8 Sivan
In 1834, Druze rioters attacked and killed Jews in the northern Israeli town of Tzfat and in other communities throughout Israel. Only three years later, Tzfat was practically wiped out by an earthquake. After the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, many prominent scholars settled in Tzfat, and the standard Code of Jewish Law ("Shulchan Aruch") was written there. Tzfat also became the center of Jewish mysticism, bolstered by the presence of the great Arizal. Tzfat is one of the four holy cities in Israel, and today remains a popular center of Jewish learning and mysticism.
