“Mount Gerizim,
All the Days of Our Lives”
May/ June
2014
Vol. XIII - No 5
In This Issue ·
President visit ·
Cothem Torah ·
Auction ·
Haseeb articles ·
New Publications ·
The-Samaritans.com ·
Conferences ·
Gaster Collection ·
Samaritan Museum ·
From the Editor ·
Shelabi Seal ·
Ebay ·
Opera from academia ·
Biblio ·
Old News
Future Events
The Fifth Month 3652 Sat. Evening, July 26, 2014
Rosh Chodesh- The New Moon of the Sixth Month Tues. Sept, 26,
2014
Feast of the First Day of the Seventh Month Sept. 24, 2014
The Sabbath of the Selichot (The Ten days of Pardons) Wed.
Sept. 27, 2014
Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement) Fri. Oct. 3, 2014
Sabbath of the Feast of Succoth, Oct. 11, 2014
The Feast pf Shemini Atseret (the Day of Assembly) Wed. Oct.
15, 2014
~~~~~~~~~~~
by Benyamin Tsedaka
The newly elected 10th President of Israel,
formerly Parliament speaker and Minister of Telecommunication of Israel, Mr. Reuven Rivlin made a special visit
last week to the Samaritan Community Center in Holon, Israel to attend a recent
Samaritan wedding. The Samaritan High Priest Abedel b. High Priest Asher
welcomed Mr. Rivlin and blessed him for his newly elected position as the next
President of Israel.
(Photo right: The elected President Rivlin with High Priest Abedel)
As a
member of the Israeli Parliament, Mr. Rivlin has assisted the Samaritans in
some past projects of development and that established a warm mutual
relationship with the Samaritans. In the ceremony he stated that after
starting in office as the 10th President of Israel, for the next seven years he
intends to devote most of his attention to achieving peace in the region and to
be active of interior matters in the Israeli society especially of diverse
feelings between different religious groups in Israel to be opened and attempt
to make them closer to one another.
In a comment to this positive statement, Mr.
Rivlin said that he will go in these directions. The Israelite Samaritans would
be happy to compare between him and the Second President of Israel, Yitzhaq
Ben-Zvi, who was like a father and patron to them and helped them to establish
their center and the first Samaritan synagogue in Holon.
Mr.
Rivlin said that he has a warm corner in his heart for the Israelite
Samaritans, since his private host the Israelite Samaritan Yefet b. Ratson
Tsedaka, an active personality in the Likud Party and him had become close
friends. "This fact made me attracted to this noble community,"
said Mr. Rivlin.
The Israelite Samaritans have no illusion that
the new
(Photo: Above- The Elected President with Yefet
b. Ratson Tsedaka)
(Photo
Left- The Elected President with Ronit Tsedaka the Bride's mother)
~~~~~~~~~~
By Osher Sassoni
Hariel Tsedaka, son
of Doron and Hila Tsedaka, celebrated his completion of the reading the
Torah before the Samaritan community on May 14th 2014.
Samaritan boys and girls, begin to learn the Torah, at age
of 5-6 years old. Every day, right after they come back, from their
regular school, they visit their instructors – a man or woman from
the community who instructs them in the proper reading of the five books of
Moses (the Torah). Their studies begin, by first learning the 22 letters of the
ancient Hebrew Aleph- Bet. Then all the combinations between the letters,
then the punctuations of the letters, as it was first invented by the
Samaritan Scholar Tabya son of Darta who lived in the 11th C.E ,
and finally, they learn to read whole sentences and
verses. In Each day, they learn between 4-5 verses, according with the
progress till the next lesson.
Unlike the Jews, there is no term called ‘Bar Mitza,’ for the
Samaritans and the end of reading the Torah is not related to the age of the
child. Usually child finishes the Torah after two years, at the age of 7-8
years old.
Boys, usually continue to learn poems and prayers from the
‘Daftar’ – (The Siddur), while girls keep reading only the portion of the week.
[Additional information from the Editor: From the
about the age of four, the young Samaritan children are taught the Samaritan
script that will begin their education of the Torah. The children, boy or girl
will at the age of six to ten complete the ceremony with memorized portions of
Deuteronomy 33-34 and end with Deut. 34:10.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
39 - Objects: Judaica,
Israeliana, Numismatics & Medals
by Kedem Public Auction
House Ltd
July 16, 2014, 5:00
PM EET
Jerusalem, Israel
Live
Auction
Lot 22: Form of the Tabernacle - Samaritan Tradition
Description: 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. 50X32.5 cm. Good condition. Folding marks. Stains. Minor tears (restored). Samaritan illustrations on the Torah are rare. Starting bid $6,000.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The
Tabernacle Drawing - Mss. 55
Scribe: Yaaqob b. Aaron (1840-1916 CE) Made in Nablus
Dimensions: 415x568 mm
Materials: Drawing of Tabernacle and its utensils on paper. Multicolored.
Each utensil with its name in Hebrew characters.
Collection: Klau Library
From http://samaritanrepository.org/huc/scroll/
~~~~~~~
Biography of the Prophet Aaron by E. Tsedaka
(Review) In Arabic.
https://shomron0.tripod.com/articles/biographyoftheprophetaaron.pdf
Read here: Link of Kutim Tactate, Hebrew Origin and
Arabic Translation. https://shomron0.tripod.com/articles/kutimtractate.pdf
Arabic & English Translations of Ahad
ha-‘Am’s Article on the Samaritans https://shomron0.tripod.com/articles/translationahadhaam.pdf
Organum and the Samaritans by M. Ravina (review)
https://shomron0.tripod.com/articles/organumreview.pdf
שתי תשבחוח
ללמע‘רבי אל-בהלול?
