For the week ending 21 July 2012 / 1 Av 5772
Shomron - The Mountain of Shemer
The "sh" in the acronym Yesha so much in the news stands for Shomron, a historic part of Eretz Yisrael. Now used as a title for an entire region, this was the name of the capital of the Kingdom of Yisrael. It was named after the original owner of the mountain on which a great city was built. Omri purchased this mountain from Shemer and as a reward for adding a city to Eretz Yisrael he was the only one of the rulers of the Kingdom of Yisrael who was privileged to have a son and grandson sit on this throne.