. Safed’s Sages between 1540-1615, Their Religious and Social Status. Ph.D dissertation, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Part I, p.174, note 150 [Hebrew]).
It should be mentioned that the name Meir Benvenisti is also that of the brother-in-law of Dona Gracia Mendes Nassi (the brother of her husband and the husband of her sister); however, it is hard to propose an identification between the two because Meir the brother-in-law died in Antwerp in the early 1540’s, while the date of death on the gravestone is 1553 CE (assuming this is indeed the date of death and not the date when the deceased’s bones were reburied after being brought to Israel).

6. Don Shmuel Hanassi (Fig. 9)
The epitaph is on a large splendid stone plaque (0.5 × 0.5 m) adjacent to the gravestone of Meir Ben-Veniste, to its west. No date appears in the epitaph. Behind the stone plaque, is a long gravestone (0.35 × 0.35 × 1.40 m) at the northern end of which is a small recess for an inscription, but no remains of writing could be discerned in it.
Hebrew epitaph:

ופנו לו משכן [ ...] הוכן / להושיבו על כן בגן עדן נפשי / ומלאך המליץ בצדקתו יליץ / ועצמותיו יחליץ בתוך טירות קדשי / ואז יעלה ריח כאור צח זורח / נדיב לב וגביר דון שמואל הנשיא / הגבר הוקם על אדון שמואל הנשיא זלהה [= זכרונו לחיי העולם הבא]

As in the previous case, here too is a man who was probably very well respected and from a distinguished family. Although this epitaph has yet to be entirely understood and translated, Y. Ben-Naeh (personal communication) has proposed that the rare title "הגבר הוקם על" (“the man who was raised on high”) is taken from 2 Samuel 23:1 which originally refers to King David (“the oracle of the man who was raised on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob”). It was also one of the appellations of Shabbetai Tzvi who lived in the seventeenth century; but this expression appears on the tombstones of personages already in the sixteenth century, such as in the cemetery in Salonika.
E. Davidson assumed the deceased is the father of Meir Ben-Veniste, who is mentioned in the response Divrei Rivot (Davidson E. 2009. Safed’s Sages between 1540-1615, Their Religious and Social Status. Ph.D dissertation, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Part I, p.174, note 150 [Hebrew]). In his opinion, the father died in 1554, a year after his son. However, he can also be identified with Don Shmuel Hanassi, a nephew of Dona Gracia Mendes and the older brother of Don Yosef Nassi. Dona Gracia adopted the two brothers, Shmuel and Yosef, following the death of their parents and Shmuel married Gracia La Chica (Little Gracia), Dona Gracia’s niece, the daughter of Brianda and Meir Benvenisti. The unique name “Don Shmuel Hanassi” and the magnificent style of the gravestone just may corroborate the hypothesis that this is in fact the tombstone of Shmuel Nassi, the brother of Don Yosef Nassi (as is espoused by the historians Y. Ben-Naeh and Z. Sehayek; personal communication). Don Shmuel Nassi died in 1569, the same year that Dona Gracia passed away in Istanbul. He is probably not the only member of his family whose bones were brought to Zefat for burial. The custom of bringing bones to Israel for interment in the Ottoman period, despite all of the difficulties it involved, was existent and even a fairly common practice (Ben-Naeh Y. 1999, The Jewish Community of Istanbul and its Connections with the Jewish Community of Eretz Israel in the Seventeenth Century, Cathedra 92, pp. 86-87 [Hebrew]).

7. Rabbi Moshe Baruch (Fig. 10)
North of Hosea Ben Beeri, near the cave of Rabbi Ya'akov Beirav and the Holy Alsheich.
Hebrew epitaph:

שלום עליך ועל משכבך הרב / כהר [= כבוד הרב רבי] משה ברוך ז צ ל [= זכר צדיק לברכה] נפט[ר] / יו' [ = יום] ה' לח' חשון שנת משה / תנצבה [= תהיה נשמתו צרורה בצרור החיים] / ונחך י' תמיד והשביע בצחצחות / נפשך

Preliminary english translation: Peace be upon you and on your [death] bed, The Rabbi [the most?] our honored Rabbi Moshe Baruch, blessed is the memory of this holy man, deceased on the 5th of the month of Cheshvan in the year 'Moshe' [345; 1585 C.E.], may his soul be bound up in the bond of everlasting life, 'and the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire with good things'.

