1927 Photo of Mount Gerizim
taken by German photographer P. Homel.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Samaritan Legends to Lecture
in Jordan محاضرة في الاردن
تلقت جمعية الاسطوره دعوة ثانية من احد اكبر الجمعيات الاردنية لعقد ندوة حول
الطائفة السامرية بالاضافة الى الدعوة الموجهة من جمعية عيبال الاردنية ومن
المقرر ان تعقد الندوتان في 19 و20 من الشهر الحالي في العاصمة الاردنية عمان
The Samaritans' LEGEND
Association has received a second call from one of the largest associations in
Jordan to hold a symposium on the Samaritan community in addition to the
invitation of the Jordanian Society Ebal is due to hold symposia on 19 and 20
of this Jan. in Amman, Jordan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New Publications
The
Samaritans in Flavius Josephus
A recent book by
Reinhard Pummer
http://www.arts.uottawa.ca/csla/en/Reinhard%20Pummer%20CV%20English.pdf
The Samaritans in
Flavius Josephus
2009. XVIII, 356 pages.
TSAJ 129 ISBN 978-3-16-150106-7 cloth € 109.00
The
first-century C.E. Jewish historian Flavius Josephus is our main source of
information for the early history of the Samaritans, a community closely
related to Judaism whose development as an independent religion is commonly
dated in the Hellenistic-Roman period. Josephus’ two main works, Jewish
War and Jewish Antiquities, contain a number of passages that
purport to describe the origin, character and actions of the Samaritans. In
composing his histories, Josephus drew on different sources, some identifiable
others unknown to us. Contemporary Josephus research has shown that he did so
not as a mere compiler but as a creative writer who selected and quoted his
sources carefully and deliberately and employed them to express his personal
views. Rather than trying to isolate and identify Josephus’ authorities and to
determine the meaning these texts had in their original setting, Reinhard
Pummer examines what Josephus himself intended to convey to his audience when
he depicted the Samaritans in the way he did. He attempts to combine
composition criticism and historical research and argues that the differences
in Josephus' portrayal of the Samaritans in War on the one hand and
in Antiquities on the other are due to the different aims the
historian pursued in the two works.
http://www.mohr.de/en/jewish-studies/subject-areas/all-books/buch/the-samaritans-in-flavius-josephus.html
The Origin of the Samaritans
by
Magnar Kartveit
Many Bible readers will think that chapter 17 of the second book of Kings
refers to the origin of the Samaritans. This understanding of the chapter has
its earliest attestation in the works of Josephus. The present book evaluates
the methods often used for finding the origin of the Samaritans, makes an
assessment of well known and new material, and ventures into some uncharted
territory. It is suggested that the moment of birth of the Samaritans was the
construction of the temple on Mount Gerizim. This happened in the first part
of the fourth century b.c.e. in accordance with the original commandment of
Moses in Deut 27:4.
Brill Academic Publishers
http://www.eisenbrauns.com/item/KARORIGIN
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Samaritan Studies (EABS)
Call For Papers
2010
International Meeting-Tartu, Estonia
Program Unit Type:
Section
Accepting Papers? Yes
Call For Papers:
Anybody interested,
please write to ihj@teol.ku.dk, with an abstract of about 50-100 words.
Program Unit Chairs -
Ingrid Hjelm (ingrid_hjelm@hotmail.com)
Meeting Begins:
7/25/2010
Meeting Ends:
7/29/2010
Call For Papers Opens:
10/1/2009
Call For Papers Closes: 1/31/2010
Requirements to Submit a Paper Proposal
http://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/Congresses_CallForPaperDetails.aspx?MeetingId=16&VolunteerUnitId=503
2010 Annual
Meeting- Atlanta, GA, USA
Meeting Begins:
11/20/2010
Meeting Ends:
11/23/2010
Call For Papers Opens:
12/15/2009
Call For Papers Closes: 3/1/2010
Requirements to Submit a Paper Proposal
http://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/AnnualMeeting.aspx
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Web Casts
From
RabbiRockShows's Channel with
Binyamin Tsedaka
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-GC3-p1O9g&feature=related
الحان سامريه خالده
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From the Editor
Recently we have had requests for articles
and translations in Spanish. To my knowledge there is a very limited
information on the Samaritans in Spanish. Some of the requests were for the
Samaritan Torah translation as well as the book of Joshua. I have a
translation program for Spanish but my I am unable to proofread the Spanish
Translation. If anyone is interested please contact me at
shomron@yahoo.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Recent Findings
Most
ancient Hebrew biblical inscription deciphered
'It indicates that the kingdom of Israel
already existed in the 10th century BCE, and that at least some of the
biblical texts were written hundreds of years before the dates presented in
current research.'
