“Mount
Gerizim,
All
the Days of Our Lives”
November / December 2018
Vol. XVIII - No 2
In This Issue ·
Anderson ·
Knoppers ·
Samaritan
Medal ·
Film ·
5
Shehadeh articles ·
Rediscovery
of Fragments ·
More
on the Collection ·
Auction ·
Scroll
lost in fire ·
Samaritans
Project ·
Youth
Program ·
Misc. ·
New Publications ·
Scroll ·
Biblio
2018, the Samaritan Community number 810.
Future Events
It has been 3657 years
since the entrance into the Holy Land which happened on the Sixth Month of the Hebrew
Year.
(Samaritan’s typical calendar)
2019
The Tenth Month 3657 - January 5, 2019
The Eleventh Month 3657 - February 4, 2019
The Twelfth Month 3657 - March 6, 2019
The First Month 3657 - April 4, 2019
Passover Sacrifice - April 18, 2019
~~~~~~~~
Professor Robert T. Anderson of
Michigan State University Has Passed
Professor
emeritus Robert
Theodore Anderson (1928-2018), from the Michigan State University, passed
away on December 20, 2018, in East Lansing, Michigan, at 90 years old. Anderson
was married to Elizabeth Lathrop Anderson for 67
years. Robert was the
father of David and Rondi Anderson, and the brother of Paul Anderson. He was
the grandfather of Shakti, Austin, and Ally Anderson.
(Image
left from the Lansing State Journal, 30 Jan. 1960, page 12)
(Image
below right from Lansing State Journal, 21 March, 1970 page 8.)
Anderson received his bachelor's degree at
Syracuse University and his doctoral and seminary degrees at Boston University.
He joined the MSU faculty in 1957 and in 1965 was an assistant professor of
religion. He served as Professor and Chairman of the Religious Studies
Department at Michigan State University beginning in
1970. From 1957 until 1998, he
taught courses on Biblical literature. His research focused on Samaritan texts,
and his books include Studies in Samaritan Manuscripts and Artifacts and The
Samaritan Pentateuch (with Terry Giles).
In
2008, a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities was given for the MSU’s
Writing in Digital Environments Research Center to digitize 20 pages
from two of MSU Libraries’ three Israelite Samaritan Pentateuchs.’ Robert Anderson
was on the advisory Committee.
Anderson
wrote many research articles, but the highlight of his studies were his books
on the Samaritans and studies. Anderson wrote Studies in Samaritan
Manuscripts and Artifacts--The Chamberlain-Warren Collection and he co-wrote with Terry Giles, The
Keepers, Tradition
Kept and The
Samaritan Pentateuch. He wrote the well-known articles, The Museum
Trail: Michigan State University Samaritan Collection in The Biblical
Archaeologist, March, 1984 and The Elusive
Samaritan Temple in The Biblical
Archaeologist June, 1991, pp.
104-107.
From 2003 to 2010, Prof. Anderson worked with Samaritan Benyamim Tsedaka on the
Samaritan Collection. Professor Anderson for his contribution to the world on
Samaritan research received the Samaritan Medal for Academic Achievement in
2010, in a special ceremony, given from the hands of Benyamim Tsedaka.
Sign the guest book and leave your message: Obituary
Rest
in peace. We thank you and will remember you, for what we have learnt from
you!!!
Photo right: Professor Anderson and Benyamim Tsedaka in Michigan in 2004.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gary Knoppers of Notre Dame has
Passed Away
Gerald Neil Knoppers 62, (1956-2018) passed away
on Saturday, December 22, 2018 from pancreatic cancer.
He wrote a number of books and articles, yet he will be
remembered for his Samaritan studies, including his book, Jews
and Samaritans: The Origins and History of Their Early Relations (Oxford University Press,
2013)
Gary
is survived by his wife and partner, Laura; his children, Theresa “Teres” and
David; brothers and sisters, Jake (Jocelyne), Annelies, Bastian (Joan), Bartha
(Daniel), and Nick (Joanne); sisters- and brothers-in-law, Marilee, Tim
(Melinda), Naomi (Brad), Joel, Sara (Dan), and Marcia (Kevin); and many nieces
and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, Nicolaas and Barthie
Knoppers.
Obituary
at the W.
F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research
~~~~~~~~~~
Samaritan Medal given to Minister Ze'ev Elkin
On Tuesday, December 11 2018, an impressive ceremony was held in the presence
of guests and the body of the Samaritan community.