By Haseeb Shehadeh, Helsinki University
http://hagada.org.il/category/articles/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New
Publications
The Comfort of Kin,
Samaritan Community, Kinship, and Marriage
By Monika Schreiber (Photo left), University of Vienna
In The Comfort of Kin Monika Schreiber presents a study of
the social and religious life of the Samaritans, a minority in modern Israel
and the Palestinian Territories. Utilizing approaches ranging from
anthropological theory and method to comparative history and religion, she approaches
this community from diverse empirical and epistemic angles. Her account of the
Samaritans, usually studied for their Bible and their role in ancient history,
is enriched by a thorough treatment of the Samaritan family, a powerful
institution rooted in notions of patrilineal descent and perpetuated in part by
consanguineous marriage (which differs from incest in degree rather than in
kind). Schreiber also discusses how the tiny community is affected by its
demographic predicament, intermarriage, and identity issues.
Brill http://www.brill.com/products/book/comfort-kin
Monika
Schreiber, Ph.D. (2009), University of
Vienna, is librarian at the Jewish Studies Library at that university. She has
done extensive anthropological research among the Samaritan community.
Readership
All interested in Samaritans, Jewish sectarianism,
and religious minorities. Anyone concerned with questions of the Middle Eastern
family, kin marriage and incestuous marriage.
Table of contents
Introduction: Who Are the Samaritans?
Part I: Samaritan Ethnicity and Community
Chapter 1: A Community of Faith
Chapter 2: An Accidental People: A Survey of
Samaritan History
Chapter 3: A Community of Practice
Chapter 4: No Exit, No Entrance? The Bounds of
Community
Part II: Samaritan Family and Marriage
Chapter 5: It’s All in the Family: From Ethnic
Identity to Practical Kinship
Chapter 6: Bintī li-ibn ʿammhā—My
Daughter Is for Her Cousin: Samaritan Marital Preferences
Chapter 7: Too Close for Comfort? A Critical View of
an Ancient Legacy
Chapter 8: Single, Samaritan, Male: A Local
Discourse on Minority and Choice
Chapter 9: The Family Politic
Epilogue: Will the Samaritans Endure?
[From the Editor of the Samaritan Update: This book,
The Comfort of Kin, Samaritan Community,
Kinship, and Marriage is an advancement into the personal lives of the
Samaritans that has till now been undocumented. Not only does Monika bring
original experiences from her personal contacts, she digs deeper into the
Samaritan life conveying forth fresh new information. It is a publication that
every Samaritan scholar or researcher will desire to have in their library.
Excellence Book Monika!]
~~~~~~~~~
Edited by Thierry Legrand and Jan Joosten both of University
of Strasbourg
Brill: http://www.brill.com/products/book/targums-light-traditions-second-temple-period June 2014
~~
Studies
in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity By Pieter W. van der Horst
March 2014 Brill publication
[Includes Samaritan
origins according to the Paralipomena
Jeremiae]
~~
Hebrew in the Second Temple Period; The
Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls and of Other Contemporary Sources. Edited
by Steven E. Fassberg, Moshe Bar-Asher
and Ruth A. Clements August 2013 Brill publication
~~
Evidence of Editing, Growth and Change of Texts in the Hebrew Bible by Reinhard Müller, Juha Pakkala, and Bas ter Haar Romeny, Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta 2014 @ Amazon
~~~~~~~~~~~
The-Samaritans.com is happy to be
online once again after a lengthy period of having our web site
unavailable to our audience.
The site was active between the years 1997-2008, and
have been hacked several times, then deleted, and most
of the material from the backup files were lost. It was a
very hard job to reconstruct the original contents and due to my own situation
it was postponed time and time again.
During this period of seven years, some other nice
web sites have been publicized dedicated to the issue of the Samaritan
community. The whole web with computers technology and social networks have
made a huge revolution to material. That is why this site has been adapted to
support the new Smartphone and tablets.
So we are here again, with a new design, new sections
and especially with a lot of good will to be helpful again to all those
scholars and people interested in our unique community. We hope you will
appreciate and come back to visit again.
Best Regards, Osher Sassoni
http://www.the-samaritans.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~
Conferences
The
Xth Congress of the EAJS 2014, Paris,
July 20-24, 2014 http://www.eajscongress2014.com/
2014
INTERNATIONAL MEETING Vienna, Austria
Meeting Begins: 7/6/2014 Meeting Ends: 7/10/2014
http://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/Congresses_ProgramUnits.aspx?MeetingId=24
2014
ANNUAL MEETING, San Diego, CA
Meeting Begins: 11/22/2014 Meeting Ends: 11/25/2014
http://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/Congresses_CallForPaperDetails.aspx?MeetingId=25&VolunteerUnitId=34
~~~~~~~~~~
Moses
Gaster (1856-1939): Eclectic Collector
Maria Haralambakis
Maria’s current research project
focuses on the scholarship and collection of Moses
Gaster (1856-1939). As a scholar, Gaster was engaged in diverse fields of study,
including Romanian language and literature, folklore, apocrypha and
pseudepigrapha, magic and mysticism, and Samaritan studies. As a bibliophile he
assembled a very large collection of manuscripts and printed books, which has
now been divided over various institutions. The Rylands Library is in the possession
of the most varied Gaster collection. It includes three categories of
manuscripts: Manuscripts in Hebrew, Samaritan, and other languages; Genizah
fragments; Gaster’s own annotated copies of his publications; and the Gaster
Archive. The Archive contains Gaster’s working papers in all stages of
progress, from notes to unpublished proofs; Gaster’s correspondence with
Samaritan priests in Nablus (c. 500 letters); and various typed and handwritten
lists of books in his possession.
The aim of the project is to
evaluate Gaster’s identity as a collector, and to assess his contribution to
scholarship, focussing particularly on his work on Romanian folklore and
medieval Hebrew and Slavonic Apocryphal narratives.
Bibliography
- Maria Haralambakis, "Box
list of Moses Gaster’s working papers at the John Rylands Library",
Manchester: Centre for Jewish Studies, 2012
PDF version available - Maria Haralambakis, "A
Survey of the Gaster Collection in the John Rylands Library", Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 89:2 (2013): 107–30.
http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/jrri/projects/fellowshipprojects/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you Haseeb Shehadeh for submitting the
article and the paper photo!