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-01/uoh-mah010710.php
http://reshet.ynet.co.il/%D7%97%D7%93%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA/News/Domestic/EducationSociety/Article,35176.aspx
http://www.tapuz.co.il/blog/ViewEntry.asp?EntryId=1567117
http://www.palarch.nl/wp-content/bearman_g_wa_christens_barry_spectral_imaging_of_ostraca_palarchs_journal_of_archaeology_of_egypt_egyptology_6_7_2009.pdf
http://bibliahebraica.blogspot.com/2010/01/roundup-of-qeiyafa-ostracon-buzz.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Noah's Ark was Not Circular
from the Editor
According to an article found
below, Noah's Ark was not circular as it reads from Toorah, "And this is how
you will make it (the Ark) the length shall be three hundred cubits and the
breadth fifty cubits and the height thirty cubits. Nothing circular about
Noah's Ark. So b
Relic reveals Noah's ark was
circular
That they processed aboard the
enormous floating wildlife collection two-by-two is well known. Less familiar,
however, is the possibility that the animals Noah shepherded on to his ark
then went round and round inside.
According to newly translated
instructions inscribed in ancient Babylonian on a clay tablet telling the
story of the ark, the vessel that saved one virtuous man, his family and the
animals from god's watery wrath was not the pointy-prowed craft of popular
imagination but rather a giant circular reed raft.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/01/noahs-ark-was-circular
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Misc. Articles
Studies from Court and Cloister:
being essays, historical and literary dealing mainly with subjects relating to
the XVIth and XVIIth centuries / Stone, J. M. (Jean Mary), 1853-1908
Thus, in 1627, Sir James Ware sent
a manuscript register of St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin; and the year after
Archbishop Ussher presented a Samaritan Pentateuch (Claudius, B 8). Already in
1625 he had mentioned this book in a letter to Cotton:
"Touching the Samaritan Pentateuch, the copye which I have is (as I guess)
about three hundred years old, but the work itself commeth very short of the
tyme of Esdras and Malachy. I have compared the testymonyes cited out of it by
the ancient Fathers, Eusebius, Jerome, Cyrill, and others, and find them
precisely to agree with my booke, which makes me highly to esteeme of it."
In 1628 he writes apologetically
for his long silence and his delay in returning books lent to him by Cotton:
"A farre longer time than good manners would well permitt, for which fault
yett I hope to make some kinde of expiation by sending you shortlye, together
with your own my ancient copye of the Samaritan Pentateuch, which I have long
since destinated unto that librarye of
yours, to which I have been beholden for so many good things no where else to
be found. I shall [God willing] ere long finish my collation of it with the
Hebrew text, and then hang it up ut votivam Tabulam at that Sacrarium of
yours."
"I thank you very hartilye for the
care which you have taken in causing my Samaritan Bible to be so faire bound.
" Read more at:
http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/etext03/stdsf10.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE LANDS OF THE SARACEN or, Pictures of Palestine, Asia Minor, Sicily,
and Spain. by Bayard Taylor. Twentieth Edition. 1863
Nablous is noted for the existence of a small remnant of
the ancient Samaritans. The stock has gradually dwindled away, and amounts to
only forty families, containing little more than a hundred and fifty
individuals. They live in a particular quarter of the city, and are easily
distinguished from the other inhabitants by the cast of their features. After
our guide, a native of Nablous, had pointed out three or four, I had no
difficulty in recognising all the others we met. They have long, but not
prominent noses, like the Jews; small, oblong eyes, narrow lips, and fair
complexions, most of them having brown hair. They appear to be held in
considerable obloquy by the Moslems. Our attendant, who was of the low class
of Arabs, took the boys we met very unceremoniously by the head, calling out:
"Here is another Samaritan!" He then conducted us to their synagogue, to see
the celebrated Pentateuch, which is there preserved. We were taken to a small,
open court, shaded by an apricot-tree, where the priest, an old man in a green
robe and white turban, was seated in meditation. He had a long grey beard, and
black eyes, that lighted up with a sudden expression of eager greed when we
promised him backsheesh for a sight of the sacred book. He arose and took us
into a sort of chapel, followed by a number of Samaritan boys. Kneeling down
at a niche in the wall, he produced from behind a wooden case a piece of
ragged parchment, written with Hebrew characters. But the guide was familiar
with this deception, and rated him so soundly that, after a little hesitation,
he laid the fragment away, and produced a large tin cylinder, covered with a
piece of green satin embroidered in gold. The boys stooped down and reverently
kissed the blazoned cover, before it was removed. The cylinder, sliding open
by two rows of hinges, opened at the same time the parchment scroll, which was
rolled at both ends. It was, indeed, a very ancient manuscript, and in
remarkable preservation. The
rents have been carefully repaired and the scroll neatly stitched upon another
piece of parchment, covered on the outside with violet satin. The priest
informed me that it was written by the son of Aaron; but this does not
coincide with the fact that the Samaritan Pentateuch is different from that of
the Jews. It is, however, no doubt one of the oldest parchment records in the
world, and the Samaritans look upon it with unbounded faith and reverence. The
Pentateuch, according to their version, contains their only form of religion.
