May 6th, 2004  

Vol.  III - No.19

• The Samaritan Passover

• White Robes, Blue Jeans

• Book of Enlightenment

• Articles on the Net

• AGELESS QUEST

• 1954 Life Magazine

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The Samaritan Passover

From the Editor

The Samaritan Passover took place recently on Mount Gerizim, in the West Bank. A full report will accompany the next issue of the Samaritan Update from Samaritan-Israelite Osher Sassony, our webmaster at the-samaritans.com. Photos from the attending journalists will also be forthcoming, we hope. Any one that my have attended is also welcome to publish an article or photos to share with others that had not attended this years program. If you are new to the experience of a Samaritan Passover sacrifice, please feel free to read  featured articles at both our websites or contact the Editor for information. I have added  the Book of Enlightenment below. You may go to www.the-samaritans.com to read the full article which is as said enlightening. Beginning with the next issue of the Samaritan Update I will  share with you some research information I have discovered concerning the Israelites in the land of Egypt backed with archeological information and biblical scriptures that I have never seen before or even heard of.

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Israel, 2002' Video, 52 Min. Hebrew (English translation

http://www.nfct.org.il/movies/White_Robes_Blue_Jeans_e.htm

Distribution: Cinemaphob Productions
Tel. 972-2-6764219
Fax. 972-3-6771740
ornarviv@zahav.net.il

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Book of Enlightenment For the Instruction of the Inquirer

By Jacob, Son of Aaron,  

THE TIME OF THE INSTITUTION OF THE PASSOVER.

   Were the apostles Moses and Aaron given the ordinance of the Passover, and the manner of its performance, on the first day of the first month, or on some other of its days previous to the fourteenth? 

   There is a variety of opinions given by the learned men. Some claim that the probability is that the command was given on the first of the month, with the provision that on the tenth they should choose the offerings and keep them under surveillance until the evening of the fourteenth. During these days the offerings would have been washed daily, and cleansed and purified from all the blemishes and forms of animal filth until the Egyptians were assured that Israel was ready to offer them to his God. Their intention was revealed during this period of four days, and the Egyptians could not pretend that the Israelites had sacrificed their offerings in a concealed manner. There are others who claim that the command was given by God only on the fourteenth of April, on the day known as Alfajool. In proof of the same compare Ex. xi. 4: “In the midst of the night I will go out into the midst of the land of Egypt.” Pharaoh, who realized that every threatening made him by the apostle Moses (upon whom be peace) would be fulfilled, placed guards around his own first-born prince, lest he should perish with the first-born of the Egyptians. Naturally he commanded them to watch over his son without remittance, and not to sleep throughout the whole night. The guards were probably men of trust, famous for their courage and daring, and they obeyed the command of Pharaoh with all diligence. While they were in the most careful act of watchfulness over the first-born of Pharaoh, behold the latter was dead in the midst of them, while they were around him and without having noticed any one entering among them. These words belong to the high priest Merkah (may God’s pleasure be upon him). Amen.

   Now if any one should say that, if God’s command was given on the fourteenth of the month, he would not have said, also, “on the tenth of this month,” in reply to this question it must be said that the words of God here form a part of the ordinance of the Passover, and they were a command to those of the coming generations, for he said also: “That which remaineth of it until mourning shall be burned in fire” (Ex. xii. 10); while they did not remain in Egypt, but rather got up early and left in all haste.

   Now the reconciliation of this command of the Passover in a year when it shall fall on the Sabbath will be given in its time, if God will help.

   The learned elder, of blessed memory, Ishmael Arrabjee, mentioned in his book named “Hitoroth,”- that is to say, Legislation, - informs us that the command of the Lord to the two apostles took place on the day known to us as the day of Alfajool, while they were still in Egypt on the night of the Passover.

   Thus our learned men differ. And God possesses the best knowledge.

