Explore Har Bracha, Mount Gerizim, and Mount Ebal—the biblical Mount of Blessing and Mount of Cursing—where Joshua renewed Israel’s covenant and where Israel’s ancient claim to Samaria still speaks today.
Har Bracha, located on Mount Gerizim in the heart of Samaria, sits beside one of the most important biblical landscapes in all of Israel. Known as the Mount of Blessing, Mount Gerizim stands across from Mount Ebal, the Mount of Cursing, where Joshua built an altar after the children of Israel entered the Land of Israel.
In this Route 60 film, we bring the story of Har Bracha, Mount Gerizim, and Mount Ebal to life—exploring the land, the Scriptures, the archaeology, and the modern Jewish communities that continue the story of Israel in the mountains of Samaria today.
Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal are not just scenic twin mountains in Samaria. They are the place where Israel renewed the covenant after entering the land, where Joshua read the blessings and the curses, where Joseph was buried at Shechem, where the Samaritan people still live today, and where the modern community of Har Bracha now stands.
This page explores:
The modern Jewish town atop Mount Gerizim is called Har Bracha, which means Mount of Blessing. It is located in Samaria, just south of Shechem, near the biblical twin mountains of Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal.
As the crow flies, Har Bracha is located 28.5 miles (46 kilometers) north of Jerusalem. It sits at an elevation of 2,850 feet (870 metres) above sea level.
From the western edge of the community, on a clear day, you can see all the way to Israel’s coastal cities, about 30 miles away, and at sunset you’ll often see the sun glinting off of the Mediterranean Sea.
Just a little further down the road from Shiloh, as you continue north on Route 60, sits this pair of twin mountains that shaped the nation of Israel in an incredible way. Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, or in Hebrew Har G’rizim and Har Eval, are located near the end of the Tirzah Valley, which stretches all the way to the Jordan River basin.
Immediately after entering the Land of Israel, after sojourning in the wilderness, the children of Israel conquered Jericho and Ai, and then made their way directly to the area of Mount Ebal.
The story of their arrival here is recorded in Joshua chapter 8:
Now Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of whole stones over which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings.
And there, in the presence of the children of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.
Then all Israel, with their elders and officers and judges, stood on either side of the ark before the priests, the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, the stranger as well as he who was born among them. Half of them were in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel.
And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law.
There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, with the women, the little ones, and the strangers who were living among them.
Mount Gerizim is known as the Mount of Blessing, while Mount Ebal is known as the Mount of Cursing. This renewing of the covenant at these mountains within the borders of the land of Israel under Joshua’s leadership was a massively defining moment for the people of Israel.
From the days of Joshua, Israel’s first national leader of the people within their own land, Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal have served as icons of the Jewish people’s claim to the land, as well as the covenants established here.
This covenant was first connected to Abraham, and then reaffirmed with the national formal acceptance of the covenant when God’s people came into the land over 3,000 years ago.
It was only in recent years that this exact site, which is believed to be Joshua’s altar, was rediscovered. The location on the eastern slope of Mount Ebal was a desolate hillside for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.
Between 1982–84, some initial excavations of the site were done, and it was discovered to be almost irrefutably an ancient Israelite altar dating back to the time of Joshua circa 1300 BC.
The archeologists found ashes of young clean animals, just as would be expected. Even the location, being slightly below the summit of the mountain, matched Moses’ instructions to build the altar “in/at” Mount Ebal and not “on/atop” it (Deuteronomy 27).
Though Adam Zertal, the lead archeologist at the site, had no clue what the site was when he first started the dig, he later became convinced that the site was Joshua’s altar, spoken of in the pages of the Bible.
The close correlation of many aspects of the site to the biblical account serves as one of the clearest archeological testimonies to the truth of Israel’s ancient claim to this land.
The main difficulty with this being Joshua’s altar is the location of Mount Gerizim, as some have suggested that the summits of both mountains should have been visible from the location of the altar.
Adam Zertal concluded that the hill commonly referred to as Har Kabir or Elon Moreh, located west of Shechem, is actually the Mount Gerizim referenced in the Bible.
Whatever the case is regarding the exact location of that mountain, the Samaritan history in the area, going back all the way to the times of the Northern Kingdom’s captivity, is also something to consider.
