In Judaism, the "Four Holy Cities" are Jerusalem, Hebron, Tiberias, and Safed. Revered for their significance to Jewish history, they began to again serve as major centres of Jewish life after the Ottoman conquest of the Levant.[1]
According to The Jewish Encyclopedia in 1906: "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]
List of the cities and significance
Jerusalem
Jerusalem has had the highest significance for Jews since the 11th century BCE, when David led the Israelites to conquer it from the Jebusites and established it as the capital city of the Kingdom of Israel and Judah. There, his son and successor Solomon constructed the Temple in Jerusalem, which held the Ark of the Covenant after the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle.[3] Though the First Temple and the Second Temple were both destroyed in antiquity, the Temple Mount, on which they stood, continues to serve as the basis of Jewish spirituality both inside and outside of the Land of Israel.
Hebron
Hebron, which is home to the Cave of the Patriarchs, is the burial place of the Hebrew patriarchs and their wives: Abraham and his wife Sarah; Abraham's son Isaac and his wife Rebecca; and Isaac's son Jacob and his wife Leah. As such, Hebron's significance for Jews is second only to Jerusalem, and it is also one of the four cities where Hebrew prophets (Abraham, in particular) purchased land: Abraham bought a field and a cave east of Hebron from the Hittites (Genesis 23:16–18); David bought a threshing floor at Jerusalem from Araunah the Jebusite (2 Samuel 24:24); Jacob bought land outside the walls of Shechem (Genesis 33:18–19); and Omri bought the site of Samaria. Further, Hebron was the first capital city of Israel and Judah during David's reign.[4]
Tiberias
Tiberias is significant in Jewish history for several reasons. It was the place where the Jerusalem Talmud was composed and served as the final meeting place of the Great Sanhedrin, which was disbanded in 425 CE. The tomb of famous rabbis and other Jewish scholars, such as Yohanan ben Zakkai, Akiva, and Maimonides, are also located in the city. It was the home of the Masoretes and the place where the Tiberian vocalization for the Hebrew Bible was devised. According to Jewish tradition, the redemption will begin in Tiberias and the Sanhedrin will be reconstituted there,[5] and the Messiah will arise from Lake Tiberias, enter the city, and be enthroned on the summit of a lofty hill in Safed.[6]
Safed
Safed came to be regarded as a holy city at a significantly later time than the other three. The mass influx of Sephardic Jews following the Alhambra Decree, which was issued by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain during the Reconquista in 1492, enabled the transformation of Safed into a centre of Kabbalah and Jewish scholarship.[7]
See also
- History of the Jews and Judaism in the Land of Israel
- Laws and customs of the Land of Israel in Judaism
References
- ^ Wigoder, Geoffrey, ed. (1989). "Holy cities". The Encyclopedia of Judaism. Macmillan Publishers. p. 347 out of 768. ISBN 9780026284103. Retrieved 2025-02-23.
Term applied to the Erets Israel cities of Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed and Tiberias. These were the four main centers of Jewish life after the Ottoman conquest of 1516. The concept of the holy cities dates only from the 1640s, when the Jewish communities of Jerusalem, Hebron, and Safed organized an association to improve the system of fundraising in the Diaspora. Previously, such fundraising had been undertaken by individual institutions; now it was agreed that the emissaries would be sent on behalf of each urban Jewish community as a whole, with not more than one emissary per town. After Tiberias was refounded in 1740, it also joined the association. This arrangement did not last long, however, and by the mid-19th century there was no authority strong enough to enforce a centralized collection of ḥalukkah funds. In Jewish tradition, going back to ancient times, the only city regarded as holy is Jerusalem
- ^ Jacobs, Joseph; Eisenstein, Judah David (1906). "Palestine, Holiness Of". Jewish Encyclopedia.
- ^ Rosovsky, Nitza (1996). City of the Great King: Jerusalem from David to the Present. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-13190-3.
- ^ Auerbach, Jerold S. (2009-07-16). Hebron Jews: Memory and Conflict in the Land of Israel. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7425-6617-0.
- ^ Noy, Dov; Ben-Amos, Dan; Frankel, Ellen (November 2006). Folktales of the Jews: Tales from the Sephardic dispersion. Jewish Publication Society. p. 66. ISBN 978-0-8276-0829-0. Retrieved 17 October 2010 – via Google Books.
- ^ Bellows, Henry W. (2008). The Old World in Its New Face: Impressions of Europe in 1867-1868. Vol. II. BiblioBazaar, LLC. p. 337. ISBN 978-0-559-64379-8. Retrieved 17 October 2010 – via Google Books.
- ^ Paz, Yair (2006-12-26), "Holy Inhabitants of a Holy City: How Safed Became One of the Four Holy Cities of Eretz Israel in the 16th Century", A Holy People, Brill, pp. 237–260, ISBN 978-90-474-0923-6, retrieved 2024-07-20
External links
Media related to Four Holy Cities at Wikimedia Commons
