top11acc The Samaritan Update

“Mount Gerizim,

All the Days of Our Lives”

May/June 2012 Vol. XI - No 5

Choose a Language to Translate This Page!

Text Box: In This Issue
• Auctions
• Photographer
• SES
• Responsible
• Biblios
• Yearly Trip
• Diamond Jubilee
• Publications
• From the Editor
• Links Future Events

The First Day of the Seventh Month - October 15,

The Day of Atonement - October 24, 2012

Succot - October 29, 2012

Shmini Atzeret - November 5, 2012.

~~~~~~~

‘Life in this world cannot be a substitute for the hereafter.’ Salama b. Ghazal

~~~~~~~

Auction at Sotheby’s (UK) of Samaritan Portions of Leviticus

(July 10, 2012)

The History of Script: Sixty Important Manuscript Leaves from the Schøyen Collection 2012 | United Kingdom

Lot 13 | PENTATEUCH, LEVITICUS, IN SAMARITAN, MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [NEAR EAST (LEVANTINE COAST, PERHAPS EGYPT), Lot 13 [PROBABLY LATE TWELFTH CENTURY]

4 leaves (2 consecutive bifolia), each leaf 280mm. by 240 mm., single

column, c.25 lines in light brown ink in a fine Samaritan square script,

with distinctively chubby triangles and wedges on some strokes, 4 pages

faded and overwritten in black ink, first and last letters of each line separated from

main text, some small stains, marks from folding, small holes and spots from mould damage, but with little damage to text, hessian binding.

Estimate: 15.000 – 20,000 GBP (23,500- 31,400 USD)

http://www.sothebys.com/

http://www.sothebys.com/en/ecat.pdf.L12242.html/f/13/L12242-13.pdf

In 2007, Sotheby (UK) auctioned:

SAMARITAN-HEBREW PENTATEUCH WITH PARALLEL ARABIC

TRANSLATION IN SAMARITAN BOOKHAND SCRIPT, MANUSCRIPT ON

VELLUM 325 leaves, SOLD FOR THE BENEFIT OF WESTMINSTER COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

Estimated price at action: 30,000 – 50,000 GBP (60,060 – 100,100 USD)

Sale price with buyer’s premium: 81,600 GBP (163,363 USD)

http://www.sothebys.com/en/ecat.pdf.L07240.html/f/31/L07240-31.pdf

http://www.sothebys.com/en/catalogues/ecatalogue.html/2007/western-manuscripts-l07240#/r=/en/ecat.fhtml.L07240.html+r.m=/en/ecat.lot.L07240.html/31/

Sotheby’s New York 19, Dec. 2007

LOT 124: SAMARITAN HOMILIES AND SERMONS, MANUSCRIPT ON PARCHMENT, [DAMASCUS]: CA.1335

Estimated $5,000- $7,000 (USD)

Sale price with buyer’s premium: 25,000 (USD)

See http://www.sothebys.com/en/catalogues/ecatalogue.html/2007/judaica-n08392#/r=/en/ecat.fhtml.N08392.html+r.m=/en/ecat.lot.N08392.html/124/

Menachem Kuchar: Photographer:

Samaritan Passover 2012

Once again Menachem Kuchar attended the Samaritan-Israelite Passover Sacrifice on May 4^th, 2012. His camera recorded the images of past, present and future on this ancient memorial. Excellent work! Anyone may view Kuchar’s work in the below link.

Please note that his work is copyrighted, if you wish to purchase or use a photo, please use the contact information on the page!

http://menachemkuchar.com/SamaritanZevah72/

(This photo was used by permission for this site only)

Program of the 8^th Congress of the Societe d’Etudes Samaritaines

Erfurt .Germany, July 15-20, 2012

It appears that this year, the congress meeting will be hosting some very interesting lectures from a wide field of Samaritan Studies. We hope to see your articles in print in the future and thank you for all your hard work and studies!!!!! http://schorch.at/html/program_ses.html

Who is Responsible for the Destruction of Jerusalem? –

Jehoash, King of Israel
By: Benyamim Tsedaka, A.B. - Institute of Samaritan Studies

