The Samaritan Update

“Mount Gerizim,

All the Days of Our Lives”


July/ August 2014                                                                                                            Vol.  XIII - No 6

In This Issue

 

·         Future Events

·         Commentary

·         Samaritan artist

·         Russian Library

·         Missile

·         Collections

·         Ebay Auction Items

·         Auction Result

·         Stele

·         Xth Congress

·         Female scholar

·         From the Editor

·         Selected articles

·         You Tube Video

·         Links

·         New Publications

·         Old News

·         Biblio

 

Your link to the Update Index

 

Future Events

It has been 3653 years since the entrance into the Holy Land

This counting began on the Sixth Month of the Year of Creation (Samaritan’s typical calendar)  

It has been 6442 years since Creation

1st day of the 6th Month 3653, August 25, 2014

1st day of the 7th Month 3653, Sept. 23, 2014

Sabbath of the Selichot (the ten days of Pardons) Sept. 27, 2014

Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) Oct. 3, 2014

Sabbath of the Feast of Succoth Oct. 11, 2014

The Feast of Shemini Atseret (the Day of Assembly) Oct. 15, 2014

1st day of the 8th Month 3653- October 23, 2014

1st day of the 9th Month 3653- November 22, 2014

1st day of the 10th Month 3653- December 21, 2014

 

 [Calculated by: Priest Yakkiir ['Aziz] b. High Priest Jacob b. 'Azzi – Kiriat Luza, Mount Gerizim]

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Ṣadaqah al-Ḥakīm’s Commentary on Genesis. Part One

By Haseeb Shehadeh

This thirteenth-century Arabic commentary by the physician Ṣadaqah b. abū al-Farağ Munağğā b. Ṣadaqah b. Ġarūb al-Sāmiriyy al-Dimashqiyy (d. 1223) is the oldest commentary to have come down to us. It has survived in two manuscripts: R. Huntington 301 in the Bodleian Library, Oxford (203 fols., Genesis 1: 2 — 50: 5) and Cam III 14 (114 fols., Genesis 1: 4—49:16) in the Russian National Library in Saint Petersburg. The portion of the commentary that appears below reflects Sadaqah’s broad knowledge of medicine, as well as of Rabbinic, Karaite and Arabic sources of philosophy, grammar and exegesis. This portion, including the first six chapters of Genesis, has been ready in my computer for almost two decades. Unfortunately, I did not find the time to continue with this project, and I therefore decided to make this portion available to Samaritans as well as to all who are interested and able to read and understand this kind of Arabic. This edition is based on R. Huntington 301 with some readings taken from Cam III 14. Based on my preliminary research into the latter manuscript (as well as Cam III 5 and 6), I can say that this source does not present substantially different readings from R. Huntington 301. The character أ stands for the Oxford manuscript and the character س stands for the manuscript in Saint Petersburg. The slash indicates the end of one page and the beginning of the next.

It should be mentioned that almost 11% of the Oxford manuscript, 22 first folios, was rendered into modern Hebrew by A. Loewenstamm in the early 1980s. A facsimile of the text and the translation were published in Jerusalem in 2008. [This article is in Arabic] https://shomron0.tripod.com/articles/Sadaqap1.pdf  (Edited Sept. 3, 2014)

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Samaritan artist/wife/ mother of two, Sharon Yehoshua prepared the Kutubah (Marriage contract) for Meital and Osher Sassoni, who by the way is expecting their first baby soon. Normally a priest would write the words of the contract. Sharon from the Samaritan Holon community has painted a number of kutubahs. Most kutubahs today have floral or geometrical designs but birds normally in pairs have been added in the past years. When the adaptation of the artistic nature began, is unknown. Some of the older contracts do not appear to have these designs till around 1830s. Deeds of Divorce are simply written still today. See Rienhard Pummer’s Samaritan Marriage Contracts and Deeds of Divorce to learn more.

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Recent Publication from the Russian National Library

There was recently published by the Russian National Library, St. Petersburg, Письмена на камне, российская национаЛьная БибЛиотека, санкт- петербург, 2014. ISBN 978-5-8192-0466-5 [Writing on Stone, Russian National Library, St. Petersburg 2014]

The Preface on page 3, includes information concerning Firkovich and the Samaritan inscription written by Olga Vasilyeva, the curator of the Oriental Collections of the Manuscript Department in the National Library of Russia, St Petersburg.

On page 5 of the book is a beautiful layout of just one on their many exhibits, as the title of the book describes, writings on stone. The interesting display includes a stone Samaritan inscription with the Samaritan commandments.   

The details written in Russian of a study and article

‘САМАРИТЯНСКАЯ НАДПИСЬ < ДЕСЯТИ РЕЧЕНИЙ>’ [English translation: 'Samaritan Description <ten utterances>’] are on pages 54-55.

The article О САМАРИТЯНСКОЙ НАДПИСИ НА КАМНЕ, ХРАНЯЩЕЙСЯ В ΛЕНИНГРА∆Е [About the Samaritan Inscription, Being Stored in Leningrad (St Petersburg of today)] on pages 56-58 is a republication from a 1971 article by Lejb Chaimovič Vil'sker (1919-1988) (see note * on page 58). He is well known among Samaritan scholars for his publication in French of the Manuel d’Araméen Samaritain published from the Editions du Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Paris, 1981. See more of his work. Haseeb Shehadeh contributed to the Samaritan Hebrew on page 56.

Ϲтатья nереnеЧатаиа из ки.: Вопросы филологии стран Азии и Африки  (Questions/problems of philology of Asian and African countries. Issue 1. Collections of articles in honor of Prof. N. I. Vinnikov. Leningrad, 1971. Pp.152-156

О РАСКОПКАХ В НАБΛУСЕ И НА ГОРЕ ГЕРИЗИМ [On excavations in Nablus and Mount Gerizim] pp. 61-62 by Evgeny Ahronovich (Israel)

On page 52-53 in an article on Abraham Firkovich and his collection.

The booklet is a gift booklet and not just for purchase. Should you decide to offer a gift or your newly published book please contact the deputy director of the National Library of Russia Dr. Vladimir R. Firsov. v.firsov@nlr.ru

See the articles below, please excuse the scanning roughness.

 

 

There is also an article (pages 59-60) on a capital from Samaria as seen in the photo displayed with the article that they have in their collect.

 

View the new on-line exhibition dedicated to the Hebrew manuscripts in the Russian National Library, St. Petersburg: http://expositions.nlr.ru/ex_manus/firkovich/

AIso see the Hebrew article: http://www.ybz.org.il/_Uploads/dbsAttachedFiles/Article_104.3.pdf

 

Among the interesting items in the Russian National Library are books like the following:

 

Samaritan religion and the Torah by 'Abd-al-'Al, D. M. (Dorreya M), Cairo: Ain Shams univ. press, 1960
Two papers on the Samaritan manuscripts in the collections of Moscow and St. Petersburg
by Žamkočjan, A. S [1934-]. (Arutjun Sizefrovič) M.: Паймс, 2001 2001

Древнейшие фрагменты арабо-самаритянских хроник из собрания Российской национальной библиотеки = Earliest Fragments of Samaritan Arabic Chronicles in the Russian National Libraru by Жамкочян, А. С, М.: Центр стратег. и обществ. исслед., 2003 

Вновь идентифицированные и неопубликованные фрагменты арабских версий Самаритянского пятикнижия из собрания Российской национальной библиотеки - СПб. = The recently discovered and other unpublished arabic fragments of the Samaritan pentateuch from the cjllection of the Russian nationale library - SPb. Fragments inconnu et inédits des versions arabes du pentateuque Samaritain de la bibliotheque nationale du Russe – SPb by Жамкочян, А. С [1934-]. (Арутюн Сизефрович), М. : Паймс, 2001 

For More Information on the Samaritan manuscripts Located at St. Petersburg:

How Did Abraham Firkovich Acquire the Great Collection of Samaritan Manuscripts in Nablus in 1864

By Tapani Harvianen & Haseeb Shehadeh 1994

The Acquisition of the Samaritan Collection by Abraham Firkovich in Nablus in 1864 –An Additional Document

By Tapani Harvianinen & Haseeb Shehadeh, 2003

 

There is also a book that was published a couple years ago that has references of articles on the Samaritan manuscripts: Bibliographia Karaitica: An Annotated Bibliography of Karaites and Karaism, Karaite Texts and Studies (Etudes Sur Le Judaisme Medieval) Brill Academic Pub. Hardcover, 2010

by Barry Dov Walfish (Author), Mikhail Kizilov (Author) Take a look inside the book.

 

There is also another book of interest:

The Written Monuments of the Orient. Historical and Philological Researches [Письменные памятники Востока. Историко-филологические исследования]. Ed. by L.N.Menshikov, S.B.Pevzner (executive secretary), A.S.Tveritinova (chief), A.B.Khalidov. Annual issue 1971. Moscow, Nauka Publishers 1974.

Inside: L.H. Vilsker. The Samaritan Documents in the MSS Collection of the M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin State Public Library in Leningrad. A General Survey — page 9- 18.

 

A couple interesting web sites to see!

Суккот у самаритян. Самаритяне как они есть [Sukkot at Samaritans. Samaritans as they are]

Some wonderful photos on this Russian web page: http://lyolik-il.livejournal.com/169829.html

 

Прогулки по Израилю [Walking Israel]

Экскурсия к самаритянам в Гризим 26.10.07 [Excursion to the Samaritans in Gerizim 26.10.07]

 

Samaritan Scroll Case from "Manuscript Depository" – Shown at a past Conference and Exhibition in the Manuscript Department of the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg.  http://www.museum.ru/N53043

‘Among the themes of the conference - "Samaritan scroll case Abisha" dedicated to the events connected with the history of the case for one of the most revered shrines Samaritans - Scroll of the Pentateuch, written, according to legend, hand Abish[ua], the son of Phinehas, the son of Aaron (brother of Moses), more than 3600 years ago.’

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One of the missiles, fired from Gaza, hit the Samaritan Neighborhood

by Osher Sassoni

As part of the tense situation between Israel and Hamas, taking place in the recent days, one of the missiles which were fired from Gaza into Israel, fell on last Tuesday (08.07.14), on the balcony of one of the residents of the Samaritan Neighborhood in Holon. Thanks to God, and to the fact that the missile was intercepted by the Iron Dome system (‘Kipat Barzel’), it did not cause much damage, and it ended without casualties. Let’s hope that this situation will pass soon, and we will return to the days of serenity.

