Twenty year puzzle solved! As follows!

Inspiration from the Old City in Jerusalem

This is Ohr HaChaim Street in the Old City of Jerusalem, named after the first of the 4 Rabbis of interest here. His yeshiva is in the restored synagogue to our right, which was also the birthplace of the Ari (Rabbi 2 of interest). If we walk down this hill, then down a flight of stairs, to our left are the connected buildings housing the Ramban synagogue (Rabbi 3) and the Hurva synagogue, rebuilt by disciples of the Vilna Gaon (Rabbi 4).

The pattern is:

• There is a (very) famous Rabbi associated with a synagogue in the Old City, AND:
• His fame is validated by checking in the Margoliat Encyclopedia of Great Men in Israel, for 6 columns of text or more, AND:
• His name is strongly encoded, AND:
• If the encyclopedia mentions his month and day of death, that is encoded as well AND:
• If there is a topic that is so strongly associated with the Rabbi, such that his name is attached to that topic in the literature, then that topic is also encoded.

The following 4 codes all follow the pattern just described:

(1) The Ohr HaChaim

(2) Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, the Ari (ref: Lurianic Kabbalah)

(3) The Ramban

(4) The Vilna Gaon

I do not believe that there are any other rabbis who fit the pattern described above. Therefore we have 4 winning results out of 4 possible. The unlikelihood of this group of codes happening merely by chance is at least 1 in 100,000 - using every possible conservative assumption.

In summary, this code series greatly simplifies and indirectly validates the original Great Rabbis study. That study marked the formal entry of Torah codes into a scientific framework more than 20 years ago.

Supporting info - including plaques from these buildings

The above website covers the major synagogues of the Old City. It is simple to verify who are the most famous Rabbis associated with these synagogues, among all rabbis documented in the encyclopedia (link to be added).

Synagogue (and rabbi) descriptions

Following are the plaques mounted at the entrances to these synagogues, describing the 4 rabbis of interest.

Rabbis' appellations

How were these rabbis called? The above plaques contain their most common names. In addition, the following Hebrew resource (and many others) could be consulted for the equally valid alternative Hebrew spelling of the Vilna Gaon:

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