   Some years ago the country was in astir over the discovery of an ancient inscription from the First Temple Period called "Jehoash Inscription" after the name of Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, King of Israel, who reigned in Samaria for 16 years, from 800 until 784 BCE.
   It claimed that the inscription was written by him. The State of Israel was creating a ruckus over this for several weeks. At that time we met the Minister of Education and Culture, Ms. Limore Livnat, who asked us what the opinion of the Samaritans was on the discovery, due to the fact that it is in regard to a King of Israel. Without hesitation we commented that the discovery is too good to be true.
   And then, right during the enormous competition of discoveries between archeologists, was found somebody who led the police inspectors into a hidden place which belonged to the archeologist who claimed to discover the inscription and it found in the hidden place a complete industry of forged findings. Following this police discovery many other discoveries that claimed to be from First Temple Period times were doubted for their authenticity.
   So, directly or indirectly the name of one of the most successful kings of Israel was slandered. Jehoash was grandson of the usurper of two spectacular kings, Omri and Ahab his son, winners of wars and extraordinary builders [today a complete archaeological school relating to them everything that related to David and Solomon].
   Jehoash was the father of Jeroboam II, who expanded the Kingdom of Israel to its prime border by successful wars, but Jehoash was no less of a successful king from the kings previous to him in Samaria, and he himself was a winner and conqueror in his wars. The Bible credits to him the destruction of part of the wall around Jerusalem and that he plundered the temple in Jerusalem that Solomon built, and that he plundered the treasures of the king and every holy utensil that were kept in the temple. Jerusalem never knew such a humiliation since Rehoboam, son of Solomon, when Pharaoh Shishack, the Egyptian Emperor then occupied Jerusalem and plundered the utensils of the temple.
   Today's archeologists have a great debate between them due to the fact that so far there have been no temple findings from the first and second temples, creating some doubts if ever such temples existed and if all that is written about them is a result of later myth writings, in contradiction to findings that were discovered from the Temple of Herod.
   There are those who claim that Herod used the foundation of the First Temple of Solomon and the Second of Zerubbabel in order to establish the Third Temple. Probably there is no reality to this claim because Herod who built the palaces and citadels in Samaria, Herodyon, Masada, Sartaba, Antipatrais and Caesaria, built all new and very fancy. And what the Romans destroyed in the year 70 CE was the temple that Herod built.
   He who recognizes the existence of First and Second Temples, despite the fact that archeologists never have found the remains of any of them, is invited to see Herod's temple as the third temple. He who is not accepting the existence of the first and second temple for the same reason he is invited to see Herod's Temple as the first Jerusalemite Temple. Who reads the Bible, without relating any importance to archeology has no doubt that the First and Second temples existed and were destroyed, the first by the Babylonians and the second with some additions of Herod by the Romans. From these temples nothing remained but a few findings of which with every discovery from the Temple of Herod there was accompanied heavy artillery attacks by the media.
   However, we do not have to blame the media fully, because the reporters of the written media and TV were fed and still are fed by archeologists having an interest, that in their unproportional reports they are intensifying the discovery to ridiculous dimensions.
   In order to demonstrate the matter we offer an example of the report from today about a discovery of a small golden bell in one of the levels of the ancient garbage of the Second Temple Period in Jerusalem. The archeologist who discovered it was very fast to make a press conference and to say not so carefully that although there is no evidence that the bell belonged to the High Priest in Jerusalem, as the Torah describes the High Priest as having bells on the edge of his coat to announce about his coming, it is still possible that the High Priest in Jerusalem was marching dressed with his special ephod near the sewage of Jerusalem, and the bell just fell down from his coat to the crack in the street ground and fell deeply into the sewage.
   The reporters who are seekers of sensationalism attacked the story that was suckled from the finger of the archeologist and entitled it in a spectacular title, also in the press that considered it seriously. In the same way the media failed in the matter of the forged "Jehoash inscription." And even then with its "discovery" the media stormed, all due to the fact that this is the way of the media that publishes first and then investigates afterwards.
   However, we are not going to let these facts spoil the history of a successful Israelite King, Jehoash ben Jehoahaz, ben Jehu - who during his kingship reigned in Judah Amaziah, son of Joash. Surprisingly, the Bible presents the King of Israel as a strong and confident king, vis a vis Amaziah, King of Judah, who had a weak character taking wrong decisions. Amaziah also rejected a common struggle of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah against their common enemies.
   Amaziah became a king after his father Joash, when he was 25 years old, and during his time the citizens of the Kingdom of Judah continued to sacrifice in high places. His first activity was to kill the killers of his father Joash, and with the momentum of his success he fought Edom and killed ten thousand Edomites by throwing them from the top of a rock.