~~~~~~~~
Books from the HMML Basement is dedicated to the special collections at the Hill
Museum & Manuscript Library. The collections hold over 10,000 rare printed
books, along with several European, Ethiopian and other manuscripts.
(Leaf in Samaritan with later inscription on recto.
Ms. Frag. 36, Samaritan).
~~~~~~~~~~~
(Photo Left from the Samaritans Museum Facebook page: Logsdon Seminary
students visit the Samaritans Museum, May 22, 2014. The Samaritan Museum
schedules individual and group visits.)
(Photos below from the Museum’s Facebook Page: These pictures were taken at excavations of Tel
Balata, where Samaritan writing were found. Samaritan homes where the picture
shows a pattern of one of the houses at the site of Shechem and shows how built
hastily and layers of dirt.)
Samaritan Mezuzah
23.12.2012: Samaritan mezuzah bearing excerpts from the Ten
Commandments, Kefar Bilu, 6th-7th century AD, stone. Museum of Israel,
Jerusalem.
Inscription:
In the beginning God created; I the Lord am your God; You shall have no other
gods; You shall not make for yourself; You shall not take in vain; You shall
not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not
bear; You shall not covet. Link to image
~~~~~~~~~~~
From the Editor
This map below displays the last three years of
visitors from around the world to our site. I would like to thank all the
visitors that have been to the SamaritanUpdate.com.
~~~~~~~
I was reading again The Exiled and the Redeemed, by Itzhak
Ben-Zvi, which states that in 1922 there were 147 Samaritans in Nablus and 16
Samaritans in other towns. Where were these other towns? And that year there
were 83 males and 80 females, a good proportion for growth of the Samaritans.
~~~
Here is a chart of the Patriarch Lineage from the
Samaritan-Israelite Torah
https://shomron0.tripod.com/adamon3.pdf
~~~
From
My Notes:
“Mount Gerizim
Excavations / 1: the Aramaic, Hebrew and Samaritan inscriptions.” (Jerusalem:
Staff Officer of Archaeology, Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria,
Israel Antiquities Authority, 2004, page
6) informs us of the first construction phase; ‘the precinct and the temple were first built in the fifth century BCE,
during the Persian period, and survived until the end of the Ptolemaic rule,’
and describes the area; ‘the precinct was
a square structure was built of hewn fieldstones extracted from the mountain’s
exposed upper strata of rock,’ and ‘the
rooms around the inside of the precinct wall are reminiscent of the open-roofed
chambers and courtyards mentioned in Ezekiel, in whose vision of the Temple in
Jerusalem they used by the temple officiaries for cooking the sacrifices
brought by the people.’
How did this sacrificial precinct come to be and who exactly
were these people that built it? There is enough information to determine this
question.
After the Babylonian Exile, there was in Jerusalem a
high-priest named Joiada, son of Eliashib, (ca. 433-410 BC) he had two
sons,
Jaddus and his brother Manasseh, who married Nicaso, the daughter of the
governor (satrap) of Samaria, named Sanballat. He was a foreigner according to
Josephus, ‘a Cuthæan by race.’ Yet, there is something to this story that
offers us the foundation of a long standing argument of the claim by the
Judeans that the Samaritans intermarried with foreigners, mainly the Cuthæans.
But the real evidence appears to be focused on priest Manasseh. When Manasseh
left Jerusalem, he had a large following that left the Jerusalem precinct
splitting it into two divisions, a schism. This is the so-called Samaritan
schism. For those that do not understand, a schism
is a split or division between strongly opposed
sections or parties, caused by differences in opinion or belief. But is
it fair to call it a Samaritan schism, since it was the Judeans that spilt?
Evidently, it has been so! Oh, and yes there were people from Samaria and even
further north that supported Manasseh.
It is an interesting fact now that there were three main
sects, the Jews and Manasseh sect and the Shomronim (Samaritans as referred to
today). But, we also have another interesting fact, we have three different
Torahs, the Jewish Masoretic text, the Samaritan text and the Septuagint (LXX).
Samaritan
Chronicles mention the sectarian division of the Jews in an interesting section
from Abu’l Fath is found in John Bowman’s work, Samaritan Documents Relating to their History and Life, (The
Pickwick Press 1977) on page 123-124:
‘After
this Simeon, the King of the Jews, died -may God have no mercy upon him- and
there reigned after him ‘Arkiya, his son. In his reign there arose a quarrel
between the house of Ithamar and the house of Manasseh. The latter said to the
family of Ithamar: “Let us have a portion of the Meadow of al-Baha (Splendor).”
An adjudicator then arose who thought that he could satisfy them, but he did
not succeed at all, for he said: “Mount Gerizim belongs to you, and to them,
and to all Israel; Nablus belongs to the house of Ephraim alone; the Meadow of
al-Baha belongs to all the tribes; and the Roll of the Law belongs to all
Israel.’
The
remark of the house of Ithamar is a representation of the Jewish priesthood
that came through Eli, of the house of Ithamar, a son of Aaron. Then is the
reference of the house of Manasseh, this is clearly a testimonial to Manasseh,
son-in-law of Sanballat.
The
fate of the Jewish priest Manasseh and those like him is shown fully in Ezra,
chapter 9: 1-2 as a prescription of their separation from the Jewish worshipers
in Jerusalem.
Now when these things were
done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests,
and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands,
doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites,
the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and
the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for
their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of
those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this
trespass.
Ezra,
chapter 10 gives a long list of those that had
taken strange wives, wives that were not of Israel. Yet, justification, nor a
dispute is mentioned against the mixed blood of King Solomon is seen, or even
King David that married a Hittite woman (as described in Ezra), Solomon’s
mother. For the Jerusalem Temple was built my Solomon, who himself was a
sinner. Then in Nehemiah 13: 26-28
Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things?
yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God,
and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish
women cause to sin. Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great
evil, to transgress against our God in marrying strange wives?
