Elon Moreh
Zeev Saffer

(This is the fourth in a series on the Jewish communities of Judea, Samaria and Gaza.)

When, a new immigrant, I arrived in Israel thirty-three years ago, my wife and I, with our two children, joined a group (garin) of families that decided to settle in Samaria. There were no Jewish families living in Samaria at the time and because of its importance as the place where the Jewish nation began, we chose the area of Elon Moreh.

The Bible first mentions Elon Moreh when God tells Abram (his name not yet Abraham) to leave his father’s home and go to the land He will show him (Gen. 12:1). “And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Shechem, unto the terebinth [Hebrew ‘elon’] of Moreh.” (Gen. 12:6) Here God tells Abram “to your children will I give this land.” (Gen. 12:7) When Jacob returns from Laban’s home, he goes to Elon Moreh and purchases a parcel of land (Gen. 33:19) which he bequeaths to his son Joseph (Gen. 48:22) on his deathbed. Decades later, after the Exodus and the conquest of Canaan, Joseph was buried there (Jos 24:32). It was also at Elon Moreh that the children of Israel stood on Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal and received the Blessings and the Curses (Josh. 8:30) Joshua built an altar on Mt. Ebal and the Bible says that on that day and at that place, the children of Israel became a nation. (Deut: 27:9)

Our group ran into intense opposition from our own government, which even then hoped to exchange “territories for peace.” Six times our garin were thrown off by the army. The seventh time, during Chanukah 1975, thousands of supporters joined us and in a compromise, the government allowed us to settle in Camp Kaddum, an old Jordanian army camp.

Kaddum (now known as Kedumim) has since flourished and grown into a substantial town, but our nucleus was still determined to settle in Biblical Elon Moreh. Even as we built Kedumim, we looked east to Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal. Our opportunity came in 1977 when Menachem Begin was elected Prime Minister. On Tu Bishvat (the traditional Arbor Day) in 1980, our garin moved to the site of our present village on a mountaintop overlooking the city of Shechem. Elon Moreh is two miles east of Shechem, facing Joseph’s Tomb, Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal. Today, a multi-cultural microcosm, 250 families from 25 countries live here, over 20% recent immigrants from Peru, Russia, India, the U.S. and England.

Elon Moreh has a large mini-market, stores selling books and stationery, clothing stores and offers a variety of personal services, from barbers to electricians to plumbers to gardeners. A number of scribes (sofrim) live in the community, who write mezuzot, tefillin, megillot (for Purim) and Torah scrolls. A post office also provides some banking functions. There is a swimming pool, sports center with gymnasium and an exercise room. Medical facilities include an infirmary and dental clinic. A large commercial center is in the planning stage.

Education is a high priority in this religious community, going up to a Yeshivat Hesder (providing mixed religious and military training) and a rabbinical college. Under the leadership of Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, the village’s rabbi and Yeshiva principal, there are adult classes for men and women.

Over the years Elon Moreh has suffered more than its share from Arab terror. The main synagogue is dedicated to the memory of two of Elon Moreh’s children, Rami Chaba and Tirzah Porat, killed during an outing of teenagers eighteen years ago. The worst single disaster occurred during Passover of 2002, when a terrorist shot his way into the home of Rabbi David Gavish. The terrorist killed David, his wife Rachel, their oldest son Abraham and Rachel’s father Yitzhak Kaner. David, 50 years old at the time of his murder, had taught in Elon Moreh for many years, at one time serving as school principal. Rachel taught in Elon Moreh schools for 20 years, before her death acting as counselor at the Michlalah girls school. Rachel’s father, 83 when he was killed, lived in Jerusalem but had come, as was his custom, to be with the family for the holidays. Avraham, at 24, was the oldest of David and Rachel’s seven children, and had come to Elon Moreh as an infant. An officer in an elite corps in the army, he was married, leaving a baby daughter, Naamah.

The murder of the Gavish family was a tremendous shock, and we feared many families would leave. In fact not a single family left in response to the tragedy and many new families have continued to come. We have built a security perimeter around Elon Moreh and special cameras and monitors ensure that this kind of tragedy will not happen again. The first stage of the new cultural center, including a library and lecture rooms in memory of the Gavish family and all Elon Moreh’s terror victims, has been built.

Those of us who formed the nucleus of Kedumim and then Elon Moreh take great pride in having been the pioneers in settling Samaria. Today the homes of tens of thousands of Jews, with their schools, yeshivot, factories, vineyards and orchards, cover the hills of Judea and Samaria. Our supporters abroad, especially American Friends of Elon Moreh, give families here the sense they are not alone in their struggle to continue to build and grow in this biblical homeland of the Jewish people.

More information can be found on the Elon Moreh website shechem.org/elon-moreh