Why is Safed Important to Judaism?

Tzfat is known as one of the four holy cities of Judaism. It has had almost uninterrupted Jewish presence for over 2000 years and is the center of the study of Kabbalah -- Jewish mysticism. 

Each of the 4 holy cities corresponds to one of the 4 elements of nature.

• Jerusalem represents Fire because of Temple Sacrifices
• Hebron represents Earth because that's where the cave of the patriarchs is located
• Tiberias represents water because it's located next to Lake Kineret 
• Tzfat represents air because the city is high in the mountains and it is characterized by a  spiritual aura, connected to the Kabalah.

Kabbalah did not originate in Tzfat -- the book of the Zohar, the basic book of Kabblah, was written by R' Shimon Bar Yochai in the 1st century A.D. in the countryside surrounding Tzfat. But over the centuries, kabbalistic scholars settled in Tzfat, teaching and expounding on the Kabbalah 

The greatest of these scholars came to Tzfat in the years following the Spanish Expulsion. R' Yitzhak Luria, R' Yosef Caro, R' Moshe Cordovero, R' Yaakov Berav, R' Shlomo Alkabetz and many others created a community of Torah and Kabbalah scholars in the 15th century that earned the city the name "City of Kabbalah."

A Self-Guided Tour of the History of Tzfat