And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of
Eliashib the high priest, was son in law to Sanballat the Horonite:
therefore I chased him from me.
Intermarriages from the period of Sanballat
between Jewish men and non-Jewish women may have been the origin of Jewish matrilineality mentioned in Jewish Talmud (Kiddushin 68b) and Mishnah (Kiddushin 3:12).
(Photos
right: Locations of the former Roman temple and meeting hall on Mount Gerizim)
The
questions that raise concern of the two sects that worshipped on Mount Gerizim,
the followers of Manasseh and the Shomronim are numerable. First, how did they
get along, since the Shomronim had the High Priesthood which one would think
that they would have opposed the sacrifices, especially since the tabernacle
was not there? Second, what exactly happened to the sect of Manasseh, were they
killed, relocated, or had the later merged with the Shomronim? How does this
affect the studies of the Samaritan Diaspora, could possibly some of these
places be people of the Manasseh sect? Third, what are the impacts of the MSS
that have been discovered that have Argarazim as one word that is being defined
as Samaritan?
The Samaritans (Shomronim) book written by Abu’l Fath found in the English
translation by John Bowman, Samaritan
Documents Relating to their History and Life, (The Pickwick Press 1977,
pages 121-122: describes an incident of a
Samaritan (Shomronim) priest of the line a Eleazar (who had nothing to do with
the Jewish (Manasseh) cult or any reformers that built the precinct on
Gerizim). It happened in the time of the high priest Amram, after the rule of
Hezekiah. Amram’s son took the daughter of King Darius for his wife. This marriage was not allowed by the laws that
Moses had given the Israelites, so the people killed Amram’s son, Darius’
daughter, their children and those that were with them when they came back to
the land of Israel. This is a very explicit section as recorded in Samaritan
history testifying that marrying foreign women was forbidden and therefore
these righteous people would not have been directly involved with the Jewish
reformers under Manasseh.
References connected the Jewish Simon and his
Jerusalem temple are anti towards the people that left Jerusalem, meaning to
the Manasseh cult. Jerusalem must have lost many people (possibly eight tribes)
to Manasseh and was a threat to the status of the Jerusalem temple, therefore
attacks were made in many ways and we have the evidence of this before us in
many different books.
Books with Anti- Samaritan polemic:
Ben Sira 50:25-26, Testament
of Levi, Kings 17; Chronicles; Ezra; Nehemiah; Psalms (especially 78); 2 Maccabees; the
Elephantine Papyri; the Mishnah; the Babylonian Talmud (Masseket Kutim);
Maryrium Isaiae; Paralipomena; Martyrdom of Isaiah; Jubilees; Liber
Antiquitatum biblicarum; 2 Baruch (also see Paralipomena Jeremiae); 1 Esdras;
etc, etc.
The Jewish Talmudic tractate, Kutim, says, ‘When shall we receive the
Samaritans? When they renounce Mount Gerizim and acknowledge Jerusalem and the
resurrection of the dead.’ Then there is the question also from the Kutim, ‘Why
are the Samaritans forbidden to marry into Israel? Because they mingled with
the priests of the high places.’ I believe King David married a woman that was
not of Israel origin, after he had her husband killed. And should not David
have married a virgin at that?
The Manasseh cult continued to grow, even drawing in the
outcast Jews of Jerusalem. Not only was Mount Gerizim a central, original
location, it had/has the history. This was opposing and threatening the Jewish
existence in Jerusalem. Therefore we see the real reason for the anti-Samaritan
polemics we find in so many sources. This
Samaritan Precinct on Mount Gerizim was finally destroyed by Jerusalem’s High
Priest John Hyrcanus around 110 B.C.E. apparently that had
lasted close to 200 years. The leaders, priests were killed, their books, their Chronicles
were all burnt; therefore we have no further evidence of the Manasseh sect
history. And after this the sectarians still must have had even stronger
feelings against Jerusalem and their priesthood. With the destruction of
Manasseh’s cult, this ended one of the major conflicts for the Jerusalem
priesthood.
Among the finds of Magen’s excavation was a small bell from what maybe
from a priestly garment of a High Priest. The Shomronim did not offer
sacrifices and also all that was holy, including the priestly garments and
breast plate were buried in the cave that was hidden to this day. They,
themselves would not have recreated what was holy, so the bell had to be from
Manasseh’s cult.
Further evidence is recorded in Samaritan
Chronicles of a story about Abed-El (fifth or
sixth century B.C.E) who started to build a Temple on the top of Mt.
Gerizim for sacrifices, and was stopped by God, who appeared to him in his
dream.
But an interesting note should be addressed from Bowman’s
book (mentioned above) on pages 133-5. The Samaritan Abu’l Fath tells us after
Hyrcanus destroyed the Gerizim precinct all pilgrimages to the mount was
stopped and therefore three sects branched off, namely Pharisees (Jews),
Sadducees and Hasidim. These were not any sect of the Shomronim. It appears at
different times Hyrcanus killed Sadducees and then Pharisees and then sided
with the Sadducees again. He then wanted to offer on Gerizim but was refused
from going up. I would have liked to read more but my sources are limited, I
wonder if Stenhouse’s work on Abu’l Fath has more information to offer, but I
do not have his work, yet.
So what became of the people of the cult of Manasseh? It
would appear if they were not killed, then they were dispersed but I believe
that there were still people that believed in the Sanctuary of Gerizim and
those that did in fact remain, followed under the Shomronim priests whereas
their priesthood continued despite Hyrcanus’ ruthlessness. Remember, there is
no name of a High Priest called Manasseh in the Samaritan chain of High
Priests. I have to believe that Hyrcanus knew of the Shomronim and most likely
at the time they were small in numbers and they only sacrificed the Passover
and the red heifer which discontinued in the 17th century.