Rabbi Moshe Baruch was a rabbi in Edirne (Adrianople) and Damascus and a disciple of Rabbi Yosef Karo in Zefat (Responsa – Avkat Rochel No. 113). The date of his death is 5 Heshvan 1585. The verse “and the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire with good things” is taken from Isaiah 58: 11.

8. Rabbi Yehoshua Ibn Nun (Figs. 11, 12)
Slightly northwest of the tomb of Hosea Ben Beeri.
Hebrew epitaph:

זאת המצב[ה] / לרופא המובהק / החסיד כר [= כבוד רבנו] / יהושע ֹןֹ[= אבן] נון / ֹנֹע [= נשמתו עדן]

Preliminary english translation: This is the tombstone of the profound [= certified?] doctor the devout our honorable Rabbi Yehoshua Ibn Nun may his soul abide in paradise.  

Rabbi Yehoshua Ibn Nun was one of the most intriguing people in Zefat in the sixteenth century. He is retroactively portrayed in the writings of Rabbi Shlomo Shlomil of Dreznitz in 1608 as an affluent Dayan and Master ('Head') of all the Roshei Yeshivot (Heads of the Torah Academies) in Zefat, managing the funds received from the Jewish communities in the exile and financially supporting all of the scholars and poor people of the city. He is also mentioned as unsuccessfully begging Rabbi Chaim Vital as a small unashamed child would do into revealing to him the Torah [Kabalistic] secrets of the ARI… (Avivi Y., 2008, Kabbala Luriana, Jerusalem, Vol. 1- The Lurianic Writings until 1620, P. 41 [Hebrew] ).

But his fame was earned in 1585 (?) after he finally succeeded in publishing six hundred pages of Rabbi Chaim Vital's pamphlets ('קונטרסים') which are the first writings of the ARI to be distributed among the public. According to Shlomil’s account, when Rabbi Chaim Vital was ill (“lying on his deathbed for a whole year”), Rabbi Yehoshua Ibn Nun bribed Moshe Vital, the brother of Rabbi Chaim Vital, with “50 gold coins in order that he would bring him the books and in order that he would return the books to him after three days”. Moshe Vital did as he was requested. He secretly took six hundred pages from his brother’s house and gave them to Rabbi Yehoshua Ibn Nun who managed to gather one hundred scribes, each one charged with copying six pages during the course of three days. After the three days of copying, the pages were returned to their original place in the house of Rabbi Chaim Vital, “and at that very moment our honored master and teacher (Vital) regained his health… and from that day forth the books were circulated amongst exceptional individuals…” (Avivi Y. 2008, Kabbala Luriana, Jerusalem, Vol. 1- The Lurianic Writings until 1620, P. 41-42 [Hebrew] ; Shivhei Ha-Ari 1875, Warsaw, p. 13 [Hebrew]). Presumably Rabbi Yehoshua Ibn Nun copied the writings of Vital in 1585, at the end of the ten year period of the “deed of agreement” ('שטר התקשרות') commencing in 1575 preventing him and another eleven kabbalists from revealing what they heard from Ha-ARI and from Rabbi Chaim Vital and requiring them to follow the instructions of Rabbi Vital their master (Avivi Y. 2008, Kabbala Luriana, Jerusalem, Vol. 1- The Lurianic Writings until 1620, P.38 [Hebrew]). Another surprising reference is that of Rabbi Yosef MiTrani, who mentions that Rabbi Yehoshua Ibn Nun 'was killed' (("נהרג" in the year 5345, which is also the year 1585 (Bentov, H. 1978, Reshimot Historiot Shel Rebbenu Yosef MiTrani, Tshuvot vi’Piskei Maharit Ha-Hadashim, Jerusalem. P. 23, note 43; Davidson E. 2009. Safed’s Sages between 1540-1615, Their Religious and Social Status. Ph.D dissertation, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Part II, P.70, note 648 [Hebrew]). Could it be that his death occurred close to the time when the writings of Rabbi Chaim Vital were removed from his house, and maybe even as a result of this act?
Turning back to the epitaph, its wording is surprising. If indeed this is the tombstone of the above notable figure (other persons with the same name are so far unknown to us), instead of accolades for the yeshiva head, wealthy person and philanthropist, who contributed to disseminating the teachings of Ha-ARI, the titles 'profound doctor' (probably referring to him as being a certified physician who received a degree in Medicine) and 'devout man' ('Hasid') are written, and nothing more. No date of death appears on the gravestone, though the year could be engraved on the part of the stone that is still buried underground.
The discovery of Rabbi Yehoshua Ibn Nun’s epitaph raises new questions about his life and calls for more in-depth research into this intriguing historical mystery.