The Samaritan Medal Foundation was founded in Washington, D.C. in 2005. Every
year, the foundation awards a medal for prominent activists in the Middle East
and in the world concerning peace, humanity and Samaritan studies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jerusalem
Jewish Film Festival 2018
Monday
03.12.18 20:30 at the Cinematheque 2 Samaritan
France 2018 | 52 minutes | Arabic, Hebrew, English | Hebrew,
Arabic subtitles
Samaritans
are a unique minority in the Middle East. With stand-alone religious status in
Israel, the Samaritans are the world’s only holders of Israeli-Palestinian dual
nationality. Located in the in the West Bank’s Mount Gerezim and in close
proximity to the city of Nablus, today’s Samaritan community has only 780
members left, and is currently on the verge of extinction. Julien Menanteau’s
gentle and perceptive camera succeeds in capturing a unique people and culture,
a minority torn apart by its paradoxical identity, seeking to form a bridge
between Israelis and Palestinians.
Dir.: Julienne Menanteau Prod.:
Maud Huynh Source: Gloria Films, Paris
~~~~~~~~~~~~
5 Articles
from Heseeb Shehadeh
Continue
Reading at https://shomron0.tripod.com/articles/a_demon_who_became_a_slave.pdf
Continue
Reading at https://shomron0.tripod.com/articles/God_main_profession.pdf
Continue Reading at https://shomron0.tripod.com/articles/priest_Isaac_visits_theater_in_london.pdf
Continue
Reading at https://shomron0.tripod.com/articles/the_miracle_of_the_walls_hyssop.pdf
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Rediscovery of Donated Samaritan
Fragments to the Congregational Library in Boston
Researched by the Editor of the Samaritan Update
I n September, I had sent an email to Robert Anderson of Michigan
State University concerning the Samaritan Chamberlian-Warren collection. His
wife of 67 years, Elizabeth Anderson (image left) wrote back and informed me, ‘This summer the local United Church of Christ Conference
Minister, Campbell Lovett, wrote us that a library has several single pages
from unidentifiable Samaritan Scrolls.’
http://www.congregationallibrary.org/
Thank
you Elizabeth Anderson and Campbell Lovett for sharing this interesting information.
Tom
Clark (image left) replied with an email with a contact of Sara Trotta.
‘During our inventory of the Pratt collection
earlier this year, my assistant Brittnee discovered the two fragments taped
into the back of Pratt's personally illuminated Old and New Testaments. We knew
these fragments had been part of Pratt's collection.
The 2 leaves of the Samaritan Pentateuch were taped into the back
of the old testament with this caption: "Fragment of Samaritan Pentateuch
Numbers 28:16, 32:23 to 42. It is supposedly be 800 or 900 years old [13th
or 14th c.]". This is the fragments discussed in the article by
Isaac Hall in one of Pratt's scrapbooks. The second fragment is
significantly smaller, found taped in the New Testament, yet not Samaritan.”
The Samaritan fragments are identified with the number library
reference Pratt- MS4353.S1, and are currently
displayed in the collection in the Pratt Room, named for him in 1899.
There are a total of 4 pages (bifolio)
on parchment. On the first folio is Numbers 27:23a- 28:8 and 28:8-15. The
second folio is Numbers 32:23-31 and 32:32 -42.
The folios are approximately 3.5” (88.9 mm) wide x 4.5” (114.3 mm)
tall with the written area of 3” (78 mm) high x 2.5” (65 mm) wide. The
dimensions correspond with the written record in the following book by Sereno Brainard Pratt in the description of the fragments on page 5 of
The
image to the left is the Samaritan fragment with the section of Numbers 32:23-31.
Samaritan
Benyamim Tsedaka informs us that ‘Since it is written on parchment it
could not be later than the 16th century.’
Prof. Dr. Stefan Schorch
of Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg
says: ‘It is clear that the leaves once belonged to one of the small scale
Torah codexes (an exemplar of the same type from the Valmadonna collection [Samaritan
Pentateuch (Arhuta Kadishta] was sold by Sotheby's in New York
2015). Manuscripts of this type were mostly written in the 14th century.’
Image to the right is the card found in the book identifying the
Samaritan fragments.
William Hayes Ward is said to have obtained the fragments from a Jew who
purchased it in Jerusalem, fifty or so years before the article was written. No
evidence has been found yet as to who the Jewish man was that sold the
fragments.
If you wish to study the fragments, in the S. Brainard
Pratt Collection, please contact Tom
Clark (tclark@14beacon.org).
More on the Collection
There is mention of the gift to the library by Pratt in the Amherst
Graduates‘ Quarterly on page 274, No. 45, Nov. 1922.
Pratt
was a prolific collector of Bibles and religious artifacts. We have a scroll in
Hebrew of the Book of Ecclesiastes. This scroll is primarily made of wood and
parchment. The scroll was procured for Pratt through the U.S. Consulate in
Jerusalem.
It also says that Turnbull purchased a roll of Genesis (most
likely Jewish) from M.W. Shapiri’s Jerusalem shop. Shapiri was a business friend of Jacob
Shellaby, known for selling manuscripts and at least one known fake. This is
likely the source of the fragments in the Pratt collection.
