The Samaritan Update
January 17TH 2002
By Osher Sasony,
If you missed or we failed to send you the
last Samaritan Update (1.03.2002), please contact us!
As the bar of violence and terrorist acts against Israeli targets was raised, Samaritans too, for the first time since 1967, were being shot at on their way to and from Mount Gerizim. The first to be hit by gunfire was priest Yossef b. Tsedaka, on Nov. 4th 2001, a fifty-six year old father of four. While he was ascending the summit on his way home on the southern road driving his car he happened upon a Palestinian ambush that mistakenly took him for a settler from Beracha (a Jewish settlement near the Samaritans). Priest Yossef was seriously wounded by three gunshots in his hip and knee. Losing control of his car the vehicle rolled quickly to the IDF roadblock at the entrance to the Beracha settlement. The soldiers behind the road barricade who thought that he was a suicide Palestinian say they fired quickly at the car wheels, which swerved to the left and hit the gate to the Beracha settlement. He was rushed by helicopter to the Rabin (Beilinson) Medical Center and after undergoing three complex operations in his knee and hip was released for home hospitalization under continuous medical surveillance. On Dec. 18th 2001, Tsamer b. Yossef Altif [27], left home in Kiriyat Luza early in the morning on his way to work in Tel Aviv. At the entrance to the village of Chuwwara [Horon], six kilometers south of Nablus, a barrage of shots was fired at his car from among the village houses. Although the heavy Palestinian fire hit his vehicle the young man was miraculously hit only in his left hand. He did not lose control of his car and managed to get away from the range of the bullets. IDF forces pursued the terrorists. The young man is recuperating at home after a successful operation on his hand and will soon return to work.
Samaritan Scholar and Editor of
the A.B. Samaritan News, Benyamim Tsedaka during his recent trip met with
various audiences in Europe and in the USA in academic institutions as well as
organizations. Study lectures and workshops were arranged on different
Samaritan subjects and research were applied to Samaritan manuscripts in
several collections as follows:
In the USA, Benyamim began his
trip in Cincinnati researching, examining and cataloging a collection of over
50 Samaritan manuscripts. He also lectured at the local university. Then He
visited Washington DC to attend political meetings, background lectures of
information on the Samaritans and a seminar on Samaritan music. In St. Louis
Benny performed four workshops on Samaritan tradition and Samaritan language.
Then traveled to Montana to give a seminar on Samaritan music. Then New York
gave Benny many hours of research, examination and cataloging a collection of
over 100 Samaritan manuscripts. Included on his visit were background lectures
and information on the Samaritans with a seminar on Samaritan music. Across the
country to Los Angeles brought meetings to promote Samaritan music. Many people
attended his background lectures and information on the Samaritans. With his
agenda fulfilled in the US this year Benny boarded a plane to Europe.
Copenhagen was the first stop to research four Samaritan MSS at the university and giving a seminar on Samaritan tradition and language. In Berlin, the Samaritan Language was the topic of lectures. In Bielefeld, Erlangen and Heidelberg, general lectures on Samaritanism and on the Samaritan language were given. London was the important destination, to discuss the political situation of the Samaritans in high-level meetings. Theses details are also published. At the state capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Benyamim inaugurated a photo exhibition of the Samaritans. The exhibition, presented in cooperation with the A.B. Institute and a representative of the Israeli Embassy opened the Israeli Foreign Ministry. The exhibition displays 100 pictures demonstrating the religious and social life of the Samaritans in both centers in Israel and on Mount Gerizim. The reaction of the public in Ljubljana was enormously positive. Mrs. Ivana Maximovitz, who was also the exhibit’s curator, photographed the pictures. The exhibition will be displayed soon in Budapest and Zagreb. The A.B. Institute authorized Mrs. Maximovitz to make the any necessary activities to help spread the knowledge of the Samaritans all over east Europe. Mrs. Maximovitz, an Israeli citizen, has displayed many of her works in Israel and abroad and is dividing her time between Slovenia and Israel.
A. B. News Services
The Cloud
Exodus 16:10. And it came to
pass, as Aaron spake unto the children of Israel, that they looked toward the
wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.
Exodus 19:9. And the Lord
said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud.
Exodus 34:5. And the Lord
descended in the cloud…
Leviticus 23:37. These are
the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to
offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord…
When I was at the 2000
Passover on Mount Gerizim I witnessed a very extraordinary event. In the sunny
cloudless afternoon prior to the eve of the Passover sacrifice on Mount
Gerizim, I was told my three Samaritans to watch for the clouds. I was puzzled
at what they were telling me and why they informed me of this. There was not
even one cloud in the afternoon sky at the time. Clouds had formed and began to
move towards Gerizim from southwest off the Mediterranean Sea. The development
of these newly formed clouds were in a form of a flock of flying geese. The
clouds headed over Mount Gerizim and then it was like it paused and then began
to cover the whole sky from this point. Right above us at the site of the
sacrifice the clouds rotated around of hole of blue sky. The heat of the day
was off our backs and the temperature became very pleasant. I looked at the
around to see smiles from my friends, as they told me this always happens at
Passover. This was the only Passover on Mount Gerizim that I have been to but I
will be watching and recording future occurrences every chance I get. If any
one has seen this event please contact me!