 

http://www.the-samaritans.com/news/one-missiles-fired-gaza-hit-samaritan-neighborhood/

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Collections

Gustaf-Dalman-Instit

These are some black and white photos taken around 1910

Signatur: XVII - Straße El Luban – Nablus http://greif.uni-greifswald.de/webgate_dalman/index.php?folder=1424

Photos from Signatur: XV – Nablus Tell Balata

http://greif.uni-greifswald.de/webgate_dalman/index.php?folder=1422

 

Signatur: XIX - Das alte Samaria

http://greif.uni-greifswald.de/webgate_dalman/index.php?folder=1426

 

Gustaf-Dalman-Institut | Universität Greifswald

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The Cairo Genizah Collection

http://cudl. lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/genizah  

(T-S 8.267 Page: 1r)  Liturgy: Part of the Cairo Genizah Collection. 
Part of a Samaritan liturgical poem, with Samaritan Arabic in the left-hand column and Samaritan Hebrew in the right-hand column. The poem contains many biblical quotations and allusions, particularly from the Prophets and Writings, although these portions of the Bible are not part of the Samaritan canon.

http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-TS-00008-00267/1

(T-S AS 151.123 Page: 1r)  Letter by Saʿadya the cantor b. Ṣedaqa 

Part of the Cairo Genizah Collection. 
Rect: letter sent from Saʿadya the cantor b. Ṣedaqa in Minyat Zifta to Jacob b. Isaac. Verso: Samaritan alphabet, and unidentified marginalia.

http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-TS-AS-00151-00123/1

 

Samaritan Pentateuch

Part of the Hebrew Manuscripts Collection. 

The Samaritan Pentateuch contains the text of the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, written in the consonantal Samaritan script, a development from the Paleo-Hebrew script. Add.1846 is believed to be the earliest extant manuscript of the Samaritan Pentateuch and dates from the early 12th century CE. Epigraphs and scholia in Samaritan Hebrew/Aramaic and Arabic follow the end of each biblical book. They are in various hands. The copying of the book itself is the product of five different hands. http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-01846/9

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Recently for sale on Ebay

3 Frank Horvat photos of the Samaritans at Nablus in the 1980s

The year is wrong, in the ebay postings, the year is 1954 as seen from other wonderful photos at this link. 

   Frank Horvat’s journey to take photos of the Samaritan Passover were used in the article The Last of the Samaritans, in Life Magazine, Time Inc., May 24, 1954, pages 75-76, 79-80,  see original Life magazine article.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FRANK-HORVAT-NABLUS-JORDAN-SAMARITANS-CELEBRATING-EASTER-PHOTO-PRINT-FROM-80s-/251625533186?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item3a960cef02

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FRANK-HORVAT-NABLUS-JORDAN-SAMARITANS-FEASTING-PHOTO-PRINT-FROM-80s-/251625533233?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item3a960cef31

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FRANK-HORVAT-NABLUS-JORDAN-SAMARITANS-FEASTING-PHOTO-PRINT-FROM-80s-a-/251625533294?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item3a960cef6e

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Late 1940's Palestine Kodachrome Samaritan Priest

The image of the slide is shown right

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Late-1940s-Palestine-Kodachrome-Samaritan-Priest-Jerusalem-Israel-S013-/151386585506?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item233f57f9a2

 

Glass Magic Lantern Slide: Samaritans SAMARITAN JEWS C1910 ISRAEL (shown in image to right) “THE IMAGE HAS HAS SOME DISCOLOURATION AND WATER DAMAGE CAUSING SOME OF THE IMAGE TO BE LOST TO THE LEFT ALSO SOME OF THE EDGING PAPER IS COMMING AWAY, HOWEVER AN INTERESTING IMAGE” Ebay item link

Benyamim Tsedaka comments, “First, it could not from 1910, but from early 1930's [better 1934] since those kids on the left; Phinhas- the taller born in 1923, the shorter Nethanel- 4 years old with lots of curls in his hair born in 1930. Ezzieh b. Abisha- the young girl born in 1925. The adults standing: from left to right: The priests: Abraham b. Phinhas, Abisha b. Phinhas, Tabia b. Phinhas [Three brothers] and Ab-Hisda b. Jacob. The young man behind not identified. The Tabernacle drawing [shown in the image] is one of many sold to visitors to Nablus. It should be in a private collection somewhere. It is appears to have been made in the early 1900s” According to Reinhard Pummer, the oldest Samaritan Tabernacle drawing known is dated 1509/10 C.E. So now where is this Tabernacle drawing? Is it one of the two that was/is in the Sassoon Hebrew and Samaritan Mss Collection? [see page 603, #33]

The Second Glass Slide: To Right: Glass Magic Lantern Slide SAMARITAN HIGH PRIEST C1910 ISRAEL Ebay item link

Benyamim Tsedaka comments: High Priest Matzliach b. Phinchas, the older brother of the 3 brothers in the previous slide. His High Priesthood was 1933-1943.

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Ancient Samaritan Hebrew Bronze Ring Ancient Script Rare 200-300 AD

Asking price $40.00 (From Singapore)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ancient-Samaritan-Hebrew-Bronze-Ring-Ancient-Script-Rare-200-300-AD-/281403524359?_trksid=p2054897.l4275

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Also found on Ebay: A Photograph (left) of A Samaritan Girl, c1880s
by Tancrède Dumas (1830-1905)

Tancrède Dumas, was an Italian of French origin photographer. In 1872 Dumas published a catalogue, printed in Milan, comprising 260 views of various countries between Upper Egypt and India, including Palestine, Baalbeck, Damascus, Greece and Mesopotamia. 

The same girl appears in another photo: Damme Turque á Damas (photo right) therefore does not appear to be a Samaritan.

 

A small photo (shown bottom right), which cannot be located on the internet today was an older ebay sale: Item 390767442740.

 

This does not appear to be a Samaritan female. First the time period to my knowledge, there were no Samaritans that had their ears pierced and the second and main reason, if you look at her right hand there is a cross wrapped among her beads on her wrist. I do not believe a Samaritan would wear a cross.

Of Dumas’ photos, there is located on his list, #37, dated 1875 “MountGeregin/Gerezin/Geriguin” in the AmericanPalestineExploration SocietyPhotographCollection.

Some of his work was signed as by Félix Bonfils.

The 1860s photo to the left is Mount Gerizim by Félix Bonfils who is Tancrède Dumas.

Also photos of Jacob’s well were taken, see past 2004 issue of the SUD and the woman at the Well.

TancredeDumaswasaBeirutbasedphotographerhiredbytheAmerican Palestine Exploration Society.

See The Photographs of the American Palestine Exploration Society, Volume 66 of Annual of ASOR Series, The annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research, Author: Tancrède Dumas, Editor:       Rachel S. Hallote, Publisher: American Schools of Oriental Research in collaboration with the Palestine Exploration Fund and the Harvard Fine Arts Library, 2012

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Lecture Tour 2014 by Benyamim Tsedaka

Current itinerary

October 19 - 22 - Paris, France
October 23 -26 - Oslo, Norway
October 27- Nov. 1 - Copenhagen, Denmark
Nov. 2-8 - London and Aberdeen - Great Britain
Nov. 9-20 - New York, Connecticut, Washington DC
Nov. 21-24 - Pittsburgh, Penn.
Nov. 25-30 - Seattle, WA
Dec. 1-3 - Dallas, Texas
Dec. 4-6 - Lexington, Kentucky
Dec. 7-13 - Cincinnati, Ohio
Dec. 14-23 - Sao Paulo, Itu, Rio in Brazil
Dec. 24 - back home to Israel

For more information contact him at his website:

http://www.israelite-samaritans.com/benyamim-tsedaka/

 

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Result of the auction: 39 - Objects: Judaica, Israeliana, Numismatics & Medals

by Kedem Public Auction House Ltd

The July 16, 2014 auction at Kedem Public Auction House Ltd in Jerusalem sold the Samaritan Tabernacle drawing on paper for $300.00

Their description is as follows: ‘The form of the Tabernacle and its vessels, drawn on paper, according to Samaritan rite. [Early 20th century].Single leaf, with colorful illustrations of the Tabernacle and its vessels. Some of the illustrations appear with descriptions, written in Samaritan script, others are decorated with gold ink. Samaritan inscriptions on verso. 50 X 32.5 cm. Good condition. Folding marks. Stains. Minor tears (restored). Samaritan illustrations on the Torah are rare.’

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The Sebek-khu Stele, also known as the Stele of Khu-sobek, is an inscription in honour of a man named Khu-sobek (Sebek-khu) who lived during the reign of Senusret III (reign: 1878 – 1839 BC) discovered by John Garstang in 1901 outside Khu-sobek's tomb at Abydos, Egypt, and now housed in the Manchester Museum. The text is largely about Khu-sobek's life, and is historically important because they record the earliest known Egyptian military campaign in Canaan (or elsewhere in Asia). The text reads "Then Sekmem fell, together with the wretched Retenu", where Sekmem (s-k-m-m) is thought to be Shechem.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebek-khu_Stele

Also see http://emu.man.ac.uk/mmcustom/Display.php?irn=107040&QueryPage=/mmcustom/narratives/index.php

https://archive.org/details/stelaofsebekkhue00peet

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The Xth Congress of the EAJS 2014 http://www.eajscongress2014.com/

As an essential part of its mission to promote academic Jewish Studies in Europe, the European Association for Jewish Studies organises every four years a major Congress devoted to all periods and fields of Jewish Studies.

The Xth Congress of the EAJS will take place in Paris, on 20-24 July 2014.

Programme

You will find the official version of the programme here. This programme will be printed and given to you during your registration. (Caution: some of the rooms might have changed since the previous versions of the programme.)
All of the papers' abstracts are available 
here

EAJS Congress Complete Programme

A synopsis of the programme is available here. Caution: each sheet corresponds to one day.

 

Monday 21st July ENS, Salle DUSSANE (Main building, ground floor, map: 9)

Yigal Levin, Bar-Ilan University, Israel

Title: Why did the Zerubbabel’s Adversaries Emphasize their Foreign Origins?

Abstract: Upon arriving in Jerusalem sometime after 538 BCE, the returnees led by Zerubbabel were approached by a group of people whom Ezra 4:1 refers to as "the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin", who requested, "Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of King Esarhaddon of Assyria who brought us here." Most commentators identify these "adversaries" as the people later known as the Samaritans, although other proposals do exist. An apparently similar group are mentioned in verse 10 as "the nations whom the great and noble Osnappar deported and settled in the cities of Samaria and in the rest of the province Beyond the River". This paper examines the question of their claim to foreign origin: why would they make this claim, rather than claim to be indigenous, YHWH-worshipping, Israelites? Is this claim simply Judean propaganda? Or would the leaders of the "adversaries" have considered it advantageous to be descended from foreign deportees? This question will be examined in light of Assyrian deportation policies and the archaeological record, and we will propose a solution that might shed light on the "ethnogenesis" of the Samaritans during the Persian Period.

