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Apart from Mount Sinai, the other mountains mentioned in the Torah were Mount Eyval and Mount Gerizim on the West Bank of the river Jordan, in the land of Canaan.

The first time they’re mentioned is in Devarim Chapter 11 verse 29. The Torah commanded the children of Israel that when they crossed the river Jordan, they would split into two groups, one standing on the top of Mount Ebal and the other on Mount Gerizim. The priests in the middle would turn to Mount Gerizim and give a declaration of the benefits that would derive from keeping the Torah. And then turn to Mount Ebal and declare the terrible things that would happen if they did not.  It was a significant ceremony that involved everybody, man, woman and child, just as the Sinai revelation was to the nation, not just to the priests or to any one specific leader as in other religions.

This week, the Torah mentions Ebal once again in Chapter 27, verse 4. The command to have the Torah inscribed on stone and covered in plaster. It sounds like cuneiform. And placed on Mount Ebal, where they could see what the constitution was and was accessible to everybody. There is no record of this actually happening. But there are some questions to answer. For example, why, over time, did these two mountains not have any significance within the Jewish people over the years they had Jewish kingdoms?

Perhaps it was because much of Canaan was not actually conquered in the early years after the children of Israel crossed the Jordan. These two mountains might have remained in the hands of other tribes for a long time. Remember, it was not until the time of King David that Jerusalem was taken from the Jebusites.

Another explanation is that the Samaritans, who were in a way the first breakaway from what we would call mainstream Judaism, refused to accept rabbinical authority coming from Babylon. They had their own version of the Torah in which Mount Gerizim was their holy mountain in opposition to Zion, and that was where they built the Samaritan temple.  In various forms, it survived there until Islam destroyed it. Their choice of Mount Gerizim makes sense in a way, because that was the mountain of the blessings mentioned in the Torah. One wonders why Ebal was chosen for the copy of the constitution on stone instead of Gerizim. Was it because originally the plan was to build a temple on Gerizim? Before the temple was built there was the Tabernacle, built in the desert and carried on across the river Jordan. Why wasn’t it placed on Mount Gerizim?  Instead, it was peripatetic until it ended up in Solomon’s temple.

The question remains why was Eyval the mountain of curses where this command to place the Torah inscribed on stone was to take place? There’s a mystical explanation. There are far more negative commands in the Torah than there are positive ones. You might say that human nature tends towards the negative. It is easier to destroy than it is to build.  Since Ebal is the mountain of curses, that logically is where the emphasis on avoiding bad behaviour should be. Gerizim might have been the better choice for the passive religious ceremonial of a sanctuary (or the synagogue).

But Ebal ( which is spelled differently but sounds like the word for mourning) is a more appropriate mountain to warn us against the negativity that needs to be curbed. The stiff-necked, contentious characteristic that Moses saw.  Which throughout the history of the Jewish people constantly cost us a very heavy price both politically and spiritually.

Devarim Chapters 26-29:8

Rabbi Jeremy Rosen lives in New York. He was born in Manchester. His writings are concerned with religion, culture, history and current affairs – anything he finds interesting or relevant. They are designed to entertain and to stimulate. Disagreement is always welcome.