But there is a problem with the name Rev. H.C. Turnbull, It is
believed that the name was transcribed incorrectly and the name should have
read Rev. H.C. Trumbull. Trumbull was Rev. Henry Clay
Trumbull (1830-1903), author and editor of the Sunday School
Times. Trumbull had visited Palestine in 1881 and wrote Studies in
Oriental Life And Gleans from the East on the Sacred Page
(Phil. 1894). While there is watched and recorded the Samaritan Passover while
meeting the Samaritan High Priest Jacob. There is no written evidence that he
obtained a Samaritan fragment at that time, but it is possible.
Rev. Dr. Selah Merrill and Rev. H.C. Turnbull appears to have made
purchases for Pratt, according to a newspaper article in The Inter Ocean (Chicago, Cook, Illinois) 1 March 1890 (Saturday)
with the title ‘Bibles of All Ages.’
Sereno Brainard Pratt (1826-1903) was born in
Westmoreland, New York. He was the son of Rufus Pratt (1827-1903) and Bethiah
(Loring) Pratt. Rufus’ brother was Parsons Stewart Pratt. Sereno married Ellen, of Ipswich on Jan. 16,
1866.
Pratt was a local businessman, owner of S. Brainard
Pratt & Co., knit goods manufacturers, and Pratt, Porter & Co. He was founder
and president of the Bible Illuminators’ Guild, library director of the
American Congregational Association (1881-1899) and avid collector of 300 Bibles
and biblical literature. He was also
a member of the New-England Historic Genealogical Society, member of the General
Association of the Congregational Churches of Massachusetts (served on committees).
William Hayes Ward (June 25, 1835 - August 29, 1916) was an American clergyman, editor, and Orientalist,
born at Abington, Mass.
He graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover, in 1852, Amherst
College in 1856, and the Andover Theological Seminary in 1859.
He served as pastor of
a church at Oskaloosa, Kans. in 1859-60, and as
professor of Latin at Ripon College in Wisconsin(1865–68).
He joined the editorial staff of the New York Independent in
1868 and remained with the Independent thereafter, rising by
degrees to editor in chief (1896–1913), and then honorary editor. He directed
the Wolfe Expedition to Babylonia (1884–85) and was twice president of
the American Oriental Society (1890–94 and 1909–10).
See a fuller bio here. Link
Ward let Hall examine and write on the fragments
Isaac Hollister Hall (December 12, 1837 – July 2, 1896) was
an American Orientalist.
He
was born in Norwalk, Connecticut. He
graduated at Hamilton College in
1859, was a tutor there in 1859–1863, graduated from Columbia Law School in 1865, practiced law in New
York City until 1875, and, during 1875–1877, taught in the Syrian
Protestant College at Beirut (there in 1876-77),
where he discovered a valuable Syriac manuscript
of the Philoxenian version of a
large part of the New Testament, which
he published in part in facsimile in 1884.
He
worked with Diplomat / General Luigi Palma di
Cesnola (1832-1904) in classifying the famous Cypriote collection
in the Metropolitan Museum of New
York City, and was a curator of
that museum from 1885 until his death in Mount
Vernon, New York, on 2 July 1896. Hall was vice-President and Director
of the American Oriental Society.
Hall,
Isaac H. #2078 On
a Manuscript Fragment of the Samaritan Pentateuch, Journal of the American Oriental Society,
Volume 11 Number 1. New Haven: For the American Oriental Society, Printed by
Tuttle, Morkhouse & Taylor 1882 Committee of Publication Of the American
Oriental Society For the Years 1880-82. by Prof. Isaac H. Hall, of Philadelphia; presented by Prof. Toy.
An interesting notice: Isaac H. Hall, William
H. Ward and H.C. Trumbull were all members of the American Oriental
Association. Also, H.C. Trumbull and Selah Merrill (also connected with
Samaritan MMS) were both army chaplains during the US Civil War.
In the article ‘On a Manuscript Fragment of the
Samaritan Pentateuch, by Prof. Isaac H. Hall, of Philadelphia; presented by
Prof. Toy.’
‘Some days ago, through the kind
offices of Rev. Dr. W. Hayes Ward, I came into possession of a parchment folio,
or pair of leaves, written in the Samaritan character, quite old, and somewhat
obscure. It was obtained from a Jew, who stated that he brought it from
Jerusalem fifty years ago.’
