Safed English Library

Keeping Our Library Open: An Update and a Request

The Safed English Library is a community resource built on books, generosity, and the dedication of volunteers. To keep it sustainable, some changes are now necessary.

After much deliberation, we will be reducing our opening hours from 19 to 14 hours per week, effective 4 October. Our new (𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹*) schedule is:

Sunday: CLOSED
Monday: 19-2100
Tuesday: 10-1600
Wednesday: 12-1500
Thursday: CLOSED
Friday: 9-1200
Shabbat: CLOSED

*𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑐𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑏𝑦 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒

Since 2023, we have worked to provide 19 hours of weekly access, believing that a public library is also a place of belonging, connection, and safety. We remain committed to that mission, but we must match our ambitions to the people and resources available.

Opening the doors is only the beginning. Each public opening hour requires approximately 3.5 hours of additional work behind the scenes: cataloguing, shelving, processing books, administration, and maintaining the collection. This doesn't include the time needed for exhibitions, holiday gatherings, and special events.

In Edyth's time, more than 30 volunteers supported just 10 opening hours a week. Today, our volunteer pool is less than half that size.

We are deeply grateful to those who give their time regularly. And we need more people to join them.

This is a call for dependable, regular volunteers. Even two hours a week can help. You don't need to do everything; you simply need to be willing to do your part consistently.

If you can make that commitment, please reach out. Together, we can help ensure that the library remains a living, welcoming part of our community.

📚 Library News: Chagim, Renovations & Honey!

1. 🕍 Chagim Closure & New Opening Hours
The Library will close for the Chagim on Thursday, September 10, reopening on Sunday, October 4. Books due during the closure will automatically receive a grace period until we reopen — no need to worry about overdue books!
You’re also welcome to return books at any time using the book drop slot outside the Children’s Library door.
Please note that there will be some changes to our opening hours in the New Year. The new schedule will be posted on the Library website and Facebook, so please check before planning your next visit.

2. 🛠️ A Fresh Look for Room 4 — and a Chance to Leave Your Mark
During the Chagim, we’ll be undertaking renovations in Room 4, home to Classics, History, Miscellaneous Non-Fiction and more.
Want to recognize someone special, celebrate an occasion, or create a lasting tribute? Donating a shelf is a wonderful way to do it — and your name or dedication becomes part of the Library for years to come. Details are available on the Library website.

3. 🍯 Books + Honey = A Very Good Wednesday!
Our ongoing book sale is in full swing — just NIS 10 per book!
And this Wednesday, September 9, from 12:00–4:00 pm, we’ll also be hosting a pop-up honey sale courtesy of Neshika. Come stock up on delicious local honey — and 10% of every honey sale will go directly to benefit the Library.

Wishing all of our patrons a Happy, Sweet New Year!

📚𝗟𝗶𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀: 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗺, 𝗥𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 & 𝗛𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆!

1. 🕍 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗺 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 & 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀
The Library will close for the Chagim on Thursday, September 10, reopening on Sunday, October 4. Books due during the closure will automatically receive a grace period until we reopen — no need to worry about overdue books!

You’re also welcome to return books at any time using the book drop slot outside the Children’s Library door.

Please note that there will be some changes to our opening hours in the New Year. The new schedule will be posted on the Library website and Facebook, so please check before planning your next visit.

2. 🛠️ 𝗔 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗵 𝗟𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗥𝗼𝗼𝗺 𝟰 - 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸
During the Chagim, we’ll be undertaking renovations in Room 4, home to Classics, History, Miscellaneous Non-Fiction and more.

Want to recognize someone special, celebrate an occasion, or create a lasting tribute? Donating a shelf is a wonderful way to do it — and your name or dedication becomes part of the Library for years to come. Details are available on the Library website.

3. 🍯 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 + 𝗛𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆 = 𝗔 𝗩𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗪𝗲𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆!
Our ongoing book sale is in full swing — just NIS 10 per book!
And this Wednesday, September 9, from 12:00–4:00 pm, we’ll also be hosting a pop-up honey sale courtesy of Neshika. Come stock up on delicious local honey - and 10% of every honey sale will go directly to benefit the Library.