   The Book of Chronicles II adds that Amaziah conducted a census of the men of war in his kingdom, all those holding weapons, and found that there were 300,000. Although the number looks as though it is exaggerated in relation to the growth of the Kingdom of Judah, it is close enough to the real number even if it was a quarter of that to intensify the confidence of Amaziah.
   From the other side, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz, the King of Israel, defeated the strong Aramites three times, and took back to himself all the cities that were occupied by the hand of his father. The growth of the Kingdom of Israel and its human resources that were bigger by a number of times from the kingdom of Judah encourages the testimonies of victories of Jehoash over the Aramites. Therefore, he permitted himself to comment with long patience about the stimulation of Amaziah against him.
   Amaziah, the king of Judah felt strong and confident after his victory over the Edomites, and he sent emissaries to Jehoash the King of Israel and asked him to come and fight with him. Jehoash answered him in severity "The thistle that [was] in Lebanon [King of Edom] sent to the cedar that [was] in Lebanon [Jehoash], saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and there passed by a wild beast [Amaziah] that [was] in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle. Thou hast indeed smitten Edom, and thine heart hath lifted thee up: glory [of this], and tarry at home: for why shouldest thou meddle to [thy] hurt, that thou shouldest fall, [even] thou, and Judah with thee?" And Amaziah did not obey him so Jehoash the King of Israel came to meet face to face with Amaziah the King of Judah in Bet Shemesh in Judah. [2 Kings 14:9-10]
   We ought to note that the battle was inside the kingdom of Judah in Bet Shemesh that is near Jerusalem. The King of Israel with his ten tribes replied to the stimulation of the King of Judah with two tribes. Yes it was a hopeless fight for Amaziah the irresponsible. He was defeated in the battle, but the generosity of Jehoash felt pity upon his life, but did not extend the same generosity towards the Kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem. He did everything in order to humiliate Judah, and prevent another stimulation. Jehoash invaded the wall of Jerusalem and destroyed about 240 meters of it from the Gate of Ephraim, the gate that was towards the Mountains of Ephraim, until the Corner Gate that was at the corner of the city's wall. Such an invasion needs a lot of time in order to make the repair.
   Moreover, in order to intensify the measures of the humiliations Jehoash took all the utensils that were found in the house of God, and in the treasures of the king's palace, and the hostages. He emptied the temple and the palace of King Amaziah of all its contents. The Book of Chronicles adds that Jehoash also plundered the holy utensils that were kept in the house of Obed-Edom for a long time. Jehoash took everything in the might of his revenge and took it to his palace in Samaria. He took with him also the hostages from the elite of the Kingdom of Judah in order to be sure that Judah would not dare to fight against Israel again.
   There was no need then to have an investigation committee or a state critic in order to investigate the humiliation that Amaziah committed on his own kingdom. The humiliation even doubled according to II Chronicles 25 that Jehoash helped Amaziah with the regiment from Ephriam in order to help him with his war with Edom, and he with his great pride listened to lousy headquarters, dismissed the regiment and sent it back to Samaria. Such an act that only intensified the anger of Jehoash upon him. Eventually the same regiment performed a sneak-attack on the army of the Amaziah in his war with Jehoash and doubled his defeat.
   The ministers of Amaziah did not forget the humiliation. They rebelled against him and he escaped to Lachish and they chased after him and killed him in Lachish. From there they carried his corpse and buried it in Jerusalem with his fathers, the Kings of Judah. The father and the son were killed, and in this way the complete kingdom was humiliated, not by a foreign enemy but by a sister kingdom that Amaziah provoked without taking an account of inequality of the forces.
   The wall of Jerusalem was invaded. The temple and the palace of the king were plundered completely. The temple without the holy utensils was not anymore a temple. The king's palace without the king's treasure lost its honor. There is no doubt that Chapter 14 in 2 Kings, and 2 Chronicles 25 expose frustrated chapters in history of the relations between the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah when their armies never hesitated to shed blood of one another.
   However, the big mystery is why does such a story of the invasion of Jerusalem by the Kingdom of Israel and emptying the temple of Jerusalem from all its utensils and treasures not receive the appropriate place in research? What value or status is left to the Jerusalemite Temple without its holy utensils? It seems that the concentration of the research in regard to the Jerusalem invasions by foreigners, rulers that came from outside the Land of Israel, the Babylonians first and the Romans second, removed the attention of the historical research from the struggles between the two Israelite Kingdoms or sister kingdoms.
   The inner struggles between brothers to the same nation that led to the eventual destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans were not the first struggles. The first seed of struggle was planted at the time of Jehoash and Amaziah, and later on Ahaz the King of Judah asked the Assyrians to help him fight against the King of Israel and the King of Aram, and caused the destruction of the Kingdom of Samaria.
   A.B. - The Samaritan News, Issue no. 1115-1116, July 8, 2012