See the article for The
Congregationalist and Christian World, Saturday, 29 August 1908, Vol. 88, no. 35, p. 294
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lot 39
Dreweatts Auctions
LEAF FROM A BIBLE (PENTATEUCH), IN SAMARITAN, FROM A MANUSCRIPT CODEX ON
PARCHMENT [ISRAEL (PERHAPS MOUNT NABLUS), PROBABLY THIRTEENTH OR FOURTEENTH
CENTURY]
ESTIMATE £8000 -
£12000 + FEES
[did not sell]
Leaf from a Bible
(Pentateuch), in Samaritan, from a
manuscript codex on parchment [Israel (perhaps Mount Nablus), probably
thirteenth or fourteenth century]
Samaritan is one
of the very rarest of Biblical scripts. The Samaritans themselves broke away
from the religious practices that would later crystallise into Judaism, some
two and a half millennia ago. The historical writings of the Samaritans claim
that they are descended from the Northern Israelite tribes of Ephraim and
Manasseh, who after the twelve tribes of Israel conquered the land of Canaan,
split from this group to follow a priest named Eli who established a tabernacle
on Mount Gerizim separate from that erected by Moses in the desert.
Archaeological excavations at Mount Gerizim indicate that a Samaritan temple
was built there c. 330 BC. as a rival to that in Jerusalem, and the
schism was certainly complete by the end of that century. The mountain of
Gerizim in Israel is still home to the surviving adherents of the sect, now
less than a thousand in number, and the mountain continues to be central to
their worship and beliefs.
Like the Jews,
the Samaritans venerate the Torah, but with a text with many textual variants
from the Masoretic one. The Dead Sea Scrolls bear witness to the existence of
at least three textual Pentateuch traditions in these centuries, and that now
seen in the Samaritan Pentateuch broke away from the other traditions in the
Hasmonean period (second century BC). This recension differs on numerous
occasions from the Masoretic text, and interestingly, in approximately two
thousand of these instances the Septuagint agrees with the Samaritan text, not
the Masoretic one. Samaritan script itself is directly derived from the
paleo-Hebrew alphabet used in the days of the First Temple, and the decisive
break between it and modern Hebrew happened by the end of the Bar Kokhba revolt
in 135 AD.
As is suggested
by the lowliness of the Good Samaritan in Christ’s parable, the subsequent
history of the Samaritans is mainly one of persecution. They suffered under
Roman rule as Samaria fell under Judean control, endured massacres and mass
enslavements under the Byzantines, and Mamluk invasion of some of their sacred
lands. By 1300 the numbers of the Samaritan community appear to have dwindled
to about a thousand people in the city of Nablus at the foot of Mount Gezarim.
Paradoxically, it was this period when they faced near-extinction that saw
intense religious and literary activity.
They are of great
rarity on the market, with recent examples in Sothebys, 29 June 2007, lot 31
(parallel Hebrew-Arabic Pentateuch codex in Samaritan script, dated 1504; sold
for £81,600), the Schøyen sale, 10 July 2012, lot 13 (two bifolio with
Leviticus, probably of late twelfth century; est. £15,000-20,000), Sothebys,
New York Judaica sale, 19 December 2007, lot 124 (fourteenth-century codex of
Homilies and Sermons, with some written in Paleo-Hebrew/Samaritan; sold
$25,000); and most recently the Valmadonna Sale, 22 December 2015, lot 1
(mid-twelfth-century Torah Scroll in Samaritan script; sold $162,500), and lot
2 (fifteenth-century Pentateuch codex; sold $87,500); and only a tiny handful
remain in private hands.
https://www.dreweatts.com/auctions/lot-details/?saleId=14139&lotId=39
A Note Concerning this Fragment:
~~~~~~~~~~~~
BL
Hebrew Project
Published
#HebrewProject Phase 2: Dec. 17
Or 10245, 19th
century Samaritan Targum of Genesis
Image
right
http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Or_10245
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Samaritan
Scroll lost in Fire in 1930
A
Samaritan scroll was said to have been in the Oriental Library of St.
Bonaventure College when it was destroyed by fire on May 5th, 1930.
The fire started apparently from defective electrical wiring.
Rev.
Thomas Plassmann, president of the College told the reporter of The Olean
Evening Times, Friday, August 22, 1930, on page eleven;
‘Next in value, perhaps, was a manuscript scroll containing the
entire book of Genesis, in Samaritan script. Father Thomas obtained this scroll
from the high priest of the Samaritans in their holy city of Nablus, which is
the ancient Schechem. The manuscript was copied from the original the famous
Codex Samaritanus, by the son of the high priest, especially for Father Thomas.
The Codex Samaritanus is preserved with great care and regarded with deep
religious devotion by the Samaritans, and the scroll lost in the fire was
probably the only one of its kind in America.’
The
College is now ST. BONAVENTURE UNIVERSITY, 3261 West State Road, St.
Bonaventure, NY 14778
To
confirm that this was a Samaritan scroll, a search of old newspaper articles
find the following;
‘Interspersing the general thread of discourse were enjoyable
personal incidents related by Father Plassmann, as when he described his visit
to the village of descendants of the ancient Samaria, kin to the woman with
whom ….. to hold converse at the well.’ In the article ‘Father Plassmann’s
Third Lecture’ from Catholic Union and
Times (Buffalo, New York) 03 Feb 1916 Thu page 1.
