Four Holy Cities

The Four Holy Cities (Hebrew: ארבע ערי הקודש‎, Yiddish: פיר רוס שטעט‎) is the collective term in early modern Jewish tradition applied to the cities of Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed and (later) Tiberias, the four main centers of Jewish life after the Ottoman conquest of Palestine. The concept dates from the 1640s, when the Jewish communities of these cities organized an association for fundraising.[1]

Nineteenth-century out-of scale map of Judaism's four holy cities, with Jerusalem occupying the upper right quadrant, Hebron beneath it, the Jordan River running top to bottom, Safed in the top left quadrant, and Tiberias beneath it. Each of the four cities includes representations of the sacred shrines, as well as the graves of sainted rabbis and holy men.

The "holy cities" concept dates to the 1640s,[1] with Tiberias joining in 1740,[1] resulting from the creation of an association between the cities for the collection of halukka (funds for the needy).

According to the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia: "Since the sixteenth century the Holiness of Palestine, especially for burial, has been almost wholly transferred to four cities—Jerusalem, Hebron, Tiberias, and Safed."[2]

• Jerusalem has been the holiest city in Judaism and the spiritual center of the Jewish people since the 10th century BC when the site was chosen during the lifetime of King David to be the location of the Holy Temple.[3]
• The Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron is believed to be the burial place of the Jewish patriarchs: Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca and Jacob and Leah. As such Hebron is the second holiest city to Jews,[4] and is one of the four cities where Israelite biblical figures purchased land (Abraham bought a field and a cave east of Hebron from the Hittites (Genesis 23:16-18), King David bought a threshing floor at Jerusalem from the Jebusite Araunah (2 Samuel 24:24), Jacob bought land outside the walls of Shechem from the Shechemites (Genesis 33:18-19), and Omri bought the site of Samaria. Historically, Hebron is the first capital of King David.[4]
• Safed (Tz'fat) came to be regarded as a holy city after the influx of Jews following the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492 and became known as a center of kabbalistic scholarship.
• Tiberias was significant in Jewish history as the place where the Jerusalem Talmud was composed and as the home of the Masoretes, but its status as a holy city is due to the influx of rabbis who established the city as a center for Jewish learning in the 18th and 19th centuries. According to Jewish tradition, the redemption will begin in Tiberias and the Sanhedrin will be reconstituted there.[5] The Messiah will arise from the lake of Tiberias, enter into the city, and be enthroned at Safed on the summit of a lofty hill.[6]