Wishing all of our patrons a Happy, Sweet New Year!

A memory of Edyth Geiger, 92, as seen in The JPost circa 2011 (via Laurie Sendler Rappeport):

"Miami to Jerusalem, 1953 to 1959
Miami to Safed, 1970
"The apartment library was cramped; patrons hung their coats on the shower rod. In 1998, the operation moved into a rented basement storage area lined with rickety old metal bookcases.
Patrons range from hassidim to kibbutzniks, and nobody pays a fee. All books, CDs and magazines are donated, many from the United States. Operating expenses are covered by contributions.
“We had to establish an amuta [non-profit corporation] immediately, and I am a fund-raiser, after all,” she says.
Two years ago, the amuta – chaired by an anthropology lecturer from Amuka – bought several additional basement rooms and then the two-level store above, so the library is now greatly expanded.
“A couple of very lovely people from Chicago sponsored us,” she explains. “We now own all of it.”
She has never invested in computerization. “We use an ancient system, where every book has a card in it. The borrower fills out the card, and a volunteer transfers that information to a notebook so we always know where each book is.”
The books are alphabetized within categories denoted by colored dots on their spines. Purple is for “highbrow” material, black for Holocaust, red for thrillers. If duplicate titles arrive, the older copy is given away – never sold.
She even mails requested books, for free, to people unable to get to the library. But they arrive from far and wide. “Thursday, a group is coming from Kibbutz Barkai [near Hadera],” she says. “They take lots of books and bring them back on their next visit months later. They not only return those books, but bring me new ones, too.”
She has also helped set up English libraries at a moshav and a kibbutz in the Golan.
“The library takes all my time, and what makes it wonderful is that there are people in and out of here all the time.” Suffering from macular degeneration, she cannot read as voraciously as she once did. She depends on large-print books and e-books on her iPad, and has reluctantly given up collecting stamps.
WORLD TRAVELER
Geiger has traveled extensively, visiting 70 countries. “My best friend in London was from New Zealand, and 32 years later I visited for the first time. I’ve now been there five times, and to Tahiti, Fiji, Vanuatu, Samoa – all the islands.”
Despite completing several ulpanim, her Hebrew is not fluent, and her biggest frustration is dealing with healthcare and medical forms in Hebrew.
“If you live far from the Center, you do not have ready access to English-speakers, so I go to Jerusalem on occasion,” she says.
Three years ago, she lost her son Aryeh to cancer. “He was an amazing person who put pluralism on the map in Israel,” she says. He founded the Re’ut School in Jerusalem in 1999, where seventh- through 12th-graders receive a grounding in Jewish learning, social activism and respect for others.
If there is one thing she would still like to accomplish in her life, says Geiger, it is to help out her son’s school – and of course, to encourage more people to contribute books to her library."

🍃RECHARGE - Women’s Movement & Wellness
If you’re an English-speaking woman in Tzfat who wants to feel stronger, have more energy and keep your body capable through every stage of life, RECHARGE offers small-group movement classes focused on strength, balance, mobility and everyday wellbeing.
And next Thursday, we’re getting together for brunch!
Brunch for Women 55+
Join us for a relaxed hour of nutritious food, valuable pelvic health information and practical tips for staying strong and healthy.
🗓️ Thursday, 27th August
🕚 11:00 am - 12:00pm
📍Edyth Geiger English Library
✨ The event is complimentary ✨
Please RSVP to save your place.
Hadassah Tangy
WhatsApp: 0586366259
Call: 0535168065
Looking forward to seeing you there ☺️

Local light, captured before it shifted.

​Join us at the Geiger English Library tomorrow evening for the opening of a memorial exhibit featuring the photo art of Shmuel Aharon Rockwerk z"l. His work captures the raw, quiet, and timeless spirit of Tzfat in a way only a long-time local could frame.
​Come for the art, stay for the conversation.
​📍 Where: Geiger English Library, 38 Jerusalem St, Tzfat
🗓️ When: Tuesday, August 11, at 19:00
🍷 Details: Vernissage with w**e and cheese
🎨 Curator: Esther Pam Zibell