They reject everything else which the Old Testament contains. Three or four
days ago was their grand feast of sacrifice, when they made a burnt offering
of a lamb, on the top of Mount Gerizim. Within a short time, it is said they
have shown some curiosity to become acquainted with the New Testament, and the
High Priest sent to Jerusalem to procure Arabic copies.
I asked one of the wild-eyed boys whether he could read the sacred book. "Oh,
yes," said the priest, "all these boys can read it;" and the one I addressed
immediately pulled a volume from his breast, and commenced reading in fluent
Hebrew. It appeared to be a part of their church service, for both the priest
and _boab_, or door-keeper, kept up a running series of responses, and
occasionally the whole crowd shouted out some deep-mouthed word in chorus. The
old man leaned forward with an expression as fixed and intense as if the text
had become incarnate in him, following with his lips the sound of the boy's
voice. It was a strange picture of religious enthusiasm, and was of itself
sufficient to convince me of the legitimacy of the Samaritan's descent. When I
rose to leave I gave him the promised fee, and a smaller one to the boy who
read the service. This was the signal for a general attack from the
door-keeper and all the boys who were present. They surrounded me with eyes
sparkling with the desire of gain, kissed the border of my jacket, stroked my
beard coaxingly with their hands, which they then kissed, and, crowding up
with a boisterous show of affection, were about to fall on my neck in a heap,
after the old Hebrew fashion. The priest, clamorous for more, followed with
glowing face, and the whole group had a riotous and bacchanalian character,
which I should never have imagined could spring from such a passion as
avarice.
http://www.bored.com/ebooks/History/exploration%20in%20africa%20asia%20antarctica%20and%20the%20arctic/lands%20of%20the%20saracen.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Web Links
The Samaritan Version of the
Tenth Commandment
DOI:
10.1080/09018320600757101
Publication
Frequency: 2 issues per year
Formats available: PDF (English)
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a780889657&db=all
Good Genes:
How Science Helped the Samaritans Find Their Roots
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/09/good-genes-how-scien.html
The Origin
and History of the Samaritans by
Wayne Brindle PDF
http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1071&context=sor_fac_pubs
The Manuscripts of
Thomas Erpenius by J.C.T. Oakes PDF
http://www.islamicmanuscripts.info/reference/articles/Oates-1974-Erpenius-Hss-Cambridg.pdf
Books For Sale
The Samaritan Pentateuch and Modern Criticism: -1911
by J. Iverach Munro (Paperback
- Jul 8, 2009)
Buy new: $16.98 In Stock
Samaritan Pentateuch
Manuscripts by W. (William) Watson
ISBN 10: 1593338929 /
1-59333-892-9 ISBN 13: 9781593338923
Publisher: Gorgias Press Publication Date: 2008-02-01
Binding: Paperback
The Samaritan Pentateuch (Texts and Studies in the Hebrew Language and Related
Subjects, Volume VIII)
Bookseller:
Global Village Books (Kailua, HI, U.S.A.)
Book Description: Tel Aviv University, The Chaim Rosenberg School of
Jewish Studies, 1994. Soft cover. Book Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. Tel Aviv
University, The Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies, 1994. Softcover.
Book Condition: Fine, Ex-Library. 1st Edition. Approximately 9.75x7.25x0.5
inches. Minimal rubbing to cover, few creases at front bottom. Usual library
stamps, labels, and pocket. Rare, extremely difficult to find. 211 pages.
Bookseller Inventory # 000073
Adler Israel (editor). YUVAL
STUDIES OF THE JEWISH MUSIC RESEARCH CENTRE. Magnes, 1968. 252+40+48 pp.
bookplate. Hardcover & Dust Jacket. Includes "The Reading of marka's Poems
by the Samaritans on the Sabbath," Shlomo Hoffman. $36.00.
http://www.schoenbooks.com/search.php?q=recordid:227996
Gaster, M. HEBREW ILLUMINATED
BIBLES OF THE IXTH AND XTH CENTURIES AND A SAMARITAN SCROLL OF THE LAW OF THE
XITH CENTURY. Harrison and Sons, 1901. 51 pp, large tome, covers a bit
worn, crown and base bumped. Cloth. Good. reprinted from the Proceedings of
the Society of Biblical Archaeology June 1900, eight plates of facsimiles from
the Genizah l. $200.00.
http://www.schoenbooks.com/search.php?q=recordid:215132
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Credit is given to the author of the internet
link and is only displaced here for educational reasons.