But one other event woke me
at around 3:30 A.M. from a deep sleep on the night of the Passover. It was a
howling wind blowing very hard between the buildings. I lay there with only one
thought on my mind. I wondered if I would be alive in the mourning. I felt that
I was missing something that may have also been going on outside but I did not
go to investigate. I asked Osher about
the wind and he told me that it was strange. I just smiled. What happened on
the really Passover in the night?
Shomron
Recent Additions
to our Web Site:
The
Celebration of Passover by the Samaritans
By Ya’aqov Ben Uzzi Ha-Cohen
Recent interest in the Samaritan Israelites those who wish to know
the truth of their customs and beliefs, and particularly of the ceremony of
offering the Paschal sacrifice on their holy mountain, has led me to write this
chapter of their history. The present study, however, will be limited to the
Samaritan description of the Paschal feast alone. I hope my readers will
forgive this limitation. With the aid of the Lord Almighty (praised be he!), I
shall write a more comprehensive study of the Samaritan history and customs in
the near future.
BRIEF
THEORITICAL POINTS OF VIEW
ABOUT THE SAMARITAN SECT
OF NABLUS
BY
ATEF NAGI and YUSEF ABU-EL-HASAN- Cohen
Religion of the Sect: The religion of the Samaritans is original, and Adam grew up following this religion, and he was ordered that it should be kept with its language, and he dictated it to Noah who kept it in memory, and he added to it biddings and forbidding which he was inspired by the God’s angels, as also God’s friend, Abraham, peace be upon him, who was the first preacher of the oneness of God in the whole world, and the first person who was ordered to execute the operation made to genital organs for hypurposes (Khitaneh). This religion was transmitted from one prophet to another until it reached the apostle our lord Musas son of Imram, peace be upon him, He kept in memory all the religious ceremonies conveyed to him from his ancestors, and all the religious ceremonies inspired to him. He brought forward the Holy Book and all its Chapters; namely the Origin of Creation, (Genesus), Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. On these chapters the Samaritans depend without any increase or decrease from the original copy of the Holy Book found in their possession, and it is the oldest hand written pamphlet found in the whole world. It is written on skin by the great priest Ebisha’ son of Phinhas son of Eliazar son of Aaron our lord Moses’ brother. This copy is three thousand and six hundred years old (3600 yrs). Samaritans now carry out all its orders and decreed and verses as far as possible. The faith of the Samaritans is built on five foundations;
a) Belief in the oneness of God.
b) Belief in the Message of our lord Moses, peace he upon him.
c) Belief in the Old Testament (Pentateuch) as a book sent by God and the execution of all its decrees.
d) Belief in Gerizim mount as being the pilgrimage place of God, and the world direction to which the people should direct their faces, and that it is specialized for offering offerings and the carrying out of all religious ceremonies.
c) Belief in the day of Resurrection, the Day of Judgment, in which every human soul is tried according to its deeds of good and evil. From these foundations issues meanings which cannot be mentioned in detail, not with standing that which the Bible bids and forbids of purifications, foods and marriage.
WIN A FREE BUMPER
STICKER
Our website has the written work of ATEF NAGI and YUSEF
ABU-EL-HASAN- Cohen entitled the “BRIEF THEORITICAL POINTS OF VIEW ABOUT THE SAMARITAN SECT OF
NABLUS.” This work displays a list of books that were for sale during the time
when Nablus was under Jordanian domain. Identify as many of the books as
possible and win a free bumper sticker (www.The -Samaritans.com). Send your
answers and your mailing address to webmaster@The-Samaritans.com or Shomron@Yahoo.com. Offer expires January 30th,
2002. Offer extended to February 30th
Get a free E-mail address from www.The-Samaritans.com/. Just go
to our web site and find “get a free e-mail address” or go to http://samaritan.i-p.com/
and register. Let people know you are involved with the Samaritans.
LOOKING
FOR COPIES OF:
Written material from 1907-1908 by Jacob ben Aaron, the Samaritan High Priest. I cannot locate “Circumcision Among the Samaritans,” “The Messianic Hope of the Samaritans,” and “The Samaritan Sabbath.” Any help would be appreciated to finish my collection of his works. Please contact Shomron at Shomron@Yahoo.com .
For
Sale:
Samaritan Interactive CD:
-ROM from Nes Multimedia Production Ltd. The CD works on Windows and Macintosh
computers. It displays many photos and mini movies. It addresses the Samaritan
religion, chronicles, community, language and literature. There is even a quiz
that can test your knowledge. The music on the cd-rom is performed by the
Samaritan singers (Osher sings with them on this cd-rom). Full of information.
Other items: A Samaritan Cook book in Hebrew, The cd of the Samaritan Singers, A copy of the Samaritan Torah, post cards of the Samaritans or if you are looking for something different. Interested parties can contact Osher at webmaster@the-samaritans.com
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Thank you!
Osher and Larry would like to thank you for visiting the website, www.The-Samaritans.com in the past and hope you visit us again real soon. We ask you to forward this Update to your friends. The purpose at our website is the education of the existence and history of the Samaritan-Israelites, descendants of the ancient Kingdom of Israel. Answering questions from surfers will always be our top priority of our site. We try to maintain our archives of articles to be the best location on the net for the advancement of Samaritan-Israelite studies in English as well as Hebrew. Many gracious scholars have permitted us to exhibit their related articles. Recently we have been working on expanding our website. We do hope you enjoy visiting our site and recommend it to your friends. Again we thank you for visiting us at www.The-Samaritans.com. Take care and may you be blessed from the Holy One from above.