Figure 1 Greek
inscription found on Gerizim see http://divdl.library.yale.edu/dl/OneItem.aspx?qc=Eikon&q=5559
Since there were 80 Greek inscriptions found during the Magen’s
excavations, it is very possible that the people of Delos were in fact were
part of Manasseh’s cult. The Delos inscription has been dated to
before the destruction of the Gerizim precinct. And if these Israelite people
spoke Greek, then of course they must have had a Greek translation of the
Torah. And considering that Delos was a trade route, then obviously these
people were most likely merchants who interacted with foreign traders from
shipping routes of the sea. Most likely these Israelites were originally from
the Mediterranean Sea coast of Israel, a bountiful land good for trading with
the Caesarea port before Herod the Great enlarged it in 22-10 BC or
at the bay in Acre.
It is also possible that reassessment should be made
concerning the fragments from Masada, Qumran (An Unknown Dead Sea Scrolls Fragment
of Deuteronomy by James H. Charlesworth) and the Egyptian fragment.
The Qumran manuscripts are said to be part of the Hasmonean
dynasty (between c. 140 BC and c. 116 BC) as was John Hyrcanus, the
person responsible for the destruction of the temple on Gerizim. Some of the
Qumran fragments resemble the Septuagint (as well as the Masoretic) with a 5% connection. There were also
so-called Pre-Samaritan texts discovered at Qumran.
I also located a book that is new to me, Qumran
Self-Identity: "Israel" or "Judah"? by John S. Bergsma, Brill 2008. The
abstract reads:
‘A careful analysis of the Qumran
"sectarian" texts reveals a consistent preference for
self-identification as "Israel" rather than "Judah." In
fact, they contain no unambiguous identifications of the community as
"Judah" or its members as "Judeans". Like most biblical
texts and unlike Josephus and the authors of 1–2 Maccabees, the Qumran
community does not equate Israelite with Judean. They regard themselves as the
vanguard of the eschatological restoration of the twelve tribes; for them, the
Judean state is not the sole heir of biblical Israel.’
Another book
that should also be read in relation to Qumran, is Qumran
and the Samaritans
by Thord and Maria Thordson, Ingarö T. Thordson, 1996. I was lucky to be
walking in Jerusalem passed a book story and seen the book in the window.
Anyway, the references concerning the people of Qumran and the kingdom of Israel
and the Samaritans is there. But I wonder, were any of these people from Qumran
part of the remnant of the Manasseh sect that fled after their temple was
destroyed by the Jewish High Priest John Hyrcanus in c. 110 B.C.E.
Other texts concerning a Messiah ben Joseph may attest to the
Manasseh cult as well as the Shomronim. Most Jewish texts praise a Messiah ben
David while speaking of a suffering Messiah ben Joseph. Also Jewish texts give
a Messiah ben Ephraim a lower status under Messiah ben David.
There are so many issues that have been brought up over the
years between Samaritans and Jews. The force of the problems appear to have
been the cause of the split between the people of Jerusalem, who had or may not
have had the majority of the children of Israel at the time.
What Torah version did the Manasseh sect have? If they had a
version like or exactly like the Samaritan where Gerizim is chosen, that would
appear to be a major threat to Jerusalem. If the people recognized this they of
course would have went to Gerizim where the Manasseh cult performed sacrifices.
This would reduce the pilgrimages to Jerusalem and would therefore be the
danger to an end. Even the Jews of Jerusalem would have questioned this unless
the Jewish Torah was changed at this time. Or maybe it was changed and the
people knew from their fathers that it was written wrong and questioned it.
There still remained those as the Shomronim that adhered to
their father’s faith. In later years, when the people in the land became
disoriented of the knowledge of Torah and many forced to worship idols during
the Roman occupation, a Shomronim priest named Baba Rabbah began building
synagogues around the country, drawing the people to learning Torah once again.
Among the people had to be also descendants of the cult of Manasseh, while
there were still Jews in the northern lands.
I think today, more than ever scholars are realizing the
importance of the Manasseh cult influence of anti-Samaritan polemics of the
past. Evidence has to be there, plainly obtained (which I am sure I have not
even come close) to conclude there were three different Torah observant sects,
The Jewish sect of Jerusalem, the Manasseh sect on Gerizim and the Shomronim
sect of Ephraim and Manasseh.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I googled coins of Samaria that featured the
Hardian’s Roman Temple on mount Gerizim. I could not positively locate any
coins that displayed a temple from the period of Hadrian. I am not saying that
there are no coins, just that I was unable located any, there may be.
Coin to the left: The earliest coin that I
found was from Antoninus Pius (Latin: Titus Fulvius Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius; born 19 September, 86 C.E. – died 7
March, 161 C.E), was Roman Emperor from 138 to 161
C.E. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoninus_Pius. This
was the time period of Justin the Martyr.
The building located right of the
temple is hard to recognize. There is a story concerning Baba Rabba found in John Bowman’s work, Samaritan Documents Relating to their
History and Life, (The Pickwick Press 1977) on page 151: “ ..and he will go
up to Mount Gerizim and cross to the synagogue, and by using guile break the
bird Talisman;” The synagogue English translation could mean knesset, a
gathering or meeting place, most likely for the Romans.
Just
a note that the building is Roman, the Israelites would never have built a
gabled roof on a holy structure.
The coin image to the right: Antonius August Pius
coin found in Numismatic
Illustrations of the Narrative Portions of the New Testament by John Yonge Akerman, London: J. R. Smith, 1846
and also in The People’s
Dictionary of the Bible by J.R.
Beard, Vol. I, Third edition, London: Simpkin, Marshall, 1850, p. 29.
Right: Neapolis, Marcus Aurelius (161-180 C.E), dated civic year 89 (161 C.E). Mount Gerizim, with staircase leading to temple).
There
appears to be a brief gap of c. 56 years after Aurelius between coinage
productions that bears the temple on Gerizim.
Elagabalus (Latin: Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus; c. 203 – 11 March 222), also known as Heliogabalus, was Roman Emperor from 218 to 222 C.E.
Coin
left: 36 Elagabalus. NEAPOLIS.
Roman Empire. Elagabalus. Struck in Neapolis.
Reverse:
Mt. Gerizim
Reverse:
Mt. Gerizim with Temple and shrines. Reverse legend: F. NEA(SPOL).
