Very similar to Massekhet Soferim, paragraph 11, which begins Comfort [Nahem, instead of rahem ], Lord our God, Zion your city... and ends who comforts the children of Zion. Zion means Mount Zion, the hill in Jerusalem on which the Temple stood, although it had been destroyed centuries before this blessing was composed. It is possible that Mount Zion is mentioned deliberately to refute the Samaritans, who centered their devotion to Mount Gerizim instead of Mount Zion. Instead of save (toshiya) the downtrodden, Massekhet Soferim has avenge (tenikum), which is used in the Yemenite version of the blessing. By the time of Amram Gaon (9th century) and Saadiah Gaon (10th century), as well as Mahzor Vitry (ca. 1100), 'be merciful' had replaced 'comfort' - but 'avenge' was still part of the text—and into the last century was still part of both Romaniot and Yemenite versions. It has been suggested that save replaced avenge in so many communities because of Christian and Moslem censorship or intimidation.