 

Monday 21st July SORBONNE, Salle PICARD (Stairs C, 3rd floor)

Maria Haralambakis, University of Manchester, UK

Title: Moses Gaster as a Collector and Translator of Romanian and Slavonic Folklore

Abstract: Moses Gaster (1856–1939) was an intellectual, bibliophile, rabbi, and activist for Jewish rights. As a scholar he was engaged in diverse fields of study, such as Romanian language and literature, folklore, Apocrypha, magic and mysticism, and Samaritan studies. Before his expulsion from Romania in 1885, he had published Literatura Populara Română (1883) and signed the contract for Chrestomatie Română, which eventually appeared in 1891. Soon after his arrival in England he was invited to present the Illchester lectures at the University of Oxford. They were published in 1887 as Illchester Lectures on Greeko (sic)-Slavonic Literature and its Relation to the Folklore of Europe during the Middle Ages. It includes paraphrases of a large number of stories (including apocryphal narratives around biblical characters), many of which also feature in Literatura Populara Română. The publications mentioned show Gaster as a collector, who brought together a wide range of material, often without providing exact references to his sources. Besides presenting his material, a prominent aspect of the publications is Gaster’s theory on the origin and development of folklore. These two aspects also feature in his work Romanian Bird and Beast Stories (1915). It consists of a very long introduction in which Gaster presented his views on folklore, followed by his translations of 119 numbered Romanian stories about animals, and three appendices with other material. Gaster continued his work of translating animal stories during the rest of his life. This is evidenced by his own copy of this work, now in the Rylands Library in Manchester. It contains handwritten notes, a copy of a letter from Queen Elisabeth/Carmen Sylva, reviews of the book from newspapers, and inserted leaves with additional stories. Gaster found the stories in publications of different Romanian folklorists, including Pauline Schullerus, Otescu, Vasiliu and various contributions to the journals Ion Creanga and Sezatoarea. An edition and analysis of the additional stories is in preparation. Based on a study of all four publications mentioned, and especially illustrated by Romanian Bird and Beast Stories, this paper will provide insight into how Gaster worked as a collector and translator of Romanian and Slavonic folklore. It will become clear that on the whole Gaster’s collecting took place not in the field, but in the study. He did not collect oral stories from ‘the people’, but gathered them from publications and manuscripts. Several of Gaster’s sources have been traced in the course of the research. Gaster’s methods of collecting will be compared with those of some of his colleagues on whose work he draws. The evaluation of Gaster’s work as a translator is based on a careful comparison of some of the original stories with Gaster’s versions. It will be demonstrated that, rather than providing a literal translation, he usually paraphrased the stories, contextualizing them for their new audience. This paper is part of my project which evaluates Gaster as a scholar and a collector.

 

Tuesday 22nd July SORBONNE, Salle Marc BLOCH (Stairs C, 2nd floor)

Session: 001: Panel: The Cairo Geniza

Widening the Boundaries of Genizah Research: the Cairo Collection and Genizot

Chair: Ben Outhwaite

Ronny Vollandt, Free University of Berlin, Germany

Title: On the Jewish Fragments of the Genizah of the Umayyad Mosque, Damascus

Abstract: On his visit to the Holy Land, Kaiser Wilhelm II was shown the qubba al-khazna, the Treasure Dome, of the Umayyad Mosque at Damascus and told of manuscripts it contained, shrouded in mystery and venerated by the locals to that time. By diplomatic means he negotiated with the Sublime Port that the dome should be opened and a German scholar be dispatched to sift through the material. Bruno Violet was chosen for that purpose. He spent about a year in Damascus and separated from the large bulk of fragments all texts of a non-muslim Muslim provenance. His selection, consisting mainly Jewish and Christian texts, was sent to Berlin in order to be photographed and supposedly got lost on the way back. For a long time it was believed that also the photographs got lost during the war, but luckily resurfaced again at the Staatsbibliothek a couple of years ago. They are kept today in two folders, Or. Sim. 5 and 6, The former contain a Syriac translation of Theodore of Mopsuestia’s commentary on Qoheleth and the latter texts in contains various Semitic languages, Arabic (biblical and scientific texts), Syriac, Christian Palestinian Aramaic, Hebrew, Samaritan (Bible), but also Coptic (Bible), Latin and Old French (a chanson de geste). In my contribution I will present the history of the collection. In particular, I will focus on the fragments in Hebrew script, including also Judaeo-Arabic texts, and their place in the study of Hebrew manuscripts.

 

Wednesday 23rd July ENS, AMPHITHÉÂTRE RATAUD (Building NIR, basement, map: 24)

Session: 001: Jewish Minorities

9.00-10.30 Panel: Samaritan Studies

Arnaud Sérandour, EPHE, Paris, France

Title: Un Pentateuque pour deux nations, Judéens et Samaritains. Pourquoi, comment?

Abstract: Ensemble hétéroclite de règles coutumières présentées de manière partielle au fil d'un récit légendaire, voire mythique, le Pentateuque dessine l'organisation politico-religieuse d'un peuple dit d'"Israël" du nom d'un ancien royaume sur les décombres duquel étaient apparues deux entités politiques distinctes: les provinces de Samarie puis de Judée. D'abord unies, à l'époque perse, sous la même "politeia de Moïse", qui fait d'un temple et de ses prêtres le centre institutionnel de chacune des deux provinces, les autorités religieuses des deux provinces sont devenues rivales vers la fin du IIIe siècle av. notre ère et se sont déchirées au IIe siècle avant que les deux systèmes religieux ne devinssent deux branches séparées issues du même tronc commun, évoluant chacun de son côté, tout en entretenant avec l'autre des rapports dialectiques.

 

Etienne Nodet, Ecole Biblique, Jerusalem, Israel

Title: Sanballat and his Gerizim Temple

Abstract: There was only one Sanballat, and the Gerizim Samaritans were in fact Israelites of old. Such a conclusion, which is the best hypothesis (Occam's Razor), involves a study of specific sources: Josephus' biases, the weakness of Ezra-Nehemiah, archeology (Elephantine, Gerizim, W. Dalieh).

 

Christophe Bonnard, Faculté de Théologie protestante, Université de Strasbourg, France

Title: "Les commentaires de l'Asâtîr et les traditions juives et musulmanes"

Abstract: L'Asfar Asâtîr, "le Livre des Légendes", est une chronique en araméen samaritain décrivant l'histoire du monde, et centrée sur quatre figures : Adam, Noé, Abraham et Moïse. Datable du Xè siècle, l'oeuvre est connue par quelques manuscrits dont le plus ancien est du XVIIè siècle. Le récit de l'Asâtîr, souvent obscur, est surtout compréhensible grâce à des commentaires et des traductions. Il s'agit, d'une part, de trois traductions en arabe de l'oeuvre, non datées, ainsi que d'un groupe de trois commentaires, dont l'un, rédigé en arabe et vraisemblablement post-médiéval, a inspiré les deux autres, écrits en néo-hébreu samaritain du début du XXè siècle. Ces six commentaires présentent de précieuses expansions quant au texte de l'Asâtîr. Celles-ci témoignent de la circulation de traditions sur les générations antédiluviennes, les Patriarches et Moïse, analogues aux haggadoth de la littérature intertestamentaire, des sources rabbiniques et médiévales juives, ainsi qu'aux Histoires musulmanes des Prophètes. Ces traditions (devenus canoniques chez les Samaritains) sont ici exposées dans leur développement chronologique et selon une typologie.

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Call for Papers 2015 INTERNATIONAL MEETING

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Meeting Begins: 7/20/2015                      Meeting Ends: 7/24/2015 
Call For Papers Opens: 10/29/2014        Call For Papers Closes: 2/12/2015

https://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/Congresses_ProgramUnits.aspx?MeetingId=26

 

BIBLICAL CHARACTERS IN THE THREE TRADITIONS (JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY, ISLAM)

John Tracy Greene

Description: This seminar approaches biblical literature through its most famous and pivotal characters, for it is around them that the subsequent biblical story is organized and arranged. Moreover, these characters have come to enjoy a life and fame that extends well beyond the basic Old Testament, Miqra, and New Testament, and even into the Qur’an and Islamic oral and written texts. As was demonstrated at the recent Tartu seminar, Samaritan texts and traditions (unfamiliar to many) have a contribution to make to the seminar as well. Our work seeks, among other goals, to facilitate a meaningful and informed dialogue between Jews, Christians, Muslims and Samaritans by providing both an open forum at annual conferences, and by providing through our publications a written reference library to consult. A further goal is to encourage and provide a forum in which new scholarly talent in biblical and related studies may be presented. 

Call for papers: This seminar approaches biblical literature through its most famous and pivotal characters, for it is around them that the subsequent biblical story is organized and arranged. Moreover, these characters have come to enjoy a life and fame that extends well beyond the basic Old Testament, Miqra, and New Testament, and even into the Qur’an and Islamic oral and written texts. As was demonstrated at the recent Tartu seminar, Samaritan texts and traditions (unfamiliar to many) have a contribution to make to the seminar as well. Our work seeks, among other goals, to facilitate a meaningful and informed dialogue between Jews, Christians, Muslims and Samaritans by providing both an open forum at annual conferences, and by providing through our publications a written reference library to consult. A further goal is to encourage and provide a forum in which new scholarly talent in biblical and related studies may be presented.

 

SAMARITAN MANUSCRIPT CULTURE AND THE ORAL TRANSMISSION OF THE SAMARITAN TORAH

Professor Stefan Schorch, Martin-Luther-Universitat Halle-Wittenberg
5.00pm, Thursday, 8th May, 2014
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Sidgwick Site), Room 8-9.

All are welcome. The event will be followed by a reception.
The speaker will examine the relationship between the written transmission of the Samaritan Pentateuch in its manuscripts, dating from the 11th century onwards, and its oral transmission in liturgical reading. The lecture will include a description of the phonology of the Samaritan Hebrew pronunciation and a discussion of its historical background.

 

http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/index.php?page=events

Set amid the buildings of the University of Cambridge, Tyndale House is a Christian community dedicated to researching all the primary evidence relevant to the study of the Bible.

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First Female Samaritan Scholar in Europe

 

‘Anna Maria van Schurman (Cologne, 5 November 1607 - 4 May 1678 Wiewerd) became the first female university student of Europe (Utrecht University, 1636)’ http://www.annamariavanschurman.org/about-anna-maria-van-schurman/

‘Anna Maria van Schurman (1607–1678) Born in Cologne, Germany to father, Frederik van Schurman and mother, Eva von Harff.  She lived most of her life in Utrecht, Holland, where she became renowned for her knowledge of theology, philosophy, medicine, and, at least 14 languages (Dutch, German, French, English, Italian, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, Syriac, Samaritan, Persian, and Ethiopic).’

(Information and Photo left from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Maria_van_Schurman)

 

‘According to Douma (1924), there is not a single shred of evidence that Van Schurman had studied Samaritan and Persian, even if Jacob Cats did announce it. Also, in Voetius’ library there were not many books on Samaritan, Persian or Ethiopian: there was [in any case] hardly anything published on these languages. The differences between the Samaritans and the Jews were well known, e.g. on the authenticity of the high priests (the real descendants of Aaron were in Sichem and not in Jerusalem), on the location of the temple (not in Jerusalem, but on Mount Gerizim at Sichem), the canon of the Pentateuch in contrast to the Torah, and on revering Moses as the only prophet. The Samaritan Pentateuch (from the fourth to the first century before Christ) had been known since 1616, when Pietro delle Valle brought a handwritten manuscript to Europe. Immediately there were strife and discord: Protestant scholars did not hold the text in high regard because they accepted the Masoretical form (that is, with vowels) of the Old Testament as the true Textus Receptus. Roman Catholic scholars, on the other hand, held the text in high regard precisely because this text was pre-Masoretic. It is therefore not surprising that Voetius had so few [of such books] in his home. Still, Van Schurman did study Samaritan, as a few quotations in Samaritan on multilingual pages indicate, for instance, on the little art work that is kept in the Royal Library (‘Koninklijke Bibliotheek’, The Hague), and where she quoted a line from the Samaritan Pentateuch, Genesis 49.’ [This paragraph from the following book]

Learn more about Anna from the publication of the first female university student; Anna Maria van Schurman (1636) by Pieta van Beek: http://igitur-books.library.uu.nl/bookdetails.php?bookid=022

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From the Editor

Recently the Samaritans voted for the six Committee members in elections on Mount Gerizim on Aug. 28th, 2014.