This
is the only evidence that I was able to locate or confirm, but it appears that
when Thomas Plassmann (1879-1959) was young, he may well have visited the
Samaritans before 1915. After reading a brief bio, it is hard to believe he had
time to visit the Holy Land.
https://hnp.org/who-we-are/our-friars/provincial-ministers/fr-thomas-plassmann-ofm/
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/70824277/thomas-plassmann
~~~~~~~~~~~~
[Photographic reproduction of a roll of the Samaritan Pentateuch].
Uniform title Bible.
Pentateuch. Samaritan. Ms. 1000.
Description: 1 online resource (127 columns on 43 leaves)
Series: University of Chicago Digital Preservation
Collection.
Subject: Manuscripts, Samaritan.
Format E-Resource, Book
URL for this record http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/11401376
According to F. v. Gall, Der hebräische Pentateuch der
Samaritaner, p. xcii, the ms. is hardly older than the fifteenth century.
Open access Unrestricted online access
Electronic reproduction. Chicago : University of
Chicago Library, [2018] (University of Chicago Digital Preservation Collection)
Master and use copy. Digital Master created
according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and
Serials. Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002 http://www.diglib.org/standards/bmarkfin.htm
digitized 2018 University of Chicago Library
committed to preserve
See
the scroll here. http://storage.lib.uchicago.edu/pres/2018/pres2018-0003.pdf
Download
available at link
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Center for Israel Studies--Israelite Samaritans Project
The YU
Israelite Samaritans Project Has Begun!
The Israelite Samaritans Project of the Yeshiva
University Center for Israel
Studies will culminate in a major Hebrew language
documentary, a travelling exhibition developed with Yeshiva
University Museum (opening Spring, 2021),
conferences, commentaries, courses and student field work with the Samaritans.
The first two events of this international
collaboration took place at the University in November, 2018. On Tuesday,
November 13, Benyamim Tsedeka, director of A-B Center for Samaritan Studies in
Holon, Israel, spoke on the history and traditions of the Samaritans in Gottesman
Library, where he spoke about the traditions
of these descendants of the northern tribes of Israel and their connection to
manuscripts housed in the library’s Special Collections.
Continue reading https://www.yu.edu/cis/samaritans-project
See more details at https://www.noa-international.com/the-samaritans
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Youth
Program in Jericho: The Youth of a Nation are the Trustees of Prosperity
Wednesday, 26 September 2018
Written by Mohamad Jamous, Palestinian Director
Our meeting today was one of the most beautiful meetings in the
West Bank because of the very important presence of the youth groups that came
from many different cities in the West Bank.
Among the guests who came to the meeting were:
Ehab
Tal and Yakob al-Kahen from the Samaritan community in Nablus
Jeries Awwad, the patron of the Latin Church in Bethlehem
Makram Rubel, Director of the Christian denomination Association
(Love Does Not Fall) in Egypt
Ziad Sabatin, Director of Youth Groups for Peace in Bethlehem
Sheikh Abdul Salam al-Manasra, the Sheikh of the Qadiri order in
the Holy Land
Read the full article: https://www.abrahamicreunion.org/youth-program-in-jericho-the-youth-of-a-nation-are-the-trustees-of-posterity/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Image from
Jac Samri (Facebook) Nov. 21, 2018
1920-2018, we return after almost a hundred years to the
remains of the oldest Samaritan synagogue in the city of Nablus, and the
question is why it is in neglect and why leave such a place without any rehabilitation
and maintenance?
~~~~~~~~~~~
New Articles:
Greek
Loanwords in Samaritan Aramaic
Authors: Christian Stadel 1 and Mor Shemesh 1
Online
Publication Date: 19 Nov 2018
Volume/Issue: Volume 16: Issue 2
Abstract:
For the first time, we provide a comprehensive and annotated list of 74
certain, likely, and possible Greek loanwords in Samaritan Aramaic, paying due
attention to the variegated distribution of the loans in the different textual
genres and chronological stages of the dialect. Greek loanwords in Jewish and
Christian Palestinian Aramaic as well as Rabbinic Hebrew are compared
throughout. The study provides insights into the contact situation of Greek and
Samaritan Aramaic in Late Antique Palestine. An appendix contains short
discussions of 22 additional lexical items for which a Greek etymon has been
proposed erroneously.
