Question

I am teaching a fourth grade class on Israel, and one of the programs I want to do involves showing the students how the longing for Israel is seen throughout Jewish texts and I was wondering if you could suggest a couple of good examples that I could use.

Also, I am going to try and introduce the students to the four Holy Cities, and I wanted to bring in the earth, fire, water and air connection, however I want to make sure I know which characteristic is connected to which city, and I need to find some source material on where this connection comes from. Thank you so much for any help you can provide.

Answer

Throughout the millennia, Jews from far reaches of the globe have turned in prayer toward Jerusalem. At each Jewish wedding, the groom breaks a glass to commemorate the destruction of the Holy Temple. And we close each Passover Seder with the resonating words - "Next Year in Jerusalem."

As voiced by the great Rabbi Judah HaLevy: "I am in the west... but my heart is in the east..." in Jerusalem.

Despite impossible conditions, we stubbornly refused to abandon Jerusalem. In the face of disease, lack of water, and marauding bandits, the Jewish presence remained. Barred by law from living here, we returned. Wiped out by Crusaders, we returned.

When the ceasefire lines were drawn, Jerusalem was divided and Jews were once again banished from the Western Wall, permitted only to gaze across the barbed wire from afar... to gaze across the endless expanse of time.

Jerusalem was not the only thing liberated during the Six Day War. With Jerusalem - the Jewish heart - now healthy and strong, vitality was pumped to the most distant extremities, renewing the spirit of Jews worldwide. Millions of Jews who had been distanced from our land and our legacy felt a fresh surge of identity. Like a sleeping giant awakening from slumber, we felt Jewish oneness, we felt Jewish pride.

This pride ignited a Jewish renaissance. Millions of Jews caught behind the Iron Wall of the Soviet Union were suddenly infused with a yearning to go home. Arrested by the KGB and faced with the harshest of punishment, Natan Sharansky defiantly declared: "Next Year in Jerusalem!" In America, we worked to free Soviet Jewry, and groups like Aish HaTorah blossomed, reconnecting thousands of Jews to their heritage.

This renaissance was possible because throughout Jewish history, our vision of Jerusalem remained unchanged. In 1905, when Britain's Lord Balfour offered the Jews Kenya, Chaim Weizman would accept nothing but the Holy Land. At that moment, Balfour later said, he knew that a people so determined and true to its principles, would eventually triumph.

Jerusalem is no mere historical asset. It is our roots -- the deepest roots that any people has. Elsewhere, we grope for insight. In Jerusalem, we achieve clarity and define who we are.

We see with Moses how much he longed and prayed to see Israel - Deuteronomy 3:23- 5. Psalms 137 describes the crying for Israel. Talmud Ketubbot 111-2 describes the praise, importance and Mitzva of making Aliya.

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It is a rather recent (last five centuries) development that: Tiberius, Hebron and Zfat are considered holy cities and mentioned together with Jerusalem. This is because the Jewish population in the last couple of centuries (before the 20th century) were concentrated in these areas.

Conceivably, Jerusalem was compared to fire, because of the heavenly fire there upon the altar - (source: Talmud Yoma 21b). Also, because it was destroyed in fire.

Hebron gains its holiness from our forefathers that are buried in its earth - (source: Genesis 23:2).

Tiberius is known because of its water - (Talmud Moed Kattan 18b).

Tzfat, is the city where the Kabbalists had their inspiration, and it was considered a very spiritual city. ("Ruach" means wind, and also spirituality; as opposed to "Geshem" which means rain, and the mundane corporeal needs.)