(Photo left by Jac Samri)

Samaritan Shadi Altif posted on his Facebook, ‘Today is the day ….. to express about our desires and aspirations on the ballot to choose the right people to take our members msho'oliat and achieve their dreams and ambitions for a better society characterized by progress and prosperity, let's elect the person that we see fit to represent us and our ambitions away from emotions and personal differences, today is the day of democracy without any distinction between white or black between large and small between a man or woman today are all equal in our election manifesto for the election of each of us sees appropriate to achieve progress and development of our small Samaritan plug, to make our voice loud for claiming our rights not only at the Community level but at the global level, also let us rejoice this democratic joining together hand in hand on the top of Mount Gerizim.’

The new members selected from the winning votes are Hanan Altif, Yitzhak Cohen, Yitzhaq Altif - Secretary of the Committee, Obadiah Altif, Ab-Sikkuwwa Altif and Elion Cohen.

To my understanding, committees were first formed when the Samaritans moved to a suburb of Tel Aviv in 1948, formed to represent the Samaritan community. Before 1979 the committee members were respectfully from each of the four families, the Priests, Dinfi, Sadaqa and Mufarrij. But since 1979, the elections have become democratic, and either male or female may be elected. These committees at times had caused conflicts between the Samaritan families with the larger families dominating the elections by supporting one of their own. There is more of a balance in family numbers on Gerizim than in Holon. There are two committees one in Holon and the other ion Gerizim. The elected representatives should be the most upright, wise and have only the best interests of the Samaritans as a whole and not for personal or family gains.

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Below you will find an example of a time table that I have been working on from all the written evidence that I have been finding while searching the internet for documents relating to the Samaritans. There is still months of work to be done. Should anyone have any suggestions to the profile layout or referencing, please contact me at shomron@yahoo.com

 

(1818 March 27) Captains Irby and Mangles see Gerizim summit; no mention of Samaritans

(1819 Tues. Feb. 29) American missionary Mr. Connor wrote in a letter date Dec. 31 met Shalmor ben Tabiah (about 40 years old) Passover sacrifice 6-7 lambs; told the head of the sect resides in Paris (wrong of course) several friendly Jews to Samaritans; visited synagogue, seen Mss, scroll

(1820, Mon. Feb 29) William Jowett and James Connor visits with HP Shalamah b. Tabia, seen MSS; Passover: 6-7 sheep, confirms the Samaritan make 4 pilgrimages to summit a year

(1821) J.S. Buckingham publishes Travels in Palestine

(1821 Dec. 29) Missionary Mr. Joseph Wolf introduced by Joseph Damiani (English Consul in Jaffa) to Samaritan named Israel from Nablus: questions; another Samaritan present but no name given

(1822 May 5) Joseph Wolf requests Old Testaments back that was ordered to be burned by the Rabbis because it contained said section from the Samaritan Codex, (Deut.v) “I have commanded you today upon mount Gerizim.”

(1822, Aug. 1) J. Wolf informs us of Israel Smaria (not Jacob esh Shelaby, b. 1829), a Samaritan living in Jaffa showed him 3 MSS, gave him a Ms (history) written by Samaritan Hassan Alsuri (500 years old) for 70 Piastres. Smaria promised to go to England with Mss.

(1823, Wed. Nov. 19) William Jowett sees HP Shalmor (Shalamah) b. Tobiah and sons; 60 Samaritans pay capitation tax; 20-30 Samaritan houses; seen MSS next day Thrus. 20; sacrifice done in city not of mount fear of Turks; seen Walton’s Polygott

(1824, Oct.) First American Missionary Pliny Fisk and Mr. Jowett visit Samaritans at Nablus; 60 Samaritans pay capitation tax, seen Pentateuch; meets HP Shalamah b. Tabia, Samaritans ask about Paris Samaritans. Samaritans assemble 3 times a year on Gerizim but offer Passover sacrifice in Nablus.

6265 (1827) the consecration of our uncle Amram as Head Priest

(1828) A Turk named Hussein Aga appointed as Governor assigned Samaritan Abd es Samery to manager of the treasury lifting the spirits of the Samaritans

(1829) Jacob esh-Shelaby born according to the book Notices of the Modern Samaritans

(1830) violent battles in the country by Jezzar Pasha of Acre and then Ameer Beaheer of Lebanon, aided by ‘Abdallah Pasha of Acre

(1831-2) Khedivate Egypt, then led by Muhammad Ali, conquered Palestine from the Ottomans.

(1832) Samaritans allowed again to make pilgrimage to Gerizim; Robinson visits Samaritans; Appeal to the French Government by the Samaritans

(1833?) Charles Boileau Elliott visits HP & synagogue; MSS; says 80 Samaritans

(1834, May 19) district of Nablus, like Jerusalem and Hebron rose in rebellion against the Egyptians. Qasim al-Ahmad—the chief of the Jamma'in nahiya—rallied the fellahin (peasants) of Jabal Nablus and launched the revolt in protest at Egyptian conscription orders.

(1834, May 26) earthquake, major loss in Nablus

(1834) Jacob esh-Shelaby father died according to the book Notices of the Modern Samaritans

(1836) American John Lloyd Stephens visited synagogue; seen MSS

(1836) Aaron/ Harun b. Shalamah b. Tabia b. Isaac b. Avraham b. Tzedaka died

(1837) 20 Samaritan souls, men, women and children lost lives due to earthquake

(1838, Thurs. June 14) American Edward Robinson and E. Smith visit Samaritans, summit, synagogue, sees scrolls (including Abishua) & Pentateuch, professed to have about 100 Mss, met HP Shalamah, his son the 2nd HP and ‘Abd es-Samary, 30 men pay tax of 150 Samaritans, said to sacrifice 7 lambs at Passover on Gerizim, visits Jacob’s Well, Joseph’s Tomb, said to be 150 Jews in Nablus 

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The following Selected articles were recently located and we are happy to share:

 

In the Forty-Eighth Annual Report of the Trustees of the American Museum of Natural History For the Years 1916, New York: 1917, vol. 48, page 193 has a report of 25 Samaritan skulls, 15 bedouin skulls, custome, et c. Syria. Collected by Henry M. Huxley, 1901. This is from a list of Accessions, 1916

Biblia, Volume 15, page 81 sites the following: “I have previously commended the work of the American expedition into Syria in 1899 and 1900. Mr. Henry M. Huxley, a member of it who stayed another year, has given a modest account of what was done. He lived four months in an Arab village to learn the vernacular, and he collected wedding and funeral songs, which, with some proverbs and stories, he will shortly publish. He traversed the Lebanon district, the eastern desert, and the Euphrates valley, using up the autumn of 1900 in that way. Returning to Beirut he went in the winter to make a special study of the Samaritans, whom he counted as 15 2, of whom 97 are males. The first of April, 1901, saw him started again, going eastward to the Jordan valley, and then its whole length to Petra, where he stayed five days, and so back to Beirut through Jerusalem. He measured eight hundred heads and made twenty casts. He obtained twenty five skulls of Samaritans at Nablus, and twelve of Bedouins near Amman,—a noble record for a young man. Theodore F. Wright”

In the American Anthropologist, Volume 4, New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1902:

Page 48 under Preliminary Report of an Anthtopological Expedition to Syria by Henry Minor Huxley

During the winter months, when travel is very difficult, I remained most of the time in Beirut. For three weeks, however, I made observations on the Samaritans in Nablus. From a list containing the names and ages of all the living Samaritans, I have obtained the following statistics:

Number of males 15 or more years of age 72

Number of females 12 or more years of age 44

Number of males less than 15 years of age 25

Number of females less than 12 years of age 11

Total number of males ……………….………….97

Total number of females…………………..……..55

Total number of Samaritans, February, 1901 …. 152

Of the males, 43 were measured and photographed. A cast of the face of one of the sons of the High Priest was also taken. Besides the work in physical anthropology, observations were made of some of the customs of the Samaritans.’

Pages 49-50: On the various trips the following groups of people were studied: the Christians of the Lebanon; the fellahtn of northern and central Syria, including both the fellahin of the mountains and those of the plains; the Bedawins of the Northern tribes; the Turkman; the Nusairiyeh; the Druses of Hauran; the fellahin of the country east of the Jordan; the Bedawin tribes of the same region; the fellahin of western Palestine; the Samaritans; and the Gypsies. I attempted to procure some observations on a tribe of Bedawins called 'Arab is-Sleb, but I was able to measure only three individuals. The members of this tribe have a tradition that they are descended from Crusaders who took Bedawin wives. At present they profess Mohammedanism.

The observations taken on the living consisted of a series of measurements, descriptive characteristics, and photographs. The total number of individuals measured was 804. At times the prejudices of the people rendered this work quite difficult; whatever success we attained is due to no small extent to the tact of my native attendant, Milhem As'ad Dlekan. Most of the photographs included only the head and shoulders of the subject, front and profile views being taken on opposite halves of the plate. A device was used for bringing that half of the plate to be exposed, directly behind the lens when the photograph was taken. A series of twenty casts was made.

Of the collections, the most important is a series of twenty five skulls from the Samaritan cemetery at Nablus. A series of twelve Bedawin skulls was obtained from Khirbit is-Suk, near 'Amman. A series of the costumes of the inhabitants of the various regions of Syria was secured. These collections have been deposited at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Page 703: ‘There are also recorded twelve skulls from a Jewish cemetery in Basel of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The individual indices are 76.8, 79.6, 81.4, 82.1, 82.8, 85.9, 86.0, 86.2, 86.4, 87.3, 88.2, 94.2. The average cranial index is 84.66, i. e., a cephalic index on the living of 86.66, which is even more brachycephalic than that of the modern Jews.' This series of skulls, although more extensive than that of Lombroso, is also insufficient to form a basis for any positive opinion. It is hoped that with the publication of the anthropological researches of the Archeological Expedition to Syria in 1899, by Henry Minor Huxley, which consist of the measurements taken on forty-three Samaritans and on twenty-five skulls from a Samaritan cemetery at Nablus, our knowledge of the head-form of the ancient Hebrews may be greatly augmented and may place us in a position to form definite conclusions.'

 

American Oriental Society’s Proceedings, April, 1904. P. 348. ‘A communication by Mr. H. M. Huxley, of Worcester, Mass., on the Physical Anthropology of the modern Samaritans, was read by title, and a series of photographs of Samaritans was exhibited.

For further reading by Huxley see: zeitschrift für demographie “zur anthropologie der samaritaner” Aigist/September 1906, pp. 137-139.

 

More about Henry Minor Huxley

Also there is a reference in The Library of Congress pg. 701 of a titled entry: Samaritan representation of the Temple, 9617 under Huxley (Henry Minor), Cambridge, Mass.

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Pilgrim-memories: Or, Travel and Discussion in the Birth-countries of ...