Flavia Neapolis.
(Coin to the right: Philip Sr.. 244-249 C.E. Radiate bust right/ Marayas on left,
stg right, eagle, wings spread, supporting Mt. Gerizim.)
What was really surprising was the good number of coins from
the period of Philip the Arab (Latin: Marcus Julius Philippus Augustus; c. 204 – 249 C.E), also known
as Philip or Philippus Arabs, was Roman
Emperor from 244 - 249
C.E. and his son Marcus Julius Philippus Severus, also
known as Philippus II, Philip II or Philip the Younger (238–249 C.E).
Apparently there were a few years when the father and son ruled together and
were both called Emperor or thereof. The number of Samarian coins differed in
their stamping. This period of basically five year seen an extra ordinary
minting of coins of various designs. A Roman eagle appears on most of the coins
with
Coin left: SAMARIA, Neapolis. Philip II. 247-249
AD.
Philip’s
coins display a variety of image under the Gerizim structure, an eagle, a man
with oxen, a ram, people or an his wife and son.
(Coin
to the right: Brass coin in the
British Museum, Dominis Nostris Philippis Augustis)
Trajan
Decius (Latin: Gaius Messius Quintus Decius Augustus; c. 201 – June
251 C.E.), was Roman
Emperor from 249 - 251 C.E. Decius does not appear to have any
coins minted with a structure on Gerizim.
Gallus’
coin (see below for coin from 251-253 C.E.) displays a small sized Gerizim
temple above other images. If Baba Raba
before the rule of Gallus, then either the Gerizim structure was either
undisturbed or rebuilt as the images still display the structure after Baba’s
death.
(Coin
above: Trebonianus Gallus (Latin: Gaius Vibius Afinius Trebonianus Gallus
Augustus; 206
– August 253), also known as Gallus, was Roman Emperor, 251 – 253 C.E. , in a joint rule with his son Volusianus. Volusianus (Latin: Gaius Vibius Volusianus Augustus; died August
253), also known as Volusian,
was a Roman
Emperor from 251 - 253
seceding Decius.)
(The
Volusian coin to the below also displays
buildings on either side of the steps, found opposite page 88 of James
Montgomery’s The Samaritans.)
If Philip the Arab was emperor reigned from 244-249 C.E the encounter
must have happened early in Philip’s reign, about 244-246, giving 3 or more
years to strike the coins. So Baba Rabbah’s death would have been before 248-9
C.E, since it is said that Philip mourned him.
Now
on page 88, King Gordianus (Gordian III (Latin: Marcus Antonius Gordianus Pius Augustus; was Roman Emperor from 238 to 244 C.E.) is
mentioned telling the Judeans to rebuild their temple (which was never
rebuilt). Then the Samaritan priest Levi, left for the cities of the Roman’s
(pg. 89-90) and returned 13 years later (p. 91). If we suppose that Gordian
died the same year that Levi left and add 13 years, we have 251-257 (238 C.E
+13 = 251 C.E to 244 +13 years = 257), the years do not add up to the time
period of the Philip kings (244-249). So there is a problem here. But since we
have Gordian and then both rulers, father and son (Philip emperors) with a date
to their end at 257 C.E. So Levi’s story has to be moved back a few years into
the reign of Severus Alexander.
But
this is just speculation on my part, but it would settle any misconceptions of
when Baba Rabbah lived!
Photo
below: A clay oil lamp with the stairs to the Roman temple, see full description. There is a gabled
building about half way up shown on the right which must represent the Roman
meeting hall.
The Palmyrene Empire (260–273) a splinter empire from the Roman Empire controlling Syria Palaestina may have been helpful to the people
in the land compared to the persecution of past Romans.
The
coins with the Gerizim structure appears to have stopped after Gallus. Thus it
may be concluded that the Roman temple that stood on Gerizim was destroyed some
years after Gallus. A church was later built in 475 CE on the site formerly of
the Roman temple and the Manasseh cult’s site.
This was the beginning of my
search but there are sights that you can search on your own like acsearch.info and http://numismatics.org/ and http://wildwinds.com
Also see Neokoroi:
Greek Cities and Roman Emperors
By Barbara Burrell section XIV. Syria
Palaestina, Chapter 36. Neapolis: in Samaria, Syria Palaestina, Brill Academic Pub. 2004. Pp 260-5.
From Mountain to Icon: Mount Gerizim
on Roman Provincial Coins from Neapolis, Samaria
By Jane DeRose Evans Near Eastern Archaeology, Vol. 74, No. 3 (September
2011), pp. 170-182
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the News
PHOTOS:
Ancient Rituals in the Land of the Bible
by Aviram Valdman Photographer at The Tower
Magazine
http://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/2014/06/samaritans-in-the-land/
Jewish
or Not, the Samaritans Celebrate Passover—But a Month Later
May 19, 2014 by Asya Pereltsvaig
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jacob Esh Shelabi Seal
A hard
covered book for sale, Notices
of the Modern Samaritans, Illustrated by Incidents in the Life of Jacob Esh
Shelabi Gathered from Him and Translated by Mr. E.T. Rogers, Published
by Sampson Low and Sons, London,
1855. But the real interesting issue is that there is the signature of the Jacob al-Shelaby and
his seal impressed in red sealing wax in the book. “Pencil ownership inscription on ffep of Mrs Cowper [not shown here]
21/9/55” That would be
1855. See the link. This is the first hard covered book of this title that I
have ever seen, but I would think there were a good many of them.
Fishburn Books Catalogue 1, Judaica, March 2002 also
describes on page 3, the Shelaby book, also of red cloth with an Arabic
signature of Jacob Shelaby, but does not mention a seal.
Right: And a color
Glass lantern slide of the Samaritan encampment during Passover photographed by
the American Colony sold on Ebay.com for GBP 26.78 (US $45.57).