We know for certain that the Samaritans living on what is now known as Mount Gerizim were convinced of that location as far back as the times of the Maccabees, and likely even since the times of Ezra and Nehemiah.
The ruins of their temple, destroyed by John Hyrcanus, the nephew of Judah Maccabee, are located there. The archeology suggests that this temple, built atop Mount Gerizim, would have been constructed around 450 BC.
The area was already significant to Israel’s forefathers for many reasons. The hilltop of Elon Moreh, where God promised the land to Abraham in Genesis 12, is right across the valley floor, approximately 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the Mount of Blessing.
Also right at the foot of Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal is the biblical city of Shechem.
Shechem was originally conquered by Simeon and Levi from the Canaanites that dwelt there after they defiled Jacob’s daughter Dinah (Genesis 34). Then later Jacob bequeathed that parcel of ground to Joseph as a share above what his brothers would receive (Genesis 48:22).
As the people of Israel came into the land, they brought Joseph’s bones with them from Egypt and laid them to rest there at the foot of the mountains, just as Joseph had made the Israelites swear to do (Genesis 50:25 – Exodus 13:19 – Joshua 24:32).
The place of his burial is still recognized today. The shrine of Joseph’s Tomb is within the city of Shechem, also known as Nablus, which is a Palestinian-controlled area. Once in a while, under military escort, Jews are allowed to go and visit Joseph’s burial site.
On Mount Gerizim, overlooking the tomb, there is also a small yeshiva that has recently been established which is named in Joseph’s merit, Mitspeh Yosef, or Joseph’s Overlook.
Another piece of Israel’s history is located on a nearby hill about 5.5 miles (8.7 kilometers) to the northwest: the ancient Israelite city of Samaria, or in Hebrew, Shomron.
This is the city where Ahab’s father Omri set up his kingdom. He bought the hill from a man named Shemer, and that man’s name is where the term now used to reference the entire region of Samaria, Shomron, found its origin.
This city served as the Northern Kingdom of Israel’s capital until they were taken into captivity by the Assyrians around 720 BC.
This area around Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal was a major hub of the northern Israelite kingdom. Even before the capital was moved to the city of Samaria, it was previously at the opposite end of the Tirzah Valley in the city by the name Tirzah, only 8 miles to the east.
Later on, in the time of the Assyrian captivity, when the Assyrians were trying to resettle the land they had conquered from Israel’s northern kingdom, they were having issues with the settlers being killed by lions in the region of Samaria.
They decided that they needed to send a priest of the original inhabitants so he could teach them the ways of the God of that land.
This mixture of peoples that had an Israelite priest teaching them from the Torah is quite possibly where the Samaritan people found their roots, although a remnant of Israelites left in the region was certainly mixed in as well.
The Samaritans are also talked about in the Gospels, both in the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10 and in Jesus’ famous encounter with the woman at the well, happening right in the immediate area of Mount Gerizim.
If you remember, the woman mentioned to Jesus that they, the Samaritans, believed that this was the location to worship God, and indeed they had previously built their own temple on Mount Gerizim (John 4).
Still to this day, there is a community of around 400 Samaritans living on Mount Gerizim, in the village of Kiryat Luza. This community is home to approximately half of the global population of the people group.
The Samaritans still maintain a faith based on the five books of Moses, but their version reads differently with regards to God’s choosing of Jerusalem, with Mount Gerizim being inserted instead.
The holiness of the site on Gerizim even appears as the 10th commandment of the Decalogue in their scrolls.
Although the initial splitting off of the northern kingdom of Israel in the days of Jeroboam saw holy sites being set up in Bethel and in Dan, it’s easy to see how the gathering place for the northern tribes would eventually come to be at Gerizim since the capital cities of the northern kingdom were Tirzah and later Samaria, both of which are located nearby.
The modern Jewish town atop Mount Gerizim is called Har Bracha, or Mount Blessing.
The site was originally established as a military outpost, but on the day of the 35th anniversary of Israel’s independence in 1983, it was turned over to residential purposes.
The community is now home to around 350 families and close to 4,000 people.
Like many of the well-established communities in Samaria, Har Bracha sports a plethora of essentials for modern-day life, including:
A central fixture of the community is the yeshiva, or Jewish learning center, Yeshivat Har Bracha, which is a well-respected place of study. This yeshiva was founded in 1992.