YEARLY TRIP

   As usual on November 6, 2012 till December 24, 2012, Benyamim Tsedaka will leaveIsrael on his annual tour of meetings, research and lecture in Europe and the USA. From November 6-15 He is planning to lecture in London, England and then from November 16 to till December 24, 2012 in the USA. He plans on visiting New York City, Washington D.C., Cincinnati, Dallas and the West Coast. Anyone who feels like welcoming him to lecture or give seminar of lectures in the area in Britain or the USA, Please feel free to be in touch with him asap to get all details and different subjects. Benyamim Tsedaka contact him at sedakab@yahoo.com

THE DIAMOND JUBILEE OF QUEEN ELIZABETH
By: Benyamim Tsedaka
   The British Isle and the countries of the British Dominion have left all their daily problems in the last Saturday, June 2, 2012 for celebrating with Queen Elizabeth the Second the 60 years anniversary of her Kingship. She was a young girl when she was crowned in 1952 after the death of her father George the 6th, who was the king of Great Britain in the hard years of the Second World War [1939-1945].
   Queen Elizabeth the Second from her first day of her Kingship till today after 60 years of her Kingship was an isle of stability, modest and kind in her way with others along side with her husband Prince Philip that he is too in his ninth decade of his life.
   She was with Britain in glory days and in days hard to forgot. She knew in her days of her Kingship ups and downs in the attitude of the British public towards her. Many have demanded to cancel the most stable royal institution today, claiming that it is not relevant to our period and to the western countries that Britain one of them that changed their administration to a republic democratic one. And also due the great financing that invested in its existence that paid by the British Treasure, parallel to the criticism on the fact that Queen Elizabeth the Second is one of the richest women in the world.
   But the criticism rose due to negative events related to her relatives but Queen Elizabeth the Second was a not involved in any of them. Specially, the criticism raised after the death of Princess Diana the divorcee of her firstborn son Charles in a mysterious traffic accident. Also other relatives have stained with their behavior the positive noble and fully honored image of Queen Elizabeth the Second.
   But slowly, slowly, the echoes of the criticism were ceased with the recovery of her grandchildren after the death of their mother Princess Diana adding to it a successful marriage in the British Royal Family. The criticism was replaced by great love and admiration to the woman that symbolize today the honor of Great Britain among the world nations and giving back much of the honor that United Kingdom has lost when her state as a world empire and super power reduced to be a European super power, economically and military.
   I have the pleasure too to celebrate like I assume many others the festival of Queen Elizabeth the Second, also due to my great evaluation of her stability along six decades when she gained a lot of experience and also being a wonderful example of noble behavior, despite all crises.
   I am celebrating the special festival of Queen Elizabeth the Second even if only due to one fact that repeated itself every year in her crown speech of the new year when she concludes a special wide passage to the significance of the term "The Good Samaritan" that based on the parable of the Good Samaritan in the New Testament, Book of Luke, chap. 10. Queen Elizabeth the Second uses this story and the heroic image of the Good Samaritan to explain to the citizens of Great Britain in particular and all the world in general the special significance of the image and recommend all to behave like him, as good Samaritans that still alive today among the Israelite Samaritan Community and ion every place in the world where good persons help peoples in need by no means or self favor.
   I wish the queen of Great Britain and the British Dominion Elizabeth the Second more and men years on her Royal Chair. She is today the most popular personality in Britain and the many who love her and the Royal Institution that she heads wish the same with all honor and admiration to her special personality.
   Halleluya Queen Elizabeth the Second, feel only good to the rest of your life and keep your good spirit for those many who love you and for those who are your beloved.
Benyamim Tsedaka
Head of A.B. - Institute of Samaritan Studies.
The Israelite Samaritan Community, Holon, Israel / Mount Gerizim, Samaria
A.B. - THE SAMARITAN NEWS, ISSUE NO. 1113-1114, JUNE 22, 2012