By John Stuart Glennie

‘We came down the other end of the hill by a fountain, an aqueduct, and gardens hid among trees, into the town, and so, through several arched and ill smelling passages to the synagogue. Here we were shown the famous Samaritan MS. roll of the Pentateuch. Hence we went with our friend to his well-built stone house; were served with coffee on the flat roof; and were introduced to his wife and child. After Mr. Buckle left, I remained for some time with our Samaritan friend, whose hospitality was, in several ways, of a very Oriental character. On parting with him, the scene, on the lull-slope above the Camp, was fair as a vision. Music, with youths and maidens, and dancing, on the greensward, under the trees, in the many coloured light of sunset.

With the view of investigating these various questions, my desire to stay at least another day at Shechem naturally became even stronger than it had been the previous evening, when, with the view merely of obtaining all procurable MSS.,’

 

The Knickerbocker: Or, New-York Monthly Magazine

Volume 61, New York, 1862, Page 263

 

Mr. Stuart Glennie has just brought from the East a fragment of a manuscript of the Samaritan Pentateuch, consisting of four imperfect leaves of parchment, and containing portions of Exodus, chapters thirty - two to thirty eight. The writing is small and neat, and probably of considerable antiquity. Mr. Glennie has also a portion of a paper manuscript, containing a commentary and explanation in Arabic of a part of the Samaritan text. (Genesis 32: 9 to Genesis 34.) This fragment, which contains twenty pages, is of later date than the preceding. Both manuscripts were obtained from the chief of the small Samaritan community at Nablous.

The Athenaeum: Journal of Literature, Science, the Fine Arts, January to June, 1863.  London: 1863, No. 1854, May 9, ’63 Page 620

On Thursday next, May 14, Mr. Charles Goodwin will read a paper at the Society of Antiquaries, ‘On some papyri and Samaritan manuscripts brought over from Egypt by Mr. Stuart Glennie.

 

Archaeologia Or Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, Volume 39, London, 1863, page 456. Read: May 14th, 1863

A Fragment Of The Samaritan Pentateuch, Brought From Syria By Mr. Stuart Glennie.

This fragment consists of four leaves of parchment, partially destroyed by damp, which have formed part of a copy of the Samaritan Pentateuch. The height of the page is about six inches, and the breadth probably originally four. Each page contains thirty-two or thirty-three lines.

The fragment commences at the first verse of the twenty-second chapter of Exodus, and ends in the twenty-eighth chapter.

A slight examination shows that the passages here preserved coincide with the printed Samaritan text in the variations from the Hebrew text.

When complete, this manuscript must have been a very neat specimen of Samaritan penmanship. I am unable to offer any opinion as to the date.

 

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A letter, written December 27th, 1623, from Sir Thomas Roe to Sir George Calvert and Sir Dudley Carleton, (pages 205-6) concerning the events of the Ottoman Emir of Sidon (Emir Fakhr-al-Din ibn Maan, 1572-1635) in Damascus. In November, 1623, the Emir did not want the Ottoman army who had just come back from the Persian front, spending the winter in Bekaa (in Lebanon today). The Mustafa Pasha, Governor of Damascus, launched an attack against him, resulting in the battle at Majdel Anjar. Emir Fakhr being outnumbered managed to capture the Pasha becoming the victor. The letter mentioned above from Sir Roe speaks about the Turkish soldiers; ‘Besides, the Turkish soldier is not apt, but desirous to make invasion; because all things are prey, and all kind of license given them; and his hope is more upon booty and prisoners, then upon conquest; every boy or girl slave being here the best merchandize, and worth 100 dollars; so that every village is to them a magazine, and they return rich.

 

Now the Pasha being absent from Damascus, the stationed Ottoman soldiers may have had their own rules. Since there was a drought the costs of food must have been high. Where did the money come from since the Emir’s finances were low, it had to come from slaves.

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Journal of Sacred Literature, and Biblical Record Vol. 3 London: Williams and Norgate, 1863

July 1863 Page 479

''Causidicus' makes himself merry with ' the old rag,' as he is pleased to call it, in which Tischendorf found the remainder of the manuscript in 1859. Tischendorf tells us himself he found it wrapped in a cloth. 1 saw, about a year and a half ago, a Samaritan Pentateuch, which had been brought from Nablus in exactly the same kind of covering: it is now in the library of the Comte de Paris. It was wrapped in a cloth for precisely the same reason as the Codex Sinaiticus, because there was not a vestige of binding, and the leaves were all loose.”

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Rays of light from all lands: the bibles and beliefs of mankind. Scriptures, faiths and systems of every age, race and nation, a complete story of all churches and communions; notable utterances by foremost representatives of all faiths Edited by E. C. Towne; A J Canfield; George J Hagar. New York: Gay Bros. & Co., 1895 p. 16

 

 

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The Antonin Collection

The Antonin genizah collection was acquired by the Russian Archimandrite, Antonin Kapustin, who lived in Jerusalem from 1865 until his death in 1894. When he learned about the discovery of the Cairo genizah he was among the first to be on the scene and was able to acquire a choice selection of material. Upon his death, this material went to the Government Library at St. Petersburg. The Antonin collection occupies an outstanding place, not so much for its quantity as for its quality. The fragments deal with the Bible, biblical translations in Aramaic and Judeo-Arabic, Karaite polemics, historical documents, Kabbalah, liturgy, medicine, theology, philosophy and Ketubot. They are written in Hebrew, Arabic, Judeo-Arabic, and Samaritan. The late Prof. S. Assaf in his book Gaonic Responsa (1929) lamented the fact that the Antonin material in Russia was not accessible to scholars, nor was a catalog available. As a result of many visits to the U.S.S.R. this author was able in 1963 to prepare and publish the only catalog of the entire Antonin material.

According to my classification, the Antonin genizah collection of 1,189 items represents 36 subjects ranging from biblical texts to Zohar, including such rare items as the Bible in Samaritan, Ibn Ezra's commentary on the Bible, and medical notes in Arabic. The proportions of these various subjects is interesting. Half the collection consists of biblical literature; liturgical material comes next with one-sixth; Talmud, Midrash, Halakhah, with one-seventh. This uneven proportion is due to the fact that the sacred books were in wide use among the people. Each household possessed a Bible and one or more prayerbooks. Each scholar had a Talmud and some midrashic and halakhic books, whereas the other non-sacred books were confined to special individuals only. The reason that so much non-religious material was found in the Cairo genizah at all is that the synagogue at Fostat-Cairo was also used for the offices of the rabbinical courts, where they kept the community archives. Later all this became part of the general genizah. Furthermore, the placing of discarded material in the genizah was not officially controlled; individuals merely sent their unwanted old books and papers to the genizah. No one examined the contents before they were stored away. Thus among the genizah contents are private papers, business letters and accounts, and a great number of documents in Arabic script. Prof. Harkavy, in evaluating the Antonin genizah, noted: "… the Hebrew and Arabic fragments … have the same origin as the material of the second Firkovitch collection, namely, from the genizotof Egypt. They complement each other to a great degree. Together they add great honor and glory to the Royal Public Library."

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0013_0_13210.html

 

In a Note on page 88-89 of Mediterranean Sketches by Lord Francis Egerton, London: Murray 1843

 

“* Since writing the above, I have fallen upon some passages in Klaproth's "Asia Polyglotta," which bear upon the question of the Samaritan version. He quotes a passage from Kennicot, in which that great Hebraist avows a reluctant conviction, that of the three oldest versions of the Old Testament, — the Jewish, the Septuagint, and the Samaritan, —the former has been designedly falsified. It appears that there was a tradition among the Jews that the advent of the Messiah was to take place in the six thousandth of the years of the world. It became, therefore, an object of the Jews to show that the date of our Saviour's ministry was too early for this period, and of the Christians to prove the contrary. For this purpose, the former counted genealogies in such a manner as to place the flood 2348 before Christ; the Septuagint, 3716, was adopted by the early Christians. The Samaritans, having no special object, retained the true number, 3044. So much for the conclusions of Kennicot, reluctantly derived from thirty years' investigation. Klaproth, adopting them, brings to his aid the lore of Eastern Asia, and shows that India and China bring the flood to within half a century of the Samaritan chronology. The general result is: — Samaritan, 3044 before Christ; Indian chronology, 3101; Chinese, 3082. An average of the three would place it at 3076, or 728 years before the Jewish, 640 after the Septuagint.”

 

[From the Editor: View: Asia Polyglotta (1823) https://archive.org/details/asiapolyglotta02klapgoog

I believe the source of this note came from the book Foreign Quarterly Review, Vol. II, New-Haven: Peck and Newton, 1933, Oct. 1833, p. 260 (referenced p. 656) 

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.

Maryland Medical and Surgical Journal: And Official Organ of the Medical Department of the Army and Navy of the United States. vol. 2, Baltimore: J. Murphy, 1842

(pp. 208-209) ABOU SAID, ISAAC AL BAGDADI. ASAF.

The reputation that the Jews had acquired in medicine in the eleventh century was a remarkable circumstance. We find their physicians established at that period in all countries, Christian as well as Musselman. In Germany, in France, in Italy, in Spain, in Egypt, every where the Jewish physicians were held in high repute. To the distinguished men we have already noted, we will add another, Abou Said Ebn Hosaïn, surnamed El Thalib, who flourished in Egypt about the year 1070. This is probably the same Abou Said, son of Abou Hosaïn, son of Abou Said, a Samaritan doctor, who is the author of an Arabico Samaritan version of the Pentateuch, which he undertook with a view of making a substitute for the Arabic version of the celebrated Saadia Gaon, which is used by the Samaritans. In some marginal notes Abou Saad criticises many portions of the version of Saadia, and gives the reasons which have influenced him to give a different translation of the text.

However that may be, Abou Said Ebn Hosaïn, has written a compilation on the diseases of the human body, and the means to prevent them, a work which is preserved in MSS. in many of the public libraries.

Another physician, Isaac of Bagdad, composed about the same time, a medical work, which bears the title of Adoniat el Mofredat, on the simple medicines. This physician practised his science at Bagdad with great reputation. He is generally known under the name of Ben Amran and is considered to be that one of the oriental Jewish physicians who has exerted the greatest influence over the healing art during the eleventh century.

But let us bring into view before finishing this epoch, a Jewish physician named Asaf. He was a historian and philosopher, he published a book on medicine, entitled Sefer Refuoth, the manuscript of which is found in many of the public libraries of Europe. He among physicians, is the best known work to the European Rabbis, because he wrote his work in Hebrew. They often quote him, and from these quotations we discover that the work contains historical notices which merit to be more extensively known, although many of them may be fictitious.

(pp. 330-331) THE ARABIAN SCHOOL.

Many physicians of the Arabian school are honorably grouped around Hebat-Allah. Mou-Mona Ebn Abou-Naser, surnamed Kouvin, occupies a distinguished rank as a practical physician.

He practised his art at Haran, and wrote a treatise on the art of preparing and preserving simple and compound medicines. Rabbi Zadok followed the same career at Damascus, Damascus, with perhaps not less distinction.

Ebn Zacariggaraised himself above them all, by the depth of his observations, and the extent of his knowledge. As a great politician, he became the counsellor and the physician of the son of Noureddin, who died at Aleppo in 1181. He was associated with Joseph surnamed Borhan al-Fulk, a living proof of the celestial spheres, on account of his great knowledge in astronomy.