Legal
Innovation in the Samaritan Pentateuch’s Covenant Code
in The
Authority of Law in the Hebrew Bible and Early Judaism 11 Sep 2018 Vol: 187
Author: Jonathan Vroom
https://brill.com/view/book/9789004381643/BP000015.xml
[PDF] Mas1o Papyrus Paleo Fragment ("
Mount Gerizim")
EJ Wilson, DK Geilman - scholarsarchive.byu.edu
Das jhwh -Heiligtum am Garizim: ein archäologischer Befund und
seine literar- und theologiegeschichtliche Einordnung
Author: Benedikt
Hensel Affiliation: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Edition/Format: Article
Publication: Vetus Testamentum, v68 n1 (2018112): 73-93
Summary: No later than the midst of the 5th century the
recently discovered sanctuary on Mt.Gerizim was the cultic center of the
Samarian Yhwh -worshippers, later known as the Samaritans. The sanctuary was in
every way comparable to its counterpart in Jerusalem. The author investigates
the question why there is so little mentioning of the sanctuary in the Bible at
all; only the location “Mount Gerizim” is mentioned a few times in the Tora.
Albeit its obvious absence in the texts, there seem to be several, enciphered
mentions of the Samaria sanctuary in the later part of the (Judean) canon
(Ketubim and Nebi’im). Altogether they criticize the cult on Mt.Gerizim in this
very indirect way. The author explores the texts 2 Kön 17,24-41 and 2 Chr
13 as examples for this enciphering and outlines the character of these
polemics and the ideological-theological interest of the Judean authors.
La Samarie, la Diaspora et l'achèvement de la Torah:
Territorialités et internationalités dans l'Hexateuque
Author: Nocquet, Dany
R
Publisher: Academic Press / Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2017
Edition/Format: Downloadable archival material : French
Summary: L’ouvrage propose une enquête sur les
représentations de la territorialité en dehors de la Judée et
sur les relations avec les peuples entourant Israël. Les mentions de
Sichem, Béthel, des territoires de la Transjordanie, d’Edom, de la
Philistie et d’Égypte y sont étudiées attentivement. Cette
recherche conduit au constat d’une représentation largement positive de
ces territoires et de ces peuples depuis la Genèse jusqu’à
Josué. Ces présentations xénophiles et reconnaissantes des
autres populations et pays voisins proviennent de milieux producteurs
liés aux communautés yahwistes de Samarie ainsi que de la Diaspora
de la fin de l’époque perse et du début de la période
hellénistique. Prenant en compte les données archéologiques,
et en particulier la présence sur le mont Garizim d’un temple yahwiste de
la fin du 5ème siècle av. J.-C., l’étude mesure les
conséquences littéraires et historiques qu’impliquent de telles
représentations pour les notions de pays promis, d’élection, et
pour l’achèvement de la Torah.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Holy
Land Digital Image Collections at Penn Libraries
“Palestine Exploration Fund No. 222" ; also "P.E.F. No.
222 Catalogue p.[60]
~~~~~~~
New Publications:
Samaritan
Pentateuch Manuscripts, Two First-Hand Accounts
Series:
Analecta Gorgiana
By
Scott W. Watson
Aims
and Scope: The three essays in this volume address the physical, historical and
literary features of what were at the time two of the very earliest clearly
datable manuscripts of the Pentateuch known to exist.
Gorgias
Press
To
be published: January 2019
ISBN
978-1-4632-1480-7
Details:
59 pages
Language:
English
https://www.degruyter.com/view/product/516449?rskey=0jp6uk&result=8
GORGIAS
PRESS
Routledge
Handbook of Minorities in the Middle East
London:
Routledge July 1, 2018
Chapter
17, by Monika Schreiber, p. 225-239
Abstract:
The Samaritans, an ethno-religious
group with roots in antiquity, represent the smallest religious minority in the
modern Middle East, with overall population numbers ranging below 800 at the
time of this writing. At present, they dwell exclusively in two demarcated
residential centers: on their sanctuary Mount Gerizim right above the
Palestinian town of Nablus, which has been their traditional hometown until the
outbreak of the First Intifada in 1987, and in Holon, a former “development
town” on the southern edge of the Tel Aviv area in Israel, where a separate
Samaritan neighborhood was founded in the early 1950s. Regarding language and a
wide array of social values, food preferences, and other everyday habits, the
Nablus Samaritans are clearly an Arab society. The Holon Samaritans, on the
other hand, speak Modern Israeli Hebrew and have absorbed much of the daily
culture of Israel. Generally though, the linguistic-cultural distinction
between the two halves of the community is not easy to draw. The Holonites have
preserved a great deal of their Arab cultural legacy, while most Samaritans of
Nablus, owing to the community’s close political ties with Israel, are well
familiar with modern Israeli culture (Figure 17.1).
Ed.
