The ancient cemetery of Tzfat is a history book of the Jewish People throughout the period of the exile.
It is the location of the gravesites of the Tanna’im from the era of the destruction of the Second Holy Temple. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya was one of the Levites who served in the Holy Temple, and transmitted the Torah to Rabbi Akiva. His student, Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair, the father-in-law of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, was also from that generation.
Since then and to this very day, it has marked the burial place for generations upon generations of Jews who lived in the Land of Israel and clung to it despite the tremendous hardships. In the heart of the cemetery, there are the gravesites of the holy Ari, his student, Rabbi Yosef Caro, and his disciples. 
These two great scholars emigrated to Tzfat five hundred years ago and re-established the city, bringing to the world a unique spiritual intensity that has guided the Jewish People ever since.
Rabbi Yosef Caro understood that the Redemption depends upon the unity of the Jewish People. Unity begins in the spiritual sense, and therefore he proceeded successfully to compile one work of Torah that would unite the entire House of Israel.