Abou’l bérécatson of Said, deserves also to be noted among the physicians of the Arabian school, and of that epoch. He was a Samaritan, and practised medicine at Basra, a village about four day's journey from Damascus. He was the person who diffused among his countrymen, the Arabic version of Abou-Said, to which he added a preface, in which he sought to derive credit to himself among those of his own religion, as being the author of this version. Abou'l manet ben-Abou Nasser, better known by the name of Cohen-Ather, belongs also to this class of physicians. He followed the profession of an apothecary with much celebrity at Cairo, where he died about the 1135th year of the common era. He left a work in Arabic, Menhag al-Dokian, practice of pharmacy, in which he directs the manner of preparing potions, boluses, confections, syrups, &c.

Cohen Athar had an associate Jewish physician, who was in the service of Hafedh-Leddinellah, the eighth caliph of the Fathemites in Egypt. This prince required his services to destroy his Vizier, the cruel Hassan, by poison.

lbn-Saigh is also one of the physicians of that school, whose, works are the most celebrated. He was born at Saint Mary's, in Andalusia. His parents who were very enlightened, and neglected nothing to complete his education, urged him forward in the sciences, and he distinguished himself, more particularly, in the study of philosophy and medicine. He practised also this last science with good reputation in the place of his birth, where he, died in the 550th year of the Hegira, or the 1155th of the Common Era.

Lastly, among the later physicians of the 12th century, it is proper to mention, Joseph ben-Alfakluir, chief of the Jewish community of Toledo, where he was born about the middle of the twelfth century. Having become a doctor of medicine, he practised this art with deserved success. He was also very learned in the traditional laws of the Rabbis, and was esteemed a very good casuist by the doctors of his time.

(pp. 333-334) MOUHEDDHIB-EDDIN.

A very distinguished physician of that period lived at Damascus. Ebn Abi-Osaiba, speaks at great length of his profound knowledge, and the astonishing cures which he had performed.

This celebrated physician was Mouheddhib-Eddin Joseph, son of Abou-Said, son of Khalef Samari, or the Samaritan. He enjoyed the highest favor of many princes, when he was elevated to the dignity of Vizier by Almélic-Alamdjad. Mouheddhib-Eddin possessed the entire confidence of this prince, who gave up to him the whole care of his affairs. But the Vizier did not use with sufficient prudence, the favor which he enjoyed. Many of the Samaritans of Damascus having repaired to him at Balbec, he employed them in all parts of his government, and trusting in the influence of their patron, they gave a loose rein to their cupidity, and caused numerous complaints. On the other hand some Musselmen priests, offended at the great confidence that a prince of the Believers granted to a Samaritan, publicly preached against him.

Almélic-Alamdjad, wearied with their complaints and reproaches, arrested this Vizier and all those of his sect, that he had admitted into his employment, and confiscated their property, Mouheddhib-Eddin, after having been a long time in prison, finally recovered his liberty, and returned to live at Damascus, where Ebn-Abi-Osaiba made his acquaintance. He received from his own mouth the narrative of his life, that he has given us, and concludes by quoting some verses of which Mouheddhib-Eddin is the author. After which he adds, that our Samaritan doctor has composed many works; among others, an Arabic commentary upon the five books of Moses.

He died at Damascus in the month Sefar, of the 624th year of the Hegira, the 1227th of the common era.

Damascus possessed, also, at that time, two medical Rabbis, the only two quoted in the celebrated divan of Charizi. But while he styles the first Moseh ben Zedaka, the crown of physicians, he ridicules the second Baruch, the physician. He accuses him of ignorance, and possessing more benevolence than knowledge, in the practice of this art. However that may be, both of them were unable to sustain the rivalry of the Samaritan physicians, Sadaka ben Mikha, and Emin-Eddaula, of whom we shall speak in the following paragraph.

(p. 334-335) § XL. Samaritans

We have just spoken of Mouheddhib-Eddin Joseph, a Samaritan physician, and of the favor which he enjoyed with many princes, of his elevation to the vizierate, and that too on account of his profession.

There were also at that time other Samaritan physicians, viz: Sadeka son of Mikha, whom Ebn Abi-Osaiba ranks among the most illustrious physicians, and Emin-Eddaula, who has left many works relating to natural history and astronomy.

The first died at Harran, about the 620th year of the Hegira, (1223) and is the author of an Arabic commentary on the Pentateuch, of some other theological works, and of a commentary on the aphorisms of Hippocrates, and a treatise on simple medicines. As regards Emin-Eddaula, he was born at Damascus, at the end of the 12th century. His father Gazzal, son of AbouSaid, was a brother of Mouheddhib-Eddin, and chief of a Samaritan community. He conducted the education of his son with all the zeal of an affectionate father, and the sagacity of an enlightened man. The young Emin-Eddaula, whose faculties developed at an early period, and so well responded to his paternal cultivation, that when scarcely eighteen he was qualified to be introduced to the public as a practitioner of medicine. Soon after he entered the service of the Sultan Almelic Alamdjad in the capacity of a physician. Having renounced his religion, he received, on embracing Mohammedanism, the honorable title of Kemal-Eddin.

After the death of this prince, which, happened at Damascus in the month Schowal, 628th of the Hegira, he became Vizier to his successor Almélic-Alsaléh Omad-Eddin, son of Abou'lfeda Ismail. Emin-Eddaula discharged this high office with honor; but Almelic-Alsaleh Nedjim-Eddin, having become master of Damascus, and giving Balbec to Almélic-Alsaléh-Omad-Eddin, in the year 643 our Vizier was seized and put in prison by the new governor of Damascus, at the very moment when he had departed from that city to transfer himself, with all his property, to Balbec.

This calamity was brought upon him, on account of the immense wealth which he had amassed during the time when he was Vizier. He was sent to Cairo and imprisoned in the citadel, where he was strangled, in the 646th year of the Hegira, which corresponds to the 1246th year of the common era.

Later the same references appear in History of the Jewish Physicians from the French of E. Carmoly with Notes. By John R. Dunbar, Baltimore (John Murphy) 1845

Histoire des médecins juifs anciens et modernes by Eliakim Carmoly, Bruxelles: Société Encyclographique des Sciences Médicales, 1844.

Apparently, Carmoly determines that Abu ‘j-Muna ben Abi Nasr ibn Athar (1259-60) author of Minhadj al-Dukan (printed at Cairo, 1870) was a Samaritan yet according to   he was a Karaite. See The Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. XIII (1901) “Introduction to Arabic Literature of Jews,” by M. Steinschneider, pp. 105-106.

Interesting enough, in the same article in the Quarterly, (p.  93) the author writes, “Al-Ra’habi, in Damascus, on principle admitted only Moslems to his lectures (and of the latter only those who devoted themselves entirely to medicine). He asserted that he did not instruct non-Moslems, with the exception of two, the Jew ‘Imran and the Samaritan Ibrahim ben Khalaf, and these two only after they had made all efforts possible and had produced recommendations of all kinds.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first 2 paragraphs of the work of P.A. Vaccari, “Due codici del pentateuco Samaritano,” Biblica 21 (1940), pp. 242-244 and one plate.

Original article in Italian:

Il Rev. John Corballis, gia alunno qui Roma del Collegio Scozzese, e poi di questo nosto Istituto Biblico, ora Curato della Chiesa di Our lady of Ransom nella ridente citta di Eastbourne (Inghilterra, nell’Ottobre scorso ha donato al nostro Instituto un pregevole frammento del Pentateuco Samaritano, che merita se ne dia notizia, non fosse altro perche per grandezza di format e bellezza di scrittura puo gareggiare coi piu splendidi esemplari a noi giunti del libro sacro dei Samaritani.

Il generoso donator, al quale siano qui espresso I piu cordiali ringraziamenti, riguardo alla provenienza altro non ricorda se non che il manoscritto era gia in possesso del suo avo. Puo darsi che la descrizione sequente conduca a ritrovare o riconoscere alter parti ancora esistenti del medesimo codice originario; le mie ricerche sinora ebbero un risultato negative.

 

English translation:

The Rev. John Corballis, already a student here in the Scots College in Rome, and then this most Biblical Institute, now Curate of the Church of Our Lady of Ransom in the charming town of Eastbourne, England, last October [1939] at our Institute has donated a valuable fragment of the Samaritan Pentateuch, which is worth it to give news, not least because of the format for greatness and beauty of writing can race with the most splendid examples left to us of the sacred book of the Samaritans.

The generous donator, which are here expressed the most heartfelt thanks, with regard to another source does not remember except that the manuscript was already in possession of his ancestor. It may be that the description sequent leads to find or recognize alter existing parts of the same original code, my research so far had a negative result.

 

 [Comment from the Editor of SUD: One issue appears to be clear from reading the above, while I respect Jean-Pierre Rothschild and his research, it appears from the article that Corballis had donated the fragment in 1939 to the Instituto Biblico Pontificale.]

~~~~~~~~~

“Work and Worker” in The Biblical World, Vol. 32, December 1908, p. 429:

“A few months ago, Professor Gaster announced that he had secured from the Samaritan community at Nablous an ancient Hebrew recension of the Book of Joshua, which was independent of and probably older than the Massoretic text. This announcement was greeted with great interest, for it meant one of the most important biblical discoveries of modern times. Scholars at once set themselves the task of testing the antiquity of the translation and, as usual, arrived at varying opinions. Articles pro and con have followed one another in rapid succession. But now the controversy is set at rest by a simple announcement in the Theologische Literaturzeitung for September 26. Here Professor G. Dalman, of Jerusalem, reports a conversation with the Samaritan high priest on September 1, in which the latter declared that he himself had composed and written the text in question on the basis of an Arabic document. Furthermore he expressed astonishment that Professor [Moses} Gaster should have claimed great antiquity for the version since he himself had never made any false claims in reference to his manuscript. This statement would seem to be final.”

 

The referenced issue of Theologische Literaturzeitung Nr. 20, 33 Jahrgang, 26 September 1908, col. 553.

‘Zum Samaritanischen Buch Josua

Der gegenwärtige Hohepriester der Samaritaner versicherte mir heute, daß er die von Gaster veröffentlichte hebräische Rezension des Buches Josua selbst auf Grund des Arabischen verfaßt habe und sehr erstaunt sei über Gasters Behauptung von ihrem hohen Alter, da er sein Werk nie für alt ausgegeben habe. Es handelt sich also nur um eine modern Stilübung, bei der gelehrte Untersuchungen überflüssig find.

Jerusalem I. Sept. 1908   [Dr. Gustav] Dalman’

 

Translation:

‘For Samaritan Book of Joshua

The current High Priest of the Samaritans assured me today that he had written the publish Gaster Hebrew review of the book of Joshua even due to the Arab and was very surprised at Gaster’s assertion of her old age, as he had never spent be the work for old. It is also only a modern exercise in style, superfluous place in the scholarly investigations.

Jerusalem Sept. 1, 1908   Dalman’

 

Another reference which is typical is found in (American) The Nation, Vol. 87, No. 2265, Nov. 26, 1908 p. 521

‘Prof. G. Dalman, who is in charge of the German Archaeological Institute in Jerusalem, writes to the Theologische Literaturzeitung of Leipzig that the present High Priest of the Samaritans has assured him that the Hebrew Recension of the book of Joshua, which was recently published by Rabbi M. Gaster of London (see The Nation of September 17, p. 263), is the work of the High Priest himself on the basis of the Arabic text. The High Priest is amazed at Gaster’s assertion that this is a very ancient book, as he himself never pretended that it is.’

 

See The Nation of September 17, p. 263 for the reference of the Gaster’s article.