   This book became extinct in the twelfth century, because none took care of it in those days. Part of it is still with the writer, and another part with some of the Samaritan people. If God will grant me the required years I shall gather what can be found according to my ability. It contains Toroot and Mosoot, and possesses some fine interpretations. These words belong to my uncle, the generous and literary sheik Shamsu- Deen Sadkah. May God grant him forgiveness; for it is a very interesting book. And the knowledge of the unknown belongs to God.

Remarks concerning the Ordinance of the Passover.

   Our people who swell in the villages and countries which are more or less remote from the Chosen Place used to sacrifice the offerings of the Passover where they lived. We know also, from verified reports, that in those days a party that belonged to the Chosen Place used to burn large fires upon the top of Mount Gerizim, that those living in the adjacent countries, such as Askelon, and Caesarea, and other towns, might see the same and act accordingly. Those who came and sacrificed in the Chosen Place were permitted to sacrifice either sheep or oxen, but those who sacrificed in other places were not permitted to sacrifice, except sheep. But in our generation, and ion the past ones beginning from a period of three hundred years ago. It has been agreed that offerings shall be made nowhere except on the Chosen Place, or if the mountain itself should ever become impossible, then on its slope or in places as near to it as practicable.

   This is to harmonize with the saying of God in Deut. xvi. 5: “It shall not be lawful unto thee to sacrifice the Passover within any of thy gates, [that is, in towns,] which the Lord they God has given thee, but only in the Place which the Lord thy God has chosen, that his name might dwell therein. There shalt thou sacrifice the Passover.”

   Again, the custom has not varied from ancient times until the present (that is, from the period of two hundred years ago until now), that only sheep, and none else, shall be used for sacrifices. In our days it has been agreed to choose only sheep of white color, because that is the color of the best and the noblest of the sheep. He who lives in any other place beyond the boundaries of the Chosen Place must hasten to the Chosen Place, and there sacrifice the Passover. Should he be late in coming without having any legal cause to delay him, he commits a great sin, and becomes liable to what God ordered in Num. ix. 13: “If a man be clean, and does not make a journey, and has failed to sacrifice the Passover, that soul shall be cut off from among the people; for he has not sacrificed to God in season. That man shall bear his own sins.” If a man asks, How can a man bear his own sins if he has been cut off from his own people? And, Did he not pay for his sins by having been killed? The answer is, that since his action was intentional, his sins will be counted against him till the day of vengeance, when, in the day of judgment and account, he shall be compelled to render an account of his sins and shall be punished for them. His killing became necessary both because he has offended his Lord, and also in order that others in this world may be led to consider and not transgress likewise.

   Questions of this character are numerous in the Law. Among the conditions of the Passover is that the sacrifices shall be chosen on the tenth of the month and kept with diligence until the time of their offering, according to the command of God in Ex. xii. 3, etc.: “On the tenth of this month they shall take for themselves every man a lamb according to the houses of their fathers, a lamb for every house; and if the house be too small for a lamb, the family shall join in company with its neighbor who lives nearest to his house according to the numbers of souls,” etc., to the line where it is said, “the same shall be kept until the fourteenth day of the month.” During these five days the sacrifices must be examined, and the condition of the animals found out, lest they have some of the objections to disqualify them, such as blisters, which is characteristic of the sheep, or a redness of eye, or a possibly fatal disease. Their hoofs must be cleansed; especially those parts which grow within the hoofs, for they are liable to much dirt, and whatever defects they may be found to possess disqualify them from being sacrificed. A sheep is particularly disqualified by such a blemish as a break in the leg or defect in sight. All their members should be cleansed from dirt; for they tread upon the defiled things while walking in the streets and highways. Occasionally there grow between their hoofs diseased parts which disqualify them.

