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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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Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
The Israeli army said on Saturday that a missile fired from Yemen towards Israeli territory had been “most likely successfully intercepted,” while Yemen’s Houthi forces claimed responsibility for the launch.
Israel has threatened Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement – which has been attacking Israel in what it says is solidarity with Gaza – with a naval and air blockade if its attacks on Israel persist.
The Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group was responsible for Saturday’s attack, adding that it fired a missile towards the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
Since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023, the Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been firing at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade.
Most of the dozens of missiles and drones they have launched have been intercepted or fallen short. Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes.
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Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel
People attend the funeral procession of Iranian military commanders, nuclear scientists and others killed in Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 28, 2025. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Large crowds of mourners dressed in black lined streets in Iran’s capital Tehran as the country held a funeral on Saturday for top military commanders, nuclear scientists and some of the civilians killed during this month’s aerial war with Israel.
At least 16 scientists and 10 senior commanders were among those mourned at the funeral, according to state media, including armed forces chief Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Revolutionary Guards commander General Hossein Salami, and Guards Aerospace Force chief General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
Their coffins were driven into Tehran’s Azadi Square adorned with their photos and national flags, as crowds waved flags and some reached out to touch the caskets and throw rose petals onto them. State-run Press TV showed an image of ballistic missiles on display.
Mass prayers were later held in the square.
State TV said the funeral, dubbed the “procession of the Martyrs of Power,” was held for a total of 60 people killed in the war, including four women and four children.
In attendance were President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior figures including Ali Shamkhani, who was seriously wounded during the conflict and is an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as Khamenei’s son Mojtaba.
“Today, Iranians, through heroic resistance against two regimes armed with nuclear weapons, protected their honor and dignity, and look to the future prouder, more dignified, and more resolute than ever,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who also attended the funeral, said in a Telegram post.
There was no immediate statement from Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly since the conflict began. In past funerals, he led prayers over the coffins of senior commanders ahead of public ceremonies broadcast on state television.
Israel launched the air war on June 13, attacking Iranian nuclear facilities and killing top military commanders as well as civilians in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq.
Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities. The United States entered the war on June 22 with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
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Israel, the only Middle Eastern country widely believed to have nuclear weapons, said it aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.
Iran denies having a nuclear weapons program. The U.N. nuclear watchdog has said it has “no credible indication” of an active, coordinated weapons program in Iran.
Bagheri, Salami and Hajizadeh were killed on June 13, the first day of the war. Bagheri was being buried at the Behesht Zahra cemetery outside Tehran mid-afternoon on Saturday. Salami and Hajizadeh were due to be buried on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would consider bombing Iran again, while Khamenei, who has appeared in two pre-recorded video messages since the start of the war, has said Iran would respond to any future US attack by striking US military bases in the Middle East.
A senior Israeli military official said on Friday that Israel had delivered a “major blow” to Iran’s nuclear project. On Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that Israel and the US “failed to achieve their stated objectives” in the war.
According to Iranian health ministry figures, 610 people were killed on the Iranian side in the war before a ceasefire went into effect on Tuesday. More than 4,700 were injured.
Activist news agency HRANA put the number of killed at 974, including 387 civilians.
Israel’s health ministry said 28 were killed in Israel and 3,238 injured.
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Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival
Revellers dance as Avril Lavigne performs on the Other Stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
i24 News – Chants of “death to the IDF” were heard during the English Glastonbury music festival on Saturday ahead of the appearance of the pro-Palestinian Irish rappers Kneecap.
One half of punk duo based Bob Vylan (who both use aliases to protect their privacy) shouted out during a section of their show “Death to the IDF” – the Israeli military. Videos posted on X (formerly Twitter) show the crowd responding to and repeating the cheer.
This comes after officials had petitioned the music festival to drop the band. The rap duo also expressed support for the following act, Kneecap, who the BCC refused to show live after one of its members, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – better known by stage name Mo Chara – was charged with a terror offense.
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