~~~

Хаджи Kazimir "Joseph" A. Hubert (Хан Стауфер)

‘While waiting for the Milah operation, Kazimir received an unexpected alternative commission during a visit to the Samaritan High Priest Elazar ben Tsedaka ben Yitzhaq (d.2010) on Mount Gerizim, in front of two witnesses (Tzvi Misinai and Benyamim Tsedaka) when the High-Priest remembering a mutual trust established by Avraam Firkovich, laid his hands upon Kazimir's head and blessed him to watch over and bring peace to the lost Palestinian Karaites. However, though technically possible in Karaite Cannon Law, this particular commission, being of unknown precedent, is not uncontroversial.’ http://karaim.institute/kazimir-hubert

~~~~~

 

YouTube.com

 

The Samaritans from mitukats, A visit to the Samaritan Museum with lecture by Samaritan Husney Cohen.

~~~~~~~~~

 

Interesting

Harvard Semitic Museum Photographic Archives, Visual Collections, Fine Arts Library

From the box 113, accession number 86:002:000 oo1-127 complete Description: 026: small book (blue & green cover): Samaritan translation of Exodus

http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/finearts/hsm_inventory.pdf

~~~~~~

 

Links

THE SAMARITAN VILLAGE/ LE VILLAGE DES SAMARITAINS

http://mashallahnews.com/?p=12671

 

Recent & Future Publications

 

Dušek Jan ‘Mt. Gerizim Sanctuary, Its History and Enigma of Origin’, in Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel, Volume 3, Number 1, March 2014, pp. 111-133(23) Mohr Siebeck

 

Edelman, Diana V. (Editor) Deuteronomy- Kings as Emerging Authoritative Books, a Conversation.

Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta, 2014

 

Fried, Lisbeth S.  Ezra and the Law in History and Tradition (Studies on Personalities of the Old Testament) Published by University of South Carolina Press (2014-04-07)

Hardcover. The historical Ezra was sent to Jerusalem as an emissary of the Persian monarch. What was his task According to the Bible, the Persian king sent Ezra to bring the Torah, the five books of the Laws of Moses, to the Jews. Modern scholars have claimed not only that Ezra brought the Torah to Jerusalem, but that he actually wrote it, and in so doing Ezra created Judaism. Without Ezra, they say, Judaism would not exist. In Ezra and the Law in History and Tradition, Lisbeth S. Fried separates historical fact from biblical legend. Drawing on inscriptions from the Achaemenid Empire, she presents the historical Ezra in the context of authentic Persian administrative practices and concludes that Ezra, the Persian official, neither wrote nor edited the Torah, nor would he even have known it. The origin of Judaism, so often associated with Ezra by modern scholars, must be sought elsewhere. After discussing the historical Ezra, Fried examines ancient, medieval, and modern views of him, explaining how each originated, and why. She relates the stories told about Ezra by medieval Christians to explain why their Greek Old Testament differs from the Hebrew Bible, as well as the explanations offered by medieval Samaritans concerning how their Samaritan Bible varies from the one the Jews use. Church Fathers as well as medieval Samaritan writers explained the differences by claiming that Ezra falsified the Bible when he rewrote it, so that in effect, it is not the book that Moses wrote but something else. Moslem scholars also maintain that Ezra falsified the Old Testament, since Mohammed, the last judgment, and Heaven and Hell are revealed in it. In contrast Jewish Talmudic writers viewed Ezra both as a second Moses and as the prophet Malachi. In the process of describing ancient, medieval, and modern views of Ezra, Fried brings out various understandings of God, Gods law, and Gods plan for our salvation. http://www.sc.edu/uscpress/books/2014/7313.html 

 

Kartveit, Magnar ‘Samaritan Self-Consciousness in the First Half of the Second Century B.C.E. in Light of the Inscriptions from Mount Gerizim and Delos’ in Journal for the Study of Judaism

June 2014

 

Phillips, David Lee The Samaritan Version of the Book of Numbers With Hebrew Variants: A Close Textual Study, Edwin Mellen Press (March 30, 2014)

 

Schorch, Stefan The Samaritans: History, Texts, and Traditions (Studia Samaritana) Hardcover – Publisher: Walter de Gruyter (15 Nov 2015) Hardcover: 330 pages

 

Schiffman, Marlene and Lawrwnce H.

“The Contribution of Hanan Eshel to the Study of the Judean Desert Documents.” in “See, I will bring a scroll recounting what befell me” (Ps 40:8) Epigraphy and Daily Life from the Bible to the Talmud Dedicated to the Memory of Professor Hanan Eshel. Edited by Esther Eshel, Yigal Levin, Journal of Ancient Judaism. Supplements. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht: 2014 245 pages. ISBN 978-3-525-55062-5 Amazon Preview

 

Tal, Abraham

A Glimpse at Samaritan Beliefs 2014. 33 Seiten Verlag: Universitätsverlag Halle-Wittenberg (19. Juni 2013) 2014 http://www.amazon.de/A-Glimpse-at-Samaritan-Beliefs/dp/3869770899 With ‘Laudatio’ by Stefan Schorch.

http://www.universitaetsverlag-halle-wittenberg.de/media/upload/file/Kapitel_Vorworte/0895_Tal%281%29.pdf

Book orders can also be made at

http://www.universitaetsverlag-halle-wittenberg.de/default/universitatsreden/a-glimpse-at-samaritan-beliefs.html

 

Tal, Abraham Samaritan Aramaic

Aramaic III/2 LOS 3/2 Printed edition 2014 (ISBN: 978-3-86835-081-4): 181 pages, 28.00 € 

Bottom of Form

This book is a compendious grammar of the Aramaic dialect in which the ancient Samaritan literature is written. In a large measure this dialect is still used in the synagogal service of the community. As a Lehrbuch it is aimed at students interested in learning this dialect which flourished, along with the Talmudic Aramaic of Palestinian Judaism and Christian Palestinian Aramaic, during the Roman and Byzantine period. As such, the book presupposes a certain measure of familiarity with Hebrew. Some basic knowledge of any Aramaic dialect may be of great help as well. The material that forms the basis of this grammar is drawn from Z. Ben-Ḥayyim’s publications, mainly from his edition of the liturgy, as recited in the synagogue (LOT IIIb), and from his translated and annotated edition of the Samaritan Midrash.


Tal, Oren

Samaritan Cemeteries and Tombs in the Southern Coastal Plain: The Archaeology and History of the Samaritan Settlement outside Samaria (ca. 300–700 CE) ÄAT 82

Printed edition in production

 

Tsedaka, Benyamim Benyamim Tsedaka: Commentary On the Weekly Torah Readings From 2013 (E-book In Hebrew) https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5QRvHxHuqlJcHpGMVR5MW01b0E/edit?pli=1

 

Zsengellér, József (Edited)

Rewritten Bible after Fifty Years: Texts, Terms, or Techniques? A Last Dialogue with Geza Vermes

Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism, vol. 166, BRILL May 2014

 

A past Publication

Frieden, Ken

Freud's Dream of Interpretation SUNY series in Modern Jewish Literature and Culture Suny Press; February 1990; ISBN10: 0-7914-0124-3; ISBN13: 978-0-7914-0124-8see page 86-88 on Samaritan interpretation of dreams

~~~~~~

Brill MyBook

New, Print-on-Demand Paperback Editions for Library Patrons

Brill’s MyBook program, available on the BrillOnline Books and Journals platform, enables users to purchase a print-on-demand paperback copy of books of their choosing, provided they have access to the e-book version via their institution.*

MyBook has a fixed price of €25.00 / $25.00* per copy. Brill will ship your copy free of charge, though VAT will be added where applicable.

The Brill MyBook Program is exclusively available on BrillOnline Books and Journals. Look for the MyBook purchase option next to titles of your choice.

Interested? Visit BrillOnline Books and Journals – booksandjournals.brillonline.com – to find out more, or purchase your first Brill MyBook! http://www.brill.com/products/books/brill-mybook

 

Among the many ebooks you will find the new publication by Monika Schreiber, The Comfort of Kin; Samaritan Community, Kinship, and Marriage http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/books/9789004274259

~~~~~~~

 

Old News

The following are articles from the website of the national Library of Australia

http://trove.nla.gov.au/

 

“Wayfaring Notes” The Sydney Morning Herald, Friday 15 July 1864 p. 2

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/30934260?searchTerm=samaritans%20gerizim&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc [This editor of the SUD believes the author of this article to be traveler John Smith (author of Wayfaring Notes (second series): Holiday Tour Round the World, Aberdeen: A. Brown and Co., 1876] 

“My Palestine Diary” by Rev. W. M. Teaps, The Narracoorte Herald, Tuesday 5, December 1893 p. 4

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/147000406?searchTerm=samaritans%20gerizim&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc

 

“The Samaritans’ by Gilbert Coblens, Jewish Herald, Friday 27 November 1896 p. 3-5

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/147277364?searchTerm=samaritans&searchLimits=

 

“The Samaritans and Their Annual Sacrifice” [from Rev. W. E. Geil, in the New York “Christian Herald.] Geelong Advertiser Saturday 29 may 1897 p. 5.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/149742027?searchTerm=samaritans%20gerizim&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc

 

“Miscellaneous” Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, Tuesday 15, 1870 p. 4

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/148016220?searchTerm=samaritans%20gerizim&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc

 

“The Rev. Haskett Smith: A Chat about Palestine” South Australian Register, Sat. 4, May 1895 p. 7 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/54459986?searchTerm=samaritans%20gerizim&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc

 

“Editor’s Easy Chair” Freeman’s Journal, Saturday 19, 1905 p. 37

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/108119692?searchTerm=samaritans%20gerizim&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc

 

“A Link with Aaron” Chronicle Saturday 27 January 1907 p. 30

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/88132582?searchTerm=samaritans%20gerizim&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc

 

‘The Other “Holy City.”’ Jewish Herald, Friday 15 April 1910 p. 13-14

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/17605745?zoomLevel=3&&&&searchTerm=samaritans%20gerizim&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc

 

“The Samaritans of To-Day” by Frank G. Carpenter, in the Boston “Globe”, The Daily News, Wed. 26, 1911, p. 9. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/81746241?searchTerm=samaritans&searchLimits=

 

“Samaritans and Their Biblical Ceremonies.” Sunday Times (Sydney) Sunday 18, April 1920 p. 17

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/120527930?searchTerm=samaritans%20gerizim&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc

 

“An Ancient Race” The Maitland Daily Mercury, Saturday 1, January 1927, p. 10

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/125142969?searchTerm=samaritans&searchLimits=

 

“Abisha’s Scroll” Oldest Biblical Manuscript Hidden in Synagogue” The Mercury, Friday, December 27, 1935, p. 3. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/30070111

 

“Samaritans Break Up’ Townsville Daily Bulletin Saturday, 3, September 1949, p. 2

“Tel Aviv. September 2. A small Samaritan community which has lived on the slopes of Mount Gerizim, near Nablus, since Biblical times broke up yesterday when its last family crossed the border to live in Israel.

The Samaritans whose shrine and temple was built at the top of Mount Gerizim 500 years ago have been the only people to live continuously in Palestine for over 2000 years.

When the Palestine troubles started 18 months ago most of the community, then numbering 90 moved to Tel Aviv says the London “Daily Express” correspondent.”

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/63075329?searchTerm=samaritans&searchLimits=

