Har Brakha

Israeli settlement in Samaria

Har Brakha (Hebrew: הַר בְּרָכָה, literlly Mount [of] Blessing) is a national-religious community settlement in Samaria in Israel. The settlement is on the ridge of Mount Gerizim south of Nablus, at an elevation of 2,850 feet above sea level.[1]

Har Brakha
הר ברכה

Mount Bracha is named after one of the two mountains mentioned in the Book of Deuteronomy on which half of the twelve tribes of Israel ascended in order to bless. The settlement is organized as a communal settlement and is within the jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council. In 2021 it had 3,062 residents.

Mount Bracha was established on November 17, 1982. In 1987 a core group of Orthodox families came and founded the settlement. After the establishment of the settlement, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed was appointed rabbi of the settlement, author of the series of halachic books "Pninei Halacha".[2]

The settlement has an elementary school for boys and an elementary school for girls, a high school for boys and a high school for girls, and a "yeshiva".

In 2011 a large group of Evangelical Christians came to assist in the grape harvest near the settlement, at the initiative and with the approval of Rabbi Melamed, and since then they have resided on the western hill of the settlement.

After several hundred private homes were built in Mount Bracha, the residents decided to start building four, five and six story buildings. This decision was made in order to lower housing prices and give young couples the ability to purchase homes in the village. As part of the construction, a boys school and a girls school were built in Mount Bracha, along with eleven kindergartens.

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