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Examining the History of Mount Gerizim: The Samaritans’ Holy Temple
Reading from a Torah scroll in accordance with Sephardi tradition. Photo: Sagie Maoz via Wikimedia Commons.
After two weeks of the most important laws of the Torah, Moses now gives instructions about what the Jewish people should do when they enter the land of Israel.
The first command concerns first fruits. Moses says that since they now have a land of their own, the Jewish people should dedicate their first harvest to God, out of gratitude.
The Torah specifies that we should take them to, “the place which God has chosen to be the repository of his name,” which was taken to mean the Tabernacle (which, in due course, would be transferred into a permanent temple). Then the Torah goes on to command them to erect two stone tablets and cover them with plaster, onto which the laws of the Torah would be written for all to see. This was an important signal that the law had to be accessible to everyone.
This would be followed by a public ceremony that would take place on the West Bank at two mountains, Gerizim for the blessings, and Eyval for the curses. The tribes would be divided into two, with half on one and the other half on the other. They would say aloud the blessings that would follow if they were true to God, and the curses that would follow if they abandoned him.
I do not like the translation of blessings and curses. Rather, I believe we should emphasize that good things or bad things will happen depending on people’s behavior. The Torah is emphasizing that for a country, a people, or a community to function effectively, the laws are not enough. The spirit of the law is what matters, and the relationship between people is what will bring blessings as opposed to what will bring curses.
Returning to the two mountains, Gerizim and Eyval, King David conquered Jerusalem roughly 3,000 years ago, and his son Solomon built the temple there. Why was no temple built on Mount Gerizim, which was specified in the Torah? Some 300 years later, the country split into two kingdoms, Judah in the South and Israel in the north. In 720 BCE the north was destroyed by the Assyrians, and its inhabitants were exiled and scattered around the empire, which extended from the Euphrates River eastwards. Other peoples defeated by the Assyrians were then resettled in that conquered territory to make sure that the original inhabitants would not re-constitute.
According to our Bible, some of these other conquered people settled in the north, Samaria, and became known as Samaritans. And they adopted the Torah as their religious authority, but built their temple on Mount Gerizim in the north.
The Samaritan version of their origins is different from ours, in that they claim they were the remnant of the Ten Lost Tribes of the North who managed to hide from the Assyrians, and reconstituted the community in the absence of the Judeans. The rivalry between the Jews and the Samaritans continued until the Roman exile, and was sometimes close and sometimes distant.
Mount Gerizim, which is near Nablus on the West Bank, remains their holy place to this day — even though their temple was destroyed by the Maccabean King John Hyrcanus, and later by the Byzantine Christians. To this day, there are still small communities of Samaritans in Samaria as well as settlements in Holon in Israel and in parts of America.
And it might seem from this week’s Torah portion that their choice of Holy Mountain was more authentic than ours.
The other is a writer and rabbi, currently based in New York.
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with government officials in Tehran, Iran, April 15, 2025. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Donald Trump on Saturday of lying when the US president said during his Gulf tour this week that he wanted peace in the region.
On the contrary, said Khamenei, the United States uses its power to give “10-ton bombs to the Zionist (Israeli) regime to drop on the heads of Gaza’s children.”
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after departing the United Arab Emirates on Friday that Iran had to move quickly on a US proposal for its nuclear program or “something bad’s going to happen.”
His remarks, said Khamenei, “aren’t even worth responding to.” They are an “embarrassment to the speaker and the American people,” Khamenei added.
“Undoubtedly, the source of corruption, war, and conflict in this region is the Zionist regime — a dangerous, deadly cancerous tumor that must be uprooted; it will be uprooted,” he said at an event at a religious center in Tehran, according to state media.
Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Trump speaks about peace while simultaneously making threats.
“Which should we believe?” Pezeshkian said at a naval event in Tehran. “On the one hand, he speaks of peace and on the other, he threatens with the most advanced tools of mass killing.”
Tehran would continue Iran-US nuclear talks but is not afraid of threats. “We are not seeking war,” Pezeshkian said.
While Trump said on Friday that Iran had a US proposal about its nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in a post on X said Tehran had not received any such proposal. “There is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to (uranium) enrichment for peaceful purposes…” he said.
Araqchi warned on Saturday that Washington’s constant change of stance prolongs nuclear talks, state TV reported.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that America repeatedly defines a new framework for negotiations that prolongs the process,” the broadcast quoted Araqchi as saying.
Pezeshkian said Iran would not “back down from our legitimate rights”.
“Because we refuse to bow to bullying, they say we are source of instability in the region,” he said.
A fourth round of Iran-U.S. talks ended in Oman last Sunday. A new round has not been scheduled yet.
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Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday
Doha, Qatar. Photo: StellarD via Wikimedia Commons.
A new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel is underway in Qatar’s Doha, Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters on Saturday.
He said the two sides were discussing all issues without “pre-conditions.”
Nono said Hamas was “keen to exert all the effort needed” to help mediators make the negotiations a success, adding there was “no certain offer on the table.”
The negotiations come despite Israel preparing to expand operations in the Gaza Strip as they seek “operational control” in some areas of the war-torn enclave.
The return to negotiations also comes after US President Donald Trump ended a Middle East tour on Friday with no apparent progress towards a new ceasefire, although he acknowledged Gaza’s growing hunger crisis and the need for aid deliveries.
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Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands, Feb. 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
i24 News – Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan has stepped down temporarily as an investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct by United Nations investigators is nearing its final phase, Reuters reported on Friday citing sources from the international court.
Khan allegedly forced sexual intercourse upon a member of staff on multiple occasions, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, linking the allegations to Khan’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant.
A statement is expected later today announcing that Khan is going on administrative leave, according to a source in the prosecutor’s office.
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