By Jan Dusek
Series:
Studia Samaritana 11 Studia Judaica 110
Oct. 2018
xiv, 341 pages
20 Fig.
Language: English
Aims and Scope
The volume contributes to the knowledge of the Samaritan
history, culture and linguistics. Specialists of various fields of research
bring a new look on the topics related to the Samaritans and the Hebrew and
Arabic written sources, to the Samaritan history in the Roman-Byzantine period
as well as to the contemporary issues of the Samaritan community.
by
Stefan Schorch (Editor)
A
critical edition of the Samaritan Pentateuch is one of the most urgent
desiderata of Hebrew Bible research. The present volume on Leviticus is the
first out of a series of five meant to fill this gap. The text from the oldest
manuscripts of the SP is continuously accompanied by comparative readings,
gathered from the Samaritan Targum and the oral reading, as well as MT, the
DSS, and the LXX, creating an indispensable resource for Biblical research.
Print
Length: 251 pages
Publisher:
De Gruyter
Publication
Date: July 2018
Language:
English, Hebrew
Series:
Studia Samaritana 10 Ed.
by
Kartveit, Magnar / Knoppers, Gary N.
Aims
and Scope: Discoveries on Mount Gerizim and in Qumran demonstrate that the
final editing of the Hebrew Bible coincides with the emergence of the
Samaritans as one of the different types of Judaisms from the last centuries
BCE. This book discusses this new scholarly situation. Scholars working with
the Bible, especially the Pentateuch, and experts on the Samaritans approach
the topic from the vantage point of their respective fields of expertise.
Earlier, scholars who worked with Old Testament/Hebrew Bible studies mostly
could TheSamaritanUpdate.com May / June 2018 16 leave the Samaritan material to
experts in that area of research, and scholars studying the Samaritan material
needed only sporadically to engage in Biblical studies. This is no longer the case:
the pre-Samaritan texts from Qumran and the results from the excavations on
Mount Gerizim have created an area of study common to the previously separated
fields of research. Scholars coming from different directions meet in this new
area, and realize that they work on the same questions and with much common
material. This volume presents the current state of scholarship in this area
and the effects these recent discoveries have for an understanding of this
important epoch in the development of the Bible.
Publication
Date: July 2018, 214 pages English
Books by
Benyamim Tsedaka
A Complete Commentary on the Torah
We
are pleased to announce that A.B. Institute of Samaritan Studies is completing
preparations for the publication of my fourth major life project, A
Complete Commentary On The Torah, based on the Israelite Samaritan
Version of the Torah as it has been delivered for the past 125 generations,
since it was originally written by Mooshee Ban ’Aamraam [Moses ben ‘Amram] the
Prophet of all prophets.
Understanding
the Israelite-Samaritans
See
his selection of Samaritan writings
https://www.israelite-samaritans.com/books/
Also
Subscribe to the A.B. The Samaritan News
See
details at https://www.israelite-samaritans.com/samaritan-newspaper/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Samaritan
Torah Scroll at the Museum of the Bible
Collection
ID SCR.004821
Type Scroll
Date ca. 1160
Geography
Nablus
Language
Samaritan Hebrew
Medium Parchment, ink
Dimensions
14 × 220 in. (35.6 × 558.8 cm)
Description:
For over 2,500 years the Samaritans, a Jewish sect that emerged in the Second
Temple Period, have revered the Torah. In fact, the Torah (or Pentateuch) is
the only part of the Jewish scriptures that Samaritans use for worship. This
scroll was likely written by the scribe Shalmah Ben Abraham around 1160 in
Nablus, where many Samaritans still live. It contains Genesis 1:1–Exodus 9:35 in
the Samaritan script and is one of the oldest surviving Torah scrolls from the
Samaritan religious tradition.
Provenance:
Created in Israel ca. 1160 by Shalmah Ben Abraham.[1] Acquired between ca. 1918
and ca. 1932 by David Solomon Sassoon;[2] By descent in 1942 to his son Solomon
David Sassoon; Purchased at auction in 1984 by the Valmadonna Trust Library
(Jack V. Lunzer);[3] Purchased at auction in 2015 by the Green Collection,
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma;[4] Donated in 2017 to National Christian Foundation
(later The Signatry) under the curatorial care of Museum of the Bible.
Notes:
[1] While there is no surviving scribal colophon for this scroll, Samaritan
scholar Stefan Schorch has matched this script with another surviving Samaritan
scroll containing an embedded colophon with the name of the scribe Shalmah Ben
Abraham (The Valmadonna Trust Library sale, Sotheby’s New York, 22 December
2015, Lot 1). [2] Though the exact date of acquisition is unknown, we can
determine an approximate date of purchase between 1918 and 1932. In the preface
of his catalog “Ohel Dawid,” David Sassoon mentions that he acquired a majority
of his manuscripts after World War I. Also, since it is present in the catalog,
we know he acquired the scroll before it was published in 1932 (“Ohel Dawid”
1:xii and “Ohel Dawid,” no. 734, 2:603). [3] The David Solomon Sassoon sale,
Sotheby's New York, 4 December 1984, Lot 94. [4] The Valmadonna Trust Library
sale, Sotheby’s New York, 22 December 2015, Lot 1.
