Friday night in Safed. Groups of young people gather in circles, taking in the gorgeous sunset and singing. They gather in public parks, on top of the ancient fortress in the center of town and at many of the spots looking toward the ridge of the Meron Mountains as it darkens in the colors of the setting sun. They sing soulful Jewish music and perform the ritual of welcoming the Sabbath established in Safed in the 16th century. Some sing the liturgical poem Lecha Dodi, which was written in Safed some 500 years ago.

Although it is mid-July, cool winds blow along the picturesque alleyways 3,000 feet above sea level. Jewish youngsters from Australia, Europe and the United States, ultra-Orthodox families, tourists and fans of mysticism and Kabbalah all come to Safed to feel the holiness throbbing in this magical old city spread across a steep mountainside.

In one of the city's well-known alleyways, at the Beirav Synagogue, there is participatory prayer in the style of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, a Jewish-American spiritual teacher, singer, songwriter and storyteller who developed a musical genre of Jewish soul songs. The small synagogue can’t hold the masses of women and men, most of them English speakers, leaving some to stand outside the building. They sing with their eyes closed, hugging their friends in a circle. At the other small and decorated synagogues hidden in Safed’s alleyways, one finds a variety of prayer and song styles and crowds of joyful people.

This unique happening, which has grown in recent years, has crowned the city of Safed — one of the four holy cities in Israel, alongside Jerusalem, Hebron and Tiberias — the capital of spirituality and mysticism. It seems that young people who come here don’t wish necessarily to learn anything too deep about Kabbalah or Judaism in general. The sense is that most of them aren’t even religious, but they enjoy the opportunity to experience Jewish Kabbalah, learn a little bit of history and pray and sing at the unique synagogues scattered throughout the city.