Samaritans icon/sonic
opera by Yuval Avital
"A
Sky Classica documentary film in Italian & English (with Italian
sub-titles) of Avital's opera "Samsaritani" (Samaritans),
produced by MiTo SettembreMusica festival 2010, in Co-production of Magà Global
Arts Around The World, and In collaboration with LEAV - Ethnomusicology and
Visual Anthropology Laboratory, University of Milan.
The aim of the multimedia composition Samaritans
is to create a bridge between the musical and ritual tradition of one of the
most ancient peoples of the Mediterranean and contemporary music. Thus, it
tells us a story of great antiquity and modernity, of hope and fear, of fantasy
and everyday-life of the Samaritan people. Yuval Avital, following his
personal creative journey, explores emotions, archetypes and universal
structures by revisiting an ancient culture. Combining in this opera a
Samaritan choir of selected soloists from within the Samaritan community , an
ensemble of contemporary music soloists, live electronics, video, stage design
and theater, he shares with us the collective past of the Samaritans; their
individual present, and the sacred and mystical dimension of this unique
culture. Publication Date: Sep
2010 https://www.academia.edu/6420007/Samaritans_icon_sonic_opera
~~~
The Bialik Institute
Publications of Samaritan
Sale prices
The Morphosyntax of Samaritan Aramaic by
Christian Stadel
Samaritan Elegies, A Collection of Lamentations,
Admonitions, and Poems of praising God
by Moshe Florentin
Samaritan, Hebrew and Aramaic Studies Presented To
Professor Abraham Tal
Moshe
Bar-Asher and Moshe Florentin Editors
~~~~~~~
Biblio
Samaritan Self-Consciousness in the
First Half of the Second Century B.C.E. in Light of the Inscriptions from Mount
Gerizim and Delos by Magnar Kartveit in Journal for the Study of Judaism, June 2014
Samaritan Origins according to the
Paralipomena Jeremiae
by Pieter W. van der Horst in Studies in
Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity, pp. 161-172, 2014
Abu’l-Husan al—Suri’s Discourse on the
Rules of Leprosy in the Kitab al-Tabbakh, Rylands Samaritan Codex IX, by P.R. Weis. From the
"Bulletin of the John Rylands Library," Vol. 33, No. 1, September,
1950. See pages 131-137
The Secret of the Samaritan Calendar by Akaviah, A A 1950 In Hebrew
https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/jrul/item/?pid=uk-ac-man-scw:1m5065
The Astronomical Tables and Calendar
of the Samaritans by Robertson, E 1950 In Hebrew
https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/jrul/item/?pid=uk-ac-man-scw:1m5064
The Foolish Nation That Dwells in Shechem”: Ben Sira on Shechem and the
Other Peoples in Palestine by Matthew Goff.
Samaritans Caste: A History of Thousands of Years by Bassam Yousef Ibrahim Banat 2014
Which Bible, Whose Text? Biblical Theologies in Light of the Textual
History of the Hebrew Bible
By
Stefan Schorch [Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg]
“Bi-Directional Forced Deportations in the Neo-Assyrian Empire and the
Origins of the Samaritans: Colonialism and Hybridity” by Yigal Levin, Bar-Ilan University, Jewish History, Faculty
Member Archaeological
review from Cambridge, v. 28, no. 1 (2013), p. 217-240
Vocal Harmony in Samaritan Hebrew (in Hebrew) by Alexey (Eliyahu)
Yuditsky Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, Historical Dictionary Project, Faculty Member
Die
Samaritaner und die Judäer: Die biblische Diskussion um ihr Verhältnis in Josua
24 by
Regev, D., Greenfeld U., 2013. New
Finds From the Samaria-Sebaste Necroplis by Dalit Regev
2013
Eine Kultstätte auf dem Ebal? Josua 8,30-35 und der Streit mit Samaria um die Auslegung der Tora, ZDPV 129/1, 2013, 79-98. by
Dating
the Recension of the Samaritan Pentateuch as it Relates to4QpaleoExod: A
Brief Overview by David
Quinn Daniels
Abraham’s Path by
Christian Runkel. Amazon Digital
Services, Inc.
http://www.amazon.com/Abrahams-Path-Christian-Runkel-ebook/dp/B00CLIKTHI
Tannaitic
Israel and the Kutim
by
A Josephite Messiah
in 4Q372 by David C. Mitchell
2005
Hagarism, The Making
of the Islamic World by Patricia
Crone & Michael Cook 1977
Edward Robertson, “Law
and religion amongst the Samaritans” in Judaism and
Christianity. Volume 3: Law and religion / essays by J. Murphy. [et al.]; edited by Erwin I. J.
Rosenthal. Rosenthal, E. I. J. (Erwin Isak Jacob), (b. 1904,
ed.) Published by London: Sheldon Press, 1938
“Archaeological Aspects
of Samaritan Research in Israel.” By Shimon
Dar in Religious
Diversity in late Antiquity,
Edited by by David M.
Gwynn and Susanne Bangert, Brill,
2010, pp. 189- 198.
Ancient Synagogue Seating Capacities: Methodology,
Analysis & Limits by Chad S Spigel, Mohr Siebeck, Publication date: 9/19/2012, Series: Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism
Series, #149
The
Ancient Synagogue: The First Thousand Years, by Professor
Lee I. Levine, Yale University Press
(February 9, 2000)
Samarytanie W
Cesarstwie Rzymskim w Drugiej Polowie v Wieku by Rafal
Kosinski 2011
“Problems of Biblical Chronology and Historicity in the Light of the
Samaritan Chronicles,” Dr. Paul
Stenhouse, University of Sydney [Reference seen in The Michigan Daily- Oct. 4, 1991, page
2.]
