For nearly 3,800 years, the ancient city of Shechem has served as one of the most pivotal settings in the history of the Children of Israel and the Land of Israel. Nestled between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, the famed mountains of blessings and of curses respectively, Shechem had originally functioned as a gateway into the land that was promised to the Biblical Patriarchs of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Upon entering the land for the first time, Abraham arrived at Shechem, in the vicinity where God appeared and declared to Abraham, “To your seed I will give this land” (Genesis 12:6–7), marking the first recorded Divine promise of the Land of Israel to Abraham’s descendants. Many decades later, Shechem was one of the first places encountered by Abraham’s grandson Jacob upon his return to the Land after spending twenty years working for his uncle Laban. Upon arriving in Shechem, Jacob purchased a parcel of land from the sons of Hamor, the ruler of the region (Genesis 33:19). In doing so, he established his own bond with the land that had been promised to him, his father Isaac, and his grandfather Abraham.
“To your seed I will give this land” (Genesis 12:6–7)
Several centuries later, after the Children of Israel liberated the land from the Canaanite nations, Joshua gathered the tribes of Israel at Shechem (Joshua 24:1), where they ceremoniously renewed the covenant between them and God. Immediately thereafter, the bones of Jacob’s beloved son Joseph, which the Children of Israel had carried from Egypt to the Land of Israel, were finally buried in the very parcel of land that Jacob had acquired from the sons of Hamor (Joshua 24:32).
To this very day, despite countless attempts to diminish or dismiss Israel’s unbreakable ties to Shechem, the very site where Joseph’s bones still rest, continues to stand as powerful testimony to the enduring connection between the People of Israel and Shechem, as well as the greater Biblical Heartland!
Please help support the community of Karnei Shomron with your generous donation today!
The Families Restoring the Glory of Zion
For nearly 10 years, Yossi, a hardworking electrician, has been enjoying the prime of his life with his wife Sarah and their three children in the flourishing town of Karnei Shomron.
Raised in the Gush Etzion region of Judea, Yossi was inspired by the advice found in his favorite Biblical verse: “Rise, walk in the land, to its length and to its breadth, for I will give it to you” (Genesis 13:17).
Yossi and his family took those words to heart, opening themselves to the possibility of living in other parts of the Biblical Heartland. For Yossi, Karnei Shomron, located in Samaria, stood out above the rest:
“During the good and the bad, the whole of Karnei Shomron always comes together to help anyone,” Yossi said with a smile.
“When someone has a baby, all meals are provided for,” Yossi added. “And of course, when tragedy strikes, God forbid, such as when a local soldier falls in battle, everyone comforts the mourning family.”
Yossi and his family have not felt more at home than in Karnei Shomron.
“With the calm and loving atmosphere that we have savored here in Karnei Shomron, we could not imagine living anywhere else,” Yossi said.
“I invite our friends around the world to come and visit!”
By supporting communities in Samaria like Karnei Shomron, YOU are playing a role in the continued restoration and rebuilding of the Biblical Heartland! To make a generous donation to the families in Havat Gilad, please donate at: www.cfoic.com/Karnei-Shomron