9. Rabbi Moshe Tzahalon (Fig. 13)
North of the tomb of Hosea Ben Beeri and west of the cave of Rabbi Yaakov Beirav and the Holy Alsheich. The epitaph is worn. Eliyahu Ben Tovim is studying it and will publish it separately. Date of death – 1585.
Rabbi Moshe Tzahalon is the father of Rabbi Yom-Tov Tzahalon (The Maharitz, 1559-1638), a famous rabbi and rabbinic authority (posek) in Zefat in the sixteenth-seventeenth centuries CE.

10. Rabbi Elazar Azikri (Fig. 14)
In the burial plot of Ha-ARI, on the northwestern side of Ha-ARI’s tomb.
Hebrew epitaph:

 ציון / היקר קדוש / ר אלעזר נע [= נשמתו עדן]/ שס

Preliminary english translation: The Tomb of the beloved and holy Rabbi Elazar may his soul abide in paradise, [5]360 [= 1600 C.E.].

The epitaph was exposed in 2009, but the original plaque bearing the epitaph was broken and was covered over and today it is buried beneath a new gravestone built of fieldstones and cement (Fig.15). The original gravestone without the inscription plaque is placed above the new gravestone. Instead of the original epitaph, a new marble stone was set in place across the western side of the new gravestone. It is engraved with the following wording: Here rests the soul of the divine and holy Rabbi Elazar may his soul abide in paradise, [5]360 [=1600 C.E.].
Rabbi Elazar Azikri was one of the most important rabbinic figures of Zefat in the sixteenth century. He is considered a leader in Jewish outreach and founder of the Sukat Shalom movement. He wrote Sefer Haredim and the famous piyyut Yedid Nefesh. The year of decease on the epitaph accords with the historical sources - 1600 CE.

11. Mazal Tov, wife of Rabbi Elazar Azikri (Figs. 16, 17)
Three meters north of Rabbi Elazar Azikri’s gravestone: the gravestone of his wife, Mazal Tov, was discovered in 2009.
Hebrew epitaph:

מזל טוב / [בת ה]חכם ר / אברהם...

Preliminary english translation: Mazal Tov, [daughter of the] sage Rabbi Abraham…
Rabbi Abraham is the son of Rabbi Yaakov Beirav, one of the greatest rabbis of Zefat in the 1530s. Today the gravestone of Mazal Tov is concealed beneath the floor of the women’s prayer plaza in Ha-ARI plot and covered with transparent plastic. Recently a new marble stone with a new inscription was placed on the bottom part of the ancient gravestone: “Here lies the pure and modest, the righteous woman Lady Mazal Tov Azikri, may her soul abide in paradise, daughter of great persons, daughter of the perfect sage the excellent Dayan Rabbi Abraham Beirav. Granddaughter of the perfect sage the rabbi of the sages of Zefat Rabbi Yaakov Beirav, the memory of this righteous and holy man be blessed, wife of our rabbi Elazar Azikri, the memory of this righteous and holy man be blessed”.

12. Rabbi Yosef MiTrani (The ‘Maharit’) (Fig. 18)
Adjacent to the gravestone of Rabbi Moshe Tzahalon.
The epitaph is broken and fragmentary, but mostly preserved and glued together. Eliyahu Ben-Tovim will publish it separately after studying it. Date of decease – 14 Tammuz 5399 (1639). Rabbi Yosef MiTrani was the son of the famous Rabbi and Posek Rabbi Moshe Ben Yosef MiTrani (The ‘Mabit’), buried in the cemetery in Zefat near Ha-ARI. Rabbi Yosef, son of the Mabit, was born in Zefat in 1568 and was an important rabbi in his own right, author of The Responsa of the Maharit and other books. In about 1600 the impoverished community of Zefat dispatched him on a mission to Turkey for the purpose of obtaining aid, but he settled in Istanbul where he was the head of a yeshiva and an important posek for almost forty years. He died in Istanbul in 1639 and his sons sent his bones for burial in Zefat. In 2008 his gravestone was discovered and it is resting near the gravestone attributed to Rabbi Moshe Tzahalon, west of the cave of Rabbi Yaakov Beirav and the Holy Alsheich.

