Visiting the famous cemetery in Zfat (Safed) / northern Israel is always a very special event. I was walking around at the cemetery for more than two hours today and took quite a few pictures and filmed a couple of videos.
The first video of the short "Cemetery Series" shows the Kever of Rabbi Yosef Karo (Kabbalist and author of the "Shulchan Aruch").
The grave of Rabbi Yosef Karo.
Copyright / Photos: Miriam Woelke
Copyright / Photos: Miriam Woelke
Not every grave in the cemetery is painted blue; however, the colour BLUE has special meanings in Judaism as well as in Islam. I once heard that Muslims paint parts of their homes blue because they want to keep away anything evil. In Judaism, the colour BLUE stands for the Glory of G - d but, in addition to that, evil should also remain far away.
B"H
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Miriam,
The colour is not supposed to be 'blue', but sapphire. It is based on HaZaL, though I can't recall where.
Essentially this is the colour of HaShem's throne, and as I understand it demons can not see it, or they would come to accuse Am Israel before HaShem's throne.
From this arose the belief that if the demons can not see the colour, they can not find doors and windows to enter Jewish homes and cause malice.
From this arose the superstition that 'blue's is a colour of 'protection'
From this arose the 'blue blood' belief which applies to the family of David HaMelekh, for even the demon of Death could not affect him
From this most European royal families derive their relationship to the Davidic line, and the experession 'blue bloods' initially applied to royalty, and alter to aristocracy in general.
To understand why HaShem's throne is made of sapphire, some chemistry and physics are required, because what gives it the blue for which it is prized (more rare than diamonds) are iron and titanium that interact with aluminium oxide. One absorption spectral number for sapphires is 471, which in gematria is אלתולד and indeed HaShem was responsible for the birth of the Universe. Interestingly the sapphire is the standard for thermal transfer (Kelvins), i.e. the "Big Bang" in science.
Without Iron and Titanium, the crystal would be clear, and the ediom of 'crystal clear' used to denote perfect understanding comes from here.
Iron is the metal of war found in the Torah, and has an atomic number of 26. The atomic number of Titanium is 22. Together they are one short (kollel) of the Shevuot.
These metals have played unique roles in Human history of all 86 metals, the gematria of Elohim.