Where You Stand Matters: The Mystery of the Two Mountains
You May Be Standing on the Other Mountain — But We Can Still Say Amen Together
There is a remarkable scene described in the Torah that contains a message our divided world desperately needs.
As the Jewish people prepared to enter the Land of Israel, the twelve tribes were divided into two groups. Six tribes stood on Mount Gerizim, associated with blessing, and six stood on Mount Eival, associated with warning and consequence.
At first glance, the arrangement seems troubling.
Were the people on Mount Gerizim somehow the “good” tribes, while those on Mount Eival were the “bad” ones? Absolutely not.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe draws attention to a crucial detail in the ceremony.
When the blessings were proclaimed toward Mount Gerizim, everyone answered “Amen” — including those standing on Mount Eival. And when the warnings were proclaimed toward Mount Eival, everyone again answered “Amen” — including those standing on Mount Gerizim. They stood on different mountains, but they remained one people.
Different Mountains, One Covenant Perhaps that was precisely the point. Life does not always place us on the same mountain.
We grow up differently. We see the world differently. We have different personalities, experiences, opinions and perspectives. Two sincere people can sometimes look at the same situation and reach very different conclusions. The Torah does not pretend those differences don’t exist.
Instead, it gives us a more powerful challenge: Can we stand on different mountains and still answer “Amen” together? Can we disagree without becoming enemies? Can I believe strongly that I am right without concluding that you must therefore be worthless? Can we recognize that beneath our differences there are values, responsibilities and a shared humanity that bind us together?
Responsibility for One Another
The Rebbe explains that this ceremony was connected to an extraordinary principle of Jewish life: Kol Yisrael areivim zeh bazeh — every Jew is responsible for another. Entering the Land of Israel wasn’t simply a geographical transition. It introduced a deeper level of collective responsibility.
Your spiritual welfare became my concern. My actions could affect you. We weren’t merely twelve tribes occupying the same country. We were becoming a people responsible for one another. And perhaps that explains the powerful symbolism of the two mountains. Physically, they were separated. Spiritually, they were inseparable.
The Lesson for Our Times
We live in an age that constantly encourages us to choose a mountain. Right or left. Religious or secular. Conservative or liberal. My group or your group. And once we have chosen our mountain, it becomes dangerously easy to look across the valley and see not another human being, but an opponent.
Mount Gerizim and Mount Eival teach something different. The person standing on the other mountain is still your brother or sister. You don’t have to move onto their mountain. You don’t have to abandon your principles. You don’t even have to agree. But you must never forget that you are part of something larger than the disagreement. Sometimes unity does not mean standing in the same place. Unity means standing in different places and still being able to say “Amen” together.
That may be one of the great challenges of our generation. We don’t need a world in which everyone thinks alike. We need a world in which people who think differently can still care about one another, respect one another and recognize their responsibility for one another.
The twelve tribes stood on two mountains. But they shared one Torah, one destiny and one covenant. Thousands of years later, the mountains may have changed. The lesson has not. You may be standing on the other mountain — but we can still say Amen together.