13. The Rabanit Lady Gracia (Fig. 19)
Five meters south of the gravestone of Rabbi Yosef MiTrani. No date of death.
Hebrew epitaph:

המסתופפת בצל הרב / בחייה וגם אחרי מותו / מצאה בית והיתה / מנוחתה הרבנית / מרת גרסייא נע [= נשמתה עדן]

Preliminary english translation: She who is under the shade of the Rabbi during her lifetime and also after his death has found a home and her resting place has come to be, the Rabanit Lady Gracia, may her soul abide in paradise.

D. Amit has noted (personal communication) that the Hebrew expressions מסתופפות and מצאה בית which appear in the epitaph, are taken from Psalm 84: 4, 11.
The gravestone was discovered in 2008 and was attributed to Gracia, the wife of Rabbi Yehuda Hakim, a Kabbalist and sage who lived in Zefat in the nineteenth century (1820-1897), whose grave is located in the cave of the Holy Alsheich, c. 20 m east of this gravestone. In recent years the Hakim family erected a new gravestone that also incorporates the original epitaph, and a new copy of the original epitaph with an addition in parentheses explaining who the rabbi that is mentioned in the inscription actually was (Rabbi Yosef Yehuda Hakim, may his virtue stand us in good stead, Amen!; Fig. 20).
The ascription of the gravestone to the wife of Rabbi Yosef Hakim is problematic, because a gravestone that is attributed to Gracia, wife of Rabbi Yosef Yehuda Hakim, which is also listed in the records of the religious council, is located in another burial plot. The dominant Sephardic style of the script in the epitaph also suggests that it predates the nineteenth century (E. Angel, personal communication). Therefore, as Y. Ben-Naeh has proposed (personal communication), it seems that this gravestone should be ascribed to the wife of Rabbi Yosef MiTrani who is buried nearby. Rabbi Yosef’s son Yeshaya writes of his mother's death in 1652, labeling her 'the Rabbanit':

"אמי המעטירה הרבנית מ"ך [= מנוחתה כבוד] כי באה השמועה ביום ה' ז' לכסלו שנת התי"ג שנפטרה בבית עולמים ט"ו לאלול התי"ב..."

(Bentov, H. 1978, Reshimot Historiot Shel Rebbenu Yosef MiTrani, Tshuvot vi’Piskei Maharit Ha-Hadashim, Jerusalem, Pg. 3; taken from Manuscript of Sermons and Eulogies of Rabbi Yeshaya MiTrani, Adler Manuscript 263, The Seminary Library in New York [Hebrew]).
In the eulogy to his mother he noted her unique qualities describing her as the source of the learning's of her husband and of his students:

"לפי שכל לימודו של אדוני אבי הרב זלה"ה [= זכרונו לחיי העולם הבא] ותורת תלמידיו ממנה יצאו כבושים..."

(Toledano, Y.M. 1960, Parts of the Eulogy of the Son of the Maharit for his Mother from his Manuscript, Otzar Genuzim, Jerusalem, P. 57 [Hebrew] ).
That being the case, this woman was granted the title of 'Rabanit' in her own right, and we learn...

That being the case, this woman was granted the title of 'Rabanit' in her own right, and we learn from the gravestone that her name was Gracia. Based on the aforementioned source, Rabanit Gracia died in 1652, thirteen years after her husband and after reaching old age. It is possible that Gracia made aliyah to Zefat when her husband was brought for burial and remained there until her death, which may explain the verse in the epitaph

"...וגם אחרי מותו מצאה בית והיתה מנוחתה"

"…and also after his death has found a home and her resting place has come to be"

The manner in which women made aliyah after they were widowed, particularly from rabbinical families, is well-known and documented. At the time of her death in Elul her son Yeshaya was in Istanbul where he received the news in Kislev 5413 (1652), some three months after her passing.
It was at first conjectured that this could be the gravestone of the famous Dona Gracia Mendes Nassi; however, this is difficult to accept for a variety of reasons. Nevertheless, we propose that the bones of Dona Gracia (whose burial site is unknown until today) were probably also brought to Zefat, like other distinguished Jews from Turkey in the sixteenth-seventeenth centuries CE.

14. Abraham Ibn Nun (Fig. 21)
North of Hosea Ben Beeri. There is no date of death.
Hebrew epitaph:

הנכבד כ ר [ = כבוד רבנו] / אברהם ן נון / נע [= נשמתו עדן]

Preliminary english translation: The Honorable Our Rabbi Abraham Ibn Nun may his soul abide in paradise.

It is possible that Rabbi Abraham Ibn Nun is the brother of the aforementioned Rabbi Joshua Ibn Nun. The title "הנכבד כבוד רבנו" indicates that he served in a high position, though not necessarily a teaching one.