Selected
References:
David Stern, "The Jewish Bible: A Material History" (Seattle:
University of Washington Press, 2017).
David Solomon Sassoon, "Ohel Dawid, Descriptive Catalogue of the Hebrew
and Samaritan Manuscripts," vol. 2 (London: Oxford University Press,
1932).
https://www.museumofthebible.org/collections/artifacts/32221-samaritan-torah-scroll
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Call
For Papers 2019 International Meeting Rome Italy
BIBLICAL CHARACTERS IN THREE TRADITIONS (JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY,
ISLAM)
Zohar Hadromi-Allouche
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—foregrounded in the academic study of the treatment of characters
across texts and traditions—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: Animals have been part of the religious landscape
of the Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions since the very beginning.
However, the humanimal relationship can take a variety of forms. For example,
Genesis 1 has humans govern over animals; In Genesis 2 God creates animals as
help mates for the human, hence equal?; and in Genesis 3 one animal, the snake,
proves superior to humans, at least in terms of knowledge. Throughout the three
traditions, the enduring tension between humans and animals endures, as the
divine, animal, and human realms encroach onto one another: Whereas in the
Torah God makes Balaam’s she-ass speaks in a human tongue, in the gospels pigs
are possessed by demons; and in the Quran humans become apes and pigs. The
place of animals in the three traditions, their status, functions, and
relationship with humans on the one hand and God on the other, will be
discussed in the seminar this year.
|
|
Description: The
Aramaic studies section is intended to provide a forum for scholars interested
in various aspects of Aramaic language. Previous paper topics have included
aspects of the Targumim, Qumran Aramaic, Peshitta, Samaritan papyri, and
Elephantine Aramaic.
Call for papers: The Aramaic Studies
Section invites papers on any aspect of Aramaic language, texts, and culture.
We welcome presentations on Targumim, Qumran Aramaic texts, Syriac language and
literature, Samaritan papyri, Elephantine Aramaic, magical texts, and other
topics. For the 2019 meeting we are also planning a joint session with SBL's
International Syriac Language Project, as well as an independent thematic
session on women, gender, and family in Aramaic.
~~~~~~~~~~
Biblio
Akhiezer, Golda
“Between
Samaritans and Karaites: Abraham Firkovich and His Perception of Samaritanism”, Jan Dusek
(ed.) The Samaritans in Historical, Cultural and Linguistic Perspectives,
Studia Samaritana 11, Studia Judaica 110 (2018):235–244.
Blyth, Estelle
‘The
Samaritans’ in The
Near East, No. 571 Vol XXI, April 20, 1922 p. 531-533; No. 572
Vol XXI, April 27, 1922.
Bourgel,
Jonathan
"The Samaritans in the Eyes of the Romans: The Discovery of an Identity", Cathedra 144 (2012), 7-20 יונתן בורגל השומרונים בראי הרומאים והשפעת השלטון הרומי על היחסים בין יהודים לשומרונים (Hebrew)
Knoppers, Gary
How
It Began and Did Not End: The History of Samari(t)an and Judean Relations in
Antiquity Conversations–PEGLMBS 35
(2015) 181–88.
The
Northern Context of the Law-Code in Deuteronomy Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel 4 (2015)
162–83
Samaritan
Conceptions of jewish Origins and Jewish Conceptions of Samaritan Origins: Any
Common Ground? Die Samaritaner und die Bibel: Die
Samaritaner in der biblischen Tradition—die jüdische und frühchristliche
Geschichte in samaritanischen Quellen, ed. Jörg Frey, Ursula Schattner-Rieser,
and Konrad Schmid; Studia Samaritana 7; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2012) 81–118
What
has Mt. Zion to do with Mt. Gerizim? A Study in Early Relations between the
Jews and the Samaritans in the Persian Period. In Bulletin of the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies/Le
société canadienne des études bibliques 64 (2004–5) 5–32; Manu secunda, Studies
in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 34/3-4 (2005) 307–36.
Pummer,
Reinhard
Was
There an Altar or a Temple in the Sacred Precinct on Mt. Gerizim?
Abstract: After the recent excavations by Itzhak Magen on the main
summit of Mount Gerizim it has become clear that the Samari(t)an sanctuary
stood within a sacred precinct in the Persian and Hellenistic times. So far, no
direct evidence of the nature of the sanctuary has been unearthed. The
excavator and many contemporary scholars assume it was a temple building.
However, some scholars question the accuracy of this assumption and believe
that the sanctuary more likely was an altar. This paper reviews both the
arguments that speak for an altar and those that speak for a walled and roofed
temