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I was once told that for thousands of years, different places in Israel have been associated with the 4 elements of creation: earth, water, fire and air/space

Hebron is associated the earth element (Adam, etc.) The Sea of Galilee is associated with the water element Jerusalem, with the fire element (the temple sacrifice, etc.) And Tzfat has been associated with air/space

When I do a search on the Internet I see that this has been written about in many websites. Are there any Jewish texts which are the basis for such associations? Is it Kabbalistic?

Digityogi
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  • Could you give an example of some of these websites? – Daniel Jan 20 '16 at 14:34
  • Just by doing a simple search on Google one finds many examples of sites which talk of the "4 Holy Cities" such as http://classroom.synonym.com/important-cities-jewish-faith-6011.html or more casually in sites like this: https://ascentofsafed.com/cgi-bin/ascent.cgi?Name=Tmima – Digityogi Jan 20 '16 at 14:54
  • related http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/12911/759 http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/22542/759 http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/16090/759 – Double AA Jan 20 '16 at 14:55
  • It's also mentioned more casually in sites like this: https://ascentofsafed.com/cgi-bin/ascent.cgi?Name=Tmima – Digityogi Jan 20 '16 at 14:57
  • @Digityogi I am familiar with the 4 Holy Cities. I have never heard of them being associated with those 4 elements, though. – Daniel Jan 20 '16 at 15:01
  • I see this question was already asked...http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/12911/four-holy-cities – Digityogi Jan 20 '16 at 15:05

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After researching this more thoroughly I discovered that this topic was actually written about in Wikipedia entitled : "Four Holy Cities"
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Holy_Cities

It seems the association of elements has only been since 1516. In the bibliography from the Encyclopedia of Judaism. Macmillan. p. 768. :

"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..."

The text continues later to say: "The term "Four Holy Cities" became a convenient designation by historians rather than the title of an actual functioning body. In Jewish tradition, going back to ancient times, the only city regarded as holy is Jerusalem."

Digityogi
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