   Every Israelite must be taxed according to his share with the cost of those sacrifices to fulfill the command of the Lord, “According to their souls’ price”; and this command includes all, the man and the woman and the child. Any one who is not taxed, and does not pay out of his own material substance, cannot have sacrifices. But he who is too poor, and does not possess anything in this world, may serve in the preparation of the sacrifices, and substitute his labor for money, and thus make up what he would have been taxed as his share. And if a man lives with a family, and has always been looked upon as a member of it, he may pay the taxes that will cover all its members, whether they be wife, child, or servants, in accordance with the words of God found in Ex. xii. 4: “If the house, however, has no one to pay the full price, it may join with its nearest neighbor, and the price be divided in accordance with the number of those who partake of the sacrifice.” This, of course, was in the days of the large growth and multitude of the Israelites, but when their conditions changed for the worse, and their number decreased exceedingly, a number of them, large or small, would agree and undertake to procure their sacrifices as they saw fit. But nowadays, on account of our small number, we make a common fund of the little we possess. We all gather together into one company and have one furnace, and this has been done for nearly one hundred and twenty-five years. This we do because of our weakness and ill prosperity, and on account of the days of darkness. It is not permissible for any one to sacrifice except with his own relations. Of course the married woman, wherever she is, will sacrifice with her husband and will eat with him.

   Among other ordinances is one that, on the fourteenth day, all the people of Israel should cleanse their houses and dwelling places, and clear them out entirely of leaven, according to Ex. xxiii. 18: “Do not offer thy sacrifices with leavened bread, and let no fat of the Passover remain until morning.” Therefore, the people of Israel agreed not to eat leavened bread on that day. Moreover, in order that any leaven previously eaten may have been digested thoroughly in the body, they eat not leavened bread on the fourteenth, lest they violate the words of the Lord by eating it for eight days. Compare Ex. xii. 18: “By an ordinance forever ye shall eat unleavened bread in the first month on the fourteenth day at even until the twenty-first at even.” According to this command, seven days only must be completed.

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Articles on the Net

Monday 26 April 2004, 21:15 Makka Time, 18:15 GMT

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/0F8A806A-15D5-47F0-B7DD-D995013FAF58.htm

The Samaritans- ancient community in ME

Sun Apr 18, 2004 6:04 pm

http://www.politicsforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10357

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AGELESS QUEST

By Shomron

Recently, a friend of mine, Phoebe gave me the March issue of The Smithsonian, a magazine. In it was an article, Kenyon's Ageless Quest by Stephen S, Hall. The basis of the article encompasses research into genetic research for slowing the ageing process. Cynthia Kenyon, a molecular biologist, according to the article has sextupled a worm's life. The foundation of her research deals with controlling genes. Kenyon is hoping to produce a pill that will extend lives ten to twenty years. The specific gene called daf-2 was changed extending the worm's life span. Other researchers such as Guarente noticed that the sir-2 gene is triggered when food consumption is reduced. In the 1930's Clive McCay at Cornell Uni. experimented on rats. Those that had small rationed food lived as much as twice as long as the rats that had normal rations.

The whole article fascinated me only because I was reminded of the verse in Genesis 6:3, "The Lord, 'My breath shall not abide in man forever, since he too is flesh; let the days allowed him be one hundred and twenty years.'" When the life span was shortened according to Genesis, was something changed in the molecular elements of the human body? Is this what the researchers want to alter? Yet, the research from the the article that connects the consumption of food seems also to be related with fasting. As you may recall the September 25th issue (vol. III-no. 3) of the Samaritan Update, fasting has a healthy healing effect on our bodies. It would appear again that science and scripture connect. How could any individual know this information back when the scriptures were written/ I find it interesting, just  as when I talked to a doctor friend of mine, Dr. Dyke, an OGBYN in South Carolina. I was informed  that during the period of a woman, she discharges what would have been the envelop of which a child would grow inside the womb. The chances of becoming pregnant at this time is small. And during this time a woman becomes unclean from the discharges that carries dying tissue. the time of the uncleanness also gives a regeneration for both the male and female. Again, I was reminded of the verse in Genesis 1:28, 'Be fertile and increase"

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1954 Life Magazine

Issue May 24, 1954

The Last of the Samaritans - a few survive, remembered in parable but forgotten by world - their faith has endured the troubled centuries

Thank you!