Literary Development
of the Book of Joshua as Reflected in the MT, the LXX, and 4QJOSHA by Emanuel Tov 2012
Images of Joshua: The
Construction of memory in Cultural Identities by Zev
I. Farber, Dissertation 2013
A Silver-Plated
Samaritan Coin from Tel Dor by Yoav Farhi
2010
“A Note on a
Samarian Coin-Type”, Israel Numismatic Research 3, 2008, pp. 3-12 by
“Tiarate Heads on Samarian Coins”, INR 6/2011, pp. 3-19 by
Samaritan Communities on Mt. Carmel and Ramot Menashe by Shimon Dar in Knowledge and Wisdom, Archaeological and Historical Essays in Honour of Leah Di Segni 2014
http://www.edizioniterrasanta.it/etx/assets/pdf/Knowledge-and-Wisdom_ETS.pdf
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library
Finally at Your
Fingertips
The Leon Levy Dead Sea
Scrolls Digital Library offers an exceptional encounter with antiquity. Using
the world's most advanced imaging technology, the Digital Library preserves
thousands of scroll fragments, including the oldest known copies of biblical texts,
now accessible to the public for the first time. Start browsing now http://www.deadseascrolls.org.il/home
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Old
News
On the
Horizon: Passover on the Mountain 04.01.1953 - 12:00 AM |
Twenty-Five
hundred years ago the Samaritans embraced Judaism and at the same time cut
themselves off from the Jews. Today the surviving remnant of this people,
numbering only a few hundred, still maintain the religion and the rites which
for them have remained unchanged, and which justify to them their right to
consider themselves the true chosen of God. M. K. WANKOWICZ tells here of a
visit to the Samaritans in 1943, when Palestine was still under the British
Mandate, and of the impressive ancient ritual with which these men of antiquity
annually celebrate the Passover.
.. It is always windy on top of the mountain, and it was rather cold when I got there. I found Ben Zvi in the tent of the Samaritan high priest who presided over this miniature community.
.. Now the high priest of
the Samaritans, Ab-Chisda-ben-Yakov-Hakohen-la-adat-ha-Shomrim, arrived. He had
been called to this office on the death of his predecessor some weeks before my
visit. He was a man of perhaps fifty, of a fine build, and dressed in Arab
fashion. After exchanging greetings we went out of the tent. The karban,
the blood sacrifice, was about to begin.
Continue reading
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/on-the-horizon-passover-on-the-mountain/
Samaritans
Cling To Valued Scroll, by George W. Cornell, The Victoria Advocate, Ja.
13, 1962
Temple Ruins Found in
Jordan May Be Samaritans' Sanctuary
OCT. 28, 1964
CAMBRIDGE,
Mass., Oct. 27—Under the recently discovered ruins of a Roman temple in Jordan,
archaeologists have un‐covered the remains of another temple, which
may turn out Ito be the ancient sanctuary of the Samaritans.
The
twin finds were made in a mound, known as Tell el‐Ras, on Mount
Gerizim. The Samaritans, a dissident Jewish sect, held to the belief that God
had chosen Mount Gerizim for Israel's central shrine.
Accordingly,
the Samaritans built their shrine on the mount, and to the present, the Samaritans
Passover rites are observed there.
The
mount is part of the complex of ancient Shechem—now Jordanian Nablus—that has
been under archaeological investigation by United‐States
institutions since 1956.
The
expeditions, under the direction of Prof. G. Ernest Wright of Harvard University
Divinity School, are sponsored by Drew University in Madison, N. J., the
McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago and, since 1960, Harvard University.
The new
chapter in an account of Biblical times being pieced together in the field by
them may settle the long debated question of the location of the Samaritan
temple.
It has
been supposed that another peak of Mount Gerizim held the sanctuary, one
visited each Spring for ritual observance by modern Samaritans.
Schechem,
one of the first cities mentioned in the Bible, became the first capital of the
tribes of Israel, which, under Jeraboam I, revolted against Rehoboam, King
Solomon's son, and formed the Northern Kingdom of lsrael.
In the
fourth century B.C., Shechem became headquarters for the Samaritans. Permission
to build a temple on Mount Gerizim was secured from the reigning Persian King,
Darius III, and later reaffirmed by his successor, Alexander the Great.
The
temple and Shechem were destroyed in 128 B.C. by John Hyrcanus, high priest and
prince of the Jews, on the re‐fusal of the
Samaritans to be converted to Judaism.
The
Roman building on the site, built in Emperor Hadrian's reign, utilized some of
the fine masonry of the demolished temple. Greek in style, with columns about
three feet in diameter, the Roman temple rose from a foundation that, somewhat
smaller than its predecessor, measures about 45 by 72 feet.
Shechem
had become Neapolis, and coins minted there picture the temple—about 1,000
feet above—with a series of steps leading up to it, and shrines flanking the
steps.
Hadrian
dedicated the temple to Zeus Hypsistos, and had installed in it the bronze
doors of the temple at Jerusalem, which Titus had destroyed in the first
century.
http://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/28/temple-ruins-found-in-jordan-may-be-samaritans-sanctuary.html?_r=0
Digging the
Bible; Strife Not New to West Bank
Fifth of Six Parts
By Virginia Bortin, The
Times-News. Hendersonville, N.C. De. 22, 1978
Archaeologist
unearths copy of ancient temple
Beaver County Times, Apr. 14,
1995
~~
Should you wish to do your own
Newspaper research, try the Google link to hundreds of Newspapers http://news.google.com/newspapers
~~~~
Asiatische Studien : Zeitschrift der
Schweizerischen Asiengesellschaft
= Études asiatiques : revue de la
Société Suisse- Asie
(page 70) Art News1949
January to June
Excavations: Jerusalem. Dr. B. Maisler of the Hebrew
University has excavated the remains of the encampment of the 10th Roman Legion
occupying forces after the destruction of the temple. He has also discovered
the remains of a Samaritan synagogue of the fourth century A.D. containing a
large mosaic pavement with a Samaritan and two Greek inscriptions, and is now
excavating an Iron Age site at El Mirbeh.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The
Samaritan Update is open to any articles that are relative to Samaritan
Studies. Submit your work to the Editor. The
Editor
~~~~~~~
TheSamaritanUpdate.com, is a Bi-Monthly Internet Newsletter
Editor: Larry
Rynearson. Contact: The
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