~~~~~~~~~~

 

Online Journals

http://www.biblicalweblinks.com/wiki/Online_Journals

~~~~~~~

 

 

 

Biblio

 

Banat, Bassam Yousef Ibrahim

Samaritans Caste: A History of a Thousand Years International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, Vol. 4, No. 6 (1); April 2014

 

Barton, George A. (reviewer of Montgomery’s The Samaritans)

The Biblical World, Vol, 32, September 1908, pp. 216-218

 

Ben-Guryon, Daṿid; Itzhak Ben-Zvi

Eretz-Jiśroel in fergangenheiṭ un gegenwarṭ: geografie, gešichṭe, rechṭliche ferhelṭnise, befelkerung, landwirṭšafṭ, handel un indusṭrie. Niu-Jork : Poale Tzijon Palesṭina Komiṭeṭ 5668 [1907/08] [erschienen] 1918.

 

Bowersock, Glen W.  

Mosaics as History. The Near East from Late Antiquity to Islam 

The Belknap Press, Cambridge, Mass., 2006. Language: English. Provides information on the Near East with maps, historical images, mythical figures, and religious scenes. This book presents historical evidence, illustrations of literary and mythological tradition, religious icons, and monuments to civic pride. It talks about Syrian Antioch, Arabia, Jewish and Samaritan settlements in Palestine, and more.

 

Bowring, Lewin Bentham (son of John Bowring)

Autobiographical Recollections of Sir John Bowring, Volume 1, Henry S. King: London, 1877, p. 197-8

 

Breen, A.E. (Andrew Edward)

A Diary of My Life in the Holy Land, Rochester, N.Y. John P. Smith Printing Co. 1906, pp.614-627

 

Cahen, Samuel

“Enquiry Concerning the Samaritans.” in The Evangelical Magazine. December 1803, pp.536-7

 

Carrier, A.S. (reviewer of Price’s The Ancestry of Our English Bible)

The Biblical World, Vol. 32, September 1908, pp. 218-9

 

Cowley, A.E.

‘Note on J.Q.R., XIV, Pages 26 SQQ.’ In The Jewish Quarterly Review, vol. 14, No. 54, January, 1902, pp 352-3 #1057

 

Crown, Alan

‘Abisha Scroll 3,000 Years Old?’ Bible Review, Oct. 1991, pp. 12-21, 39. #1108

 

Al-Dalboohi, Nihad Hasan Haji (Tesis Univ. Granada. Departamento de Estudios Semíticos)

Kitab at-Tawtiya de Abu Ishaq Ibrahim B. Faray B. Marut As-Samiri: introducción, estudio y edición 5 Sept, 2013 / 2014 Thesis

An article in Arabic entitled "The Jewish Samaritan Community" 2013. It is included in LJPLSS = Lark Journal of Philosophy, Linguistics and Social Sciences, Wassit University, Iraq. http://ljplss.org/

 

Davis, Daniel (Carneigie Mellon University)

L1 Effects on the Articulation of Samaritan Hebrew 2014 Thesis

 

Elliott, Charles Boileau

Travels in the three great empires of Austria, Russia, and Turkey. Vol. II London: R. Bentley, 1838. pp. 383-404

 

Ellis, Alexander George; Edward Edwards; British Museum. Department of Oriental Printed Books and Manuscripts

A Descriptive List of the Arabic manuscripts acquired by the Trustees of the British Museum since 1894. London, British Museum 1912

 

Fresta, Michael (Universität Paderborn)

„Hüter des Bundes“ und „Diener des Herrn“ – Samaritaner und Samaritanerinnen im Neuen Testament. Historische und neutestamentlich-exegetische Untersuchungen 2010/2011 dissertation

 

Hill, Brad Salin

‘Written by the Samaritan High Priest in Palestine, Samaritan Manuscript in the YIVO Library,’ Yivo News, No. 201, Spring 2006, pp. 16-17.

 

Isser, Stanley

“Dositheus, Jesus, and a Moses Aretalogy” in Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity edited by Jacob Neusner, vol. 12, Christianity, Judaism and Other Greco-Roman Cults, Part Four, Leiden: E.J. Brill 1975, pp. 167 -189

 

Jelin, D. ‘… אחת שבתEin Sabbath im Hause des samaritanischen Hohenpriesters’ Haschiloah: Vol. 25 pp. 507-15 (reprinted: מע ,ה”כ ךרכ ,ב” ערת- אערת .חולישה .בקעי ג”הכה  תיבב תחא תבש ,ןילי דוד’

507-515, 15 (1976) 165 ‘גל ב. א.

 

Johnston, Robert M. (Reviewer)

Anderson, Robert T., and Terry Giles, ‘The Keepers: An Introduction to the History and Culture of the Samaritans’, in Andrew University Seminary Studies, Vol. 42, Spring 2004, No. 1, pp. 220-221

 

Kennedy, A.R.S. (reviewer to Thomson’s The Samaritans)

‘The Samaritans’ in The Expository Times, Vol. 31, No. 8, May 1920 pp. 374-375

 

Lerner, Isaac (1956) A critical investigation and translation of the special liturgies of the Samaritans for their Passover and their Feast of unleavened bread. PhD thesis, University of Leeds.

 

Loewenstamm, Ayala

ʻIyunim ba-sifrut ha-Shomronit uva-sifrut ha-Ḳaraʼit : osef maʼamarim min ha-ʻizavon / me-et Ayalah Liṿenshṭam ; ʻarakh, Yehoshuʻa Blaʼu. Jerushalayim : ha-Aḳademyah la-lashon ha-ʻIvrit, c2008

 

Luce, Gay

‘Text of a Rare Samaritan Bible’ The Jewish Floridian September 7, 1956, p. 7C

 

Machuch, Rudolf (reviewer)

‘L.H. Vilsher: Manuel d’araméen samaritain’ In Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft › Bd. 133 (1983) › Bücherbesprechung pp. 41-2

 

Mishkowsky, Noach (Noah)

סעזיי רעניימ ןוא ןבעל ןיימ / Mayn lebn un mayne rayzes. [Meḳsiḳe]: Noaḥ Mishḳoṿdki Bukh Ḳomiṭeṭ, 1947. Yiddish, see chapter 47, pp. 323-333

 

Noble, James

An Arabic Vocabulary and Index for Richardson’s Arabic Grammar; in Which the Words are Explained According to the Parts of Speech, and the Derivatives are Traced to Their originals in the Hebrew, Chaldee, and Syriac Languages with Tables of oriental Alphabets, Points, and Affixes. Edinburgh: C. Stewart. 1820


Nodet, Etienne

Editing the Bible: Alexandria or Babylon? 2014

 

Oefner, Peter J.; Hölzl, Georg; Shen, Peidong; Shpirer, Isaac; Gefel, Dov; Lavi, Tal; Woolf, Eilon; Cohen, Jonathan; Cinnioglu, Cengiz; Underhill, Peter A.; Rosenberg, Noah A.; Hochrein, Jochen; Granka, Julie M.; Hillel, Jossi; and Feldman, Marcus W. (2013) "Genetics and the History of the Samaritans: Y-Chromosomal Microsatellites and Genetic Affinity between Samaritans and Cohanim," Human Biology: Vol. 85: Iss. 6, Article 4. 

 

Pearce, Sarah J.K.

The Words of Moses: Studies in the Reception of Deuteronomy in the Second Temple Period. Mohr Siebeck: 2013

 

Pummer, Reinhard

“A Samaritan Manuscript in McGill University”. 1992 #3811

“The Samaritans- A Jewish Offshoot or a pagan Cult?” Bible Review, 7, 5 (1991) pp. 22-29, 40. #3826

 

Schattner-Rieser, Ursula A.

L’Araméen des manuscrits de la mer Morte et Analyse Phonétique et Grammaticale Diachroniques et Comparées

 

Schiffman, Lawrence H.

“The Limits of Tolerance: Halakhah and History” in Conflict or Cooperation? Papers on Jewish Unity, The American Jewish Committee, 1989, pp. 39- 46 also see: The Samaritan Schism ‘Schisms in Jewish History: Part 2’

 http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/daily-life-and-practice/the-samaritan-schism/

 

Schimmel, Konrad D.

The Jewish/ Samaritan Conflict 2009

 

Shehadeh, Haseeb

ثلاثة مخطوطات سامرية في مكتبة المعهد الألماني البروتستانتي للآثار في القدس

Three Samaritan manuscripts in the library of the German Archaeology in Jerusalem, (in Arabic) 2010

 

ترجمة مقالة أحاد هعام عن السامريين

Ahad Ha’am Translation of an Article For the Samaritans. 2014 (in Arabic, Hebrew and English) 

 

Siquans, Agnethe

Einleitung in das alte Testament 2003

 

Stevens, William

A View of the Rise and Fall of the Kindoms of Judah and Israel London: Whittaker, Treacher and Co. 1833, pp. 616-629

 

Tal, Abraham

A Glimpse at Samaritan Beliefs 2013. 33 Seiten Verlag: Universitätsverlag Halle-Wittenberg (19. Juni 2014) http://www.amazon.de/A-Glimpse-at-Samaritan-Beliefs/dp/3869770899

 

Tov, Emanuel

The Scribal and Textual Transmission of the Torah Analyzed in Light of Its Sanctity

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Autorenkatalog der Judaic aim Dalman-Institut [Author Catalogue of the Judaica Dalman Institute] http://www.theologie.uni-greifswald.de/fileadmin/mediapool/7_GDI/Dokumente/Dalman-Inst-Judaica.pdf

 

Ben Jewi,

(Betr. den Pentateuch der Samaritaner), Jerusalem J. J XVI A 31

 

Brüll, Adolf

Zur Geschichte und Literatur der Samaritaner, Frankfurt a. M., 1876 J XX 170

 

Freudenthal, J., J

Alexander Polyhistor und die von ihm erhaltenen Reste judäischer und samaritanischer, Geschichtswerke, Breslau, 1875, XVIII B 90

 

Hedin, Sven,

Samaritanernas Paskfest, J XX 185 siehe

 

Klein, Ernst

Siehe Samaritanernas Paskfest J XX 185

 

Lagerlöf, Selma

Siehe Samaritanernas Paskfest J XX 185

 

Larsson, H. L.

Siehe Samaritanernas Paskfest J XX 185

 

Rosenberg, Noah A., and Steven P. Weitzman. "Genetic Variation of X-SRTS's in the Wichí Population from Chaco Province, Argentina." Human Biology 85.6 (2014): 817-824.

... Peter Oefner and colleagues investigate genetic variation in the Samaritans, a small Middle
Eastern population that traces its heritage to a split from Israelite/ Jewish populations during
biblical times, and whose ancestry has been contentious for much of the time since.

 

Письмена на камне, российская национаЛьная БибЛиотека, санкт- петербург, 2014

ISBN 978-5-8192-0466-5 [Writing on Stone, Russian National Library, St. Petersburg 2014]

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