15. Hacham Yosef Falcon (Fig. 22)
North of Hosea Ben Beeri. There is no date of death. The gravestone is broken and the inscription is fragmentary.
Hebrew epitaph:

זה הציון... / החכם הסופר... / יוסף פלקון נע [= נשמתו עדן]...

Preliminary english translation: This is the Tombstone … The Sage and Scribe … Yosef Falcon, may his soul abide in paradise…


It seems that Hacham Yosef Falcon is a relative (father of? brother of?) Rabbi Eliyahu Falcon (or Falco/Faalcon) and of Yaakov his son.
Rabbi Eliyahu Falcon is one of Ha-ARI’s distinguished disciples and a signatory of the deed of agreement not to divulge the writings of Ha-ARI in 1575.

16. Rabbi Benyamin of Salonika (Figs. 23, 24)
North of Hosea Ben Beeri. There is no date of death.
Hebrew epitaph:

ר / בנימין / שאלוניקי

Preliminary english translation: Rabbi Benyamin Salonika.

The gravestone is narrow and long (width 0.25 m, length 1.0 m).
At the top of its northern side is an inscription that is engraved inside a shallow triangle inscribed on the surface of the stone. According to E. Ben-Tovim, he should be identified with Rabbi Benyamin Kazis, one of the sages of Salonika who moved to Kushta (Istanbul). It seems that toward the end of his life he emigrated to Zefat and was buried there.

17. Donia Reyna wife of Rabbi Gedalya Halevi (Figs. 25, 26)
North of Hosea Ben Beeri. There is no date of death.
Hebrew epitaph: 

ציון זה / מהיקרה דוני / ריינא אשת כר / גדליה הלוי נע [= נשמתה עדן]

 Preliminary english translation: This Tombstone [belongs to] to the beloved Donia Reyna the wife of our honorable Rabbi Gedalya Halevi, may her soul abide in paradise.

Donia Reyna was the wife of a famous disciple of Ha-ARI, Rabbi Gedalya Halevi, and his grave might be located near her to the east. According to the Book of Visions (Sefer HaChezyonot) by Rabbi Chaim Vital, Rabbi Gedalya Halevi’s wife was Rabbi Chaim Vital’s sister (Faierstein M. 2005. The Book of Visions – The Diary of Rabbi Chaim Vital, Jerusalem, p. 53 [Hebrew]). Gedalya Halevi was also among the signatories on the deed of agreement not to divulge the writings of Ha-ARI in the year 1575.

18. Rachel H’Ashkenazit (Fig. 27)
On the slope of the hill, west of the grave of Rabbi Yosef Karo, north of and next to the raised pedestrian path. There is no date of death.
Hebrew epitaph:

ציון / מהצנועה / מרת רייצלה / אשכנזית נע [= נשמתה עדן]

Preliminary english translation: The gravestone of the modest Lady Raichele Ashkenazit, may her soul abide in paradise .
Although there is no date on the epitaph and it is inscribed Raichele and not Rachel, it seems that this is Rachel H’Ashkenazit, wife of Rabbi Yehuda Iberlin, head of the Ashkenazi community in Zefat and a well-known figure in her own right in Zefat in the sixteenth century. Rabbi Chaim Vital's living quarters were located in the attic of her house (Faierstein M. 2005. The Book of Visions – The Diary of Rabbi Chaim Vital, Jerusalem, p. 104 [Hebrew] ). Her house was apparently located in the Alsheich Alley in the middle of the Sephardic section of the old Jewish Quarter in Zefat, as Rabbi Moshe Alsheich established his Beit Midrash, which exists to this day, in her courtyard (Ibid, p. 51).

So far some thirty gravestones bearing epitaphs from the sixteenth-seventeenth centuries CE were exposed in the old cemetery of Zefat. Eighteen of them are described here, the earliest from 1525 CE and latest probably from 1652. Among the epitaphs not described here include the gravestones of Rabbi Abraham Shalom, one of the most important Kabbalists of Zefat in the sixteenth century, Rabbi Yosef Sagis teacher of Rabbi Elazar Azikri and whose son Shlomo married the daughter of the ARI, Rabbi Binyamin of Italiano who died in 1579, Rabbi Yehuda Elgazi who died in 1560, Rabbi Aharon De-Botton who probably died in 1623, Lady Mira daughter of Shmuel Ben Benveniste, and the doctor [---] Ben Shlomo.