Har Bracha is a religious community led by the renowned Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, author of the 22-volume set titled Pninei Halakha, detailing the practical observance of Torah for religious Jews in today’s world.
Contrary to the initial predictions from agricultural advisors, the area is well suited to vineyards and certain types of fruit trees.
Today there are ample grapevines on the slopes around the hilltop community.
Nir Lavi, father of one of the original families who took up residence in the community, had a vision to plant vineyards on these hills after reading the words of the prophets foretelling that the children of Israel would return one day and do just that.
He also established the Har Bracha Winery in the community. His wines have won international awards and are certainly enjoyed by the locals as well, served from his winery restaurant near the entrance to Har Bracha.
Nir’s vision to see the prophecies fulfilled also led him to meet Tommy Waller in 2004.
Tommy is the founder of The Israel Guys, a Christian volunteer organization that works in support of Jewish farmers in Judea and Samaria. The Israel Guys is known in Hebrew as HaYovel.
The Israel Guys has since been established with a headquarters on an adjoining hill near the community of Har Bracha.
It is a very unique situation, having a Christian operation based beside a religious Jewish community, but years of faithful service and hard work to repair the breach between Christians and Jews has brought a good reputation to the group, despite the unusual dynamic.
Rabbi Melamed has facilitated the group staying there, as he sees a prophetic virtue in inviting the nations who fear God to take part with Israel as the redemption draws near.
In 2025, Israel approved plans to establish a Jewish community on Mount Ebal near the site of Joshua’s altar.
The new settlement also received formal approval in February of 2026, and the first dwelling units were brought in in March.
There had been attempts by local Arabs to damage and destroy the ancient altar, which eventually helped encourage officials to approve the development in an effort to preserve the heritage site.
Har Eval is the highest of all the mountain peaks in the Samaria area, reaching just over 3,000 ft (940 meters) above sea level at the summit.
Because of the commanding view that the hilltop offers, there has been a military observation post on Mount Ebal for many years, established shortly after the 6-Day War. The site has been a key surveillance position in the area.
From the days of Joshua, Israel’s first national leader of the people within their own land, until the present day, Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal have served as icons of the Jewish people’s claim to the land.
They also represent the covenants established here, both with Abraham and reaffirmed with the national formal acceptance of the covenant when God’s people came into the land over 3,000 years ago.
It’s easy to see the insanity of the idea of Jewish people being removed from Samaria in order to establish an Arab Palestinian state.
The Israelite heritage is undeniable in this area, and maybe that is specifically why the enemies of the Jewish people insist that the Jews be removed from these areas where the history is so rich and the confirmations of the truth of the biblical story practically call out from the weathered stones of these very hillsides.
Har Bracha is a modern Jewish community located on Mount Gerizim in Samaria, just south of Shechem and north of Jerusalem along the Route 60 corridor.
Har Bracha means Mount of Blessing. It is the modern Hebrew name of the Jewish community located on Mount Gerizim, the biblical Mount of Blessing.
Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal are the twin mountains in Samaria where Joshua renewed the covenant after the children of Israel entered the Land of Israel. Mount Gerizim is known as the Mount of Blessing, while Mount Ebal is known as the Mount of Cursing.
Joshua’s altar is believed by many to be located on the eastern slope of Mount Ebal. Excavations between 1982–84 uncovered what archaeologist Adam Zertal later became convinced was the altar spoken of in Joshua chapter 8.
Mount Ebal is important because Joshua built an altar there after Israel entered the land, wrote a copy of the law of Moses on stones, and read the blessings and curses before the people of Israel.
Mount Gerizim is important because it is the biblical Mount of Blessing. It is home to the modern Jewish community of Har Bracha. It is also connected to the Samaritan people, who still have a community on the mountain today.
Geographically, Har Bracha is located in the area often referred to internationally as the West Bank, while biblically and historically it is part of Samaria.
Yes! You can visit the modern Jewish community of Har Bracha in Samaria. The surrounding area includes major biblical locations such as Mount Gerizim, Mount Ebal, Shechem, Joseph’s Tomb, and Joshua’s altar on Mount Ebal. You can also visit The Israel Guys headquarters where there is a new visitor center and coffee shop.
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