Tablet Magazine - a new read on Jewish life

There are many hundreds of small textual differences between the Jewish and Samaritan Pentateuchs, the most important of them being a long addition in Exodus 20:17 mentioning Mt. Gerizim, and the wording in Deuteronomy 27:2-8 (God had already chosen this place, Mt. Gerizim). A recently analyzed fragment of Deuteronomy 27:4 from Qumran possibly strengthens the “Samaritan” reading (as does the ease with which the Solomon-built Temple kingdom had disintegrated). Most Jews of our time remain confused as to the physical location of Mt. Zion—the one where the Zion Gate in Jerusalem is, a southwest hill heavily built up by Christian buildings and cemeteries, the Temple Mount (the former eastern hill), or the City of David (the southeast hill)....

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