Locating Gerizim and Ebal and Putting Blessing Before Curse

Our Rabbis taught: "Are they not beyond the Jordan?" (Deuteronomy 11:30) - that is, from beyond the Jordan and onward; these are the words of Rabbi Yehudah. "Behind the way of the going down of the sun" - the place where the sun shines. "In the land of the Canaanite who dwells in the Arabah" - these are Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, where the Samaritans (Kutim) dwell. "Over against Gilgal" - near Gilgal. "Beside the terebinths of Moreh" - just as there "Shechem" is meant, so too here "Shechem," and there it says, "unto the place of Shechem, unto the terebinth of Moreh" (Genesis 12:6). Rabbi Eleazar says: "Are they not beyond the Jordan" - near the Jordan; for if it meant from the Jordan onward, it is already written, "and it shall be when you cross the Jordan" (Deuteronomy 27:4). "Behind the way of the going down of the sun" - the place where the sun shines. "In the land of the Canaanite" - in the land of the Hivite. "Who dwells in the Arabah" - but do they not dwell in mountains and hills? "Over against Gilgal" - but did they not see Gilgal? Rabbi Eleazar ben Yaakov says: Scripture comes only to show them the road the second time as it showed them the first time: travel by the roads and not through fields and vineyards; go where it is settled and not over mountains and hills; through the plain and not through deserts. Our Rabbis taught: "Blessed" in general and "blessed" in particular; "cursed" in general and "cursed" in particular; to learn and to teach, to keep and to do - that makes four; four and four make eight; eight and eight make sixteen. And so at Sinai, and so in the plains of Moab. Rabbi Shimon excludes Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal and includes the Tent of Meeting in the wilderness. Our Rabbis taught: "And you shall put the blessing upon Mount Gerizim" (Deuteronomy 11:29) - what does this teach? If to teach that the blessing is on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal, is it not already said, "These shall stand to bless the people" and it is written, "These shall stand for the curse" (Deuteronomy 27:12-13)? Rather, it teaches to put the blessing before the curse. One might think all the blessings precede all the curses; therefore Scripture says "blessing and curse" - one blessing precedes a curse, but not all the blessings before the curses. And it teaches to compare the blessing to the curse: just as the curse was by the Levites, so too the blessing by the Levites; just as the curse was in a loud voice, so too the blessing in a loud voice; just as the curse was in the holy tongue, so too the blessing in the holy tongue; just as the curse was in general and in particular, so too the blessing in general and in particular; just as with the curse these and those answered Amen, so too with the blessing these and those answered Amen.