Mount Hermon: Israel’s Alps
The Book of Dvarim lists four names for Mount Hermon. The first three, Hermon, Sirion and Snir are found in Dvarim 3:8-9:
At that time we took from the two kings of the Amorites the land beyond the Jordan, from Arnon Stream to Mount Hermon- the Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Snir.
The fourth name, Sion, is mentioned in Dvarim 4:47-48:
They possessed Sichon’s land and the land of Og, King of Bashan, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan. From Aroer on the edge of the Arnon Stream until Mount Sion, which is Hermon.
Why did this mountain need four names?
According to Rashi who quotes the Sifrei, the four names show praise for the Land of Israel. Four kings prided themselves in it. One said, “It shall be called in my name,” and another said, “It shall be called in my name.”
Each name also has a special meaning which gives us different insights into the mountain.
Onkelos translated Snir as “Mountain of Snow”. Rashi points out that Snir is snow in German.
Ramban explains that the name Hermon comes from the root cherem (banned) which denotes desolation. The top of the mountain is so cold that no human habitation can exist there and therefore it is bleak and unapproachable.
Yalkut Shimoni expounds that this mountain was called Hermon because it was a city that was filled with all good like a pomegranate (rimon). Hermon can be seen as a contraction of “Har Rimon” which means “Pomegranate Mountain”.
We are familiar with the name Sirion from Tehillim, Psalm 29:5-6, “The Lord’s voice breaks cedars; the Lord shatters the cedars of Lebanon- He makes them skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox.” Sirion refers to the mountains that face Lebanon today.
Mount Hermon is a mountain range on the border of Lebanon and Syria. The southern slopes of Mount Hermon extend to the Golan Heights where the ski resort is located.
The name Sion means high cliff. Most of the year, the mountain is covered with snow, making it the water reservoir of Israel. As the snow melts, it refreshes the dry summer days with the “dew of Hermon that descends upon the mountains of Zion” (Tehillim 133:3). Through the abundance of water that collects at its foothills, it creates the main water artery of the entire country, the springs and sources of the Jordan River and the Kinneret. Ben Sira (24:14) referred to it as “the Mountain of God” due to the blessing that it brings to the land.
Mount Hermon is a strategic spot for the army as it overlooks Lebanon and Syria. May our soldiers be protected and may they have the strength to continue to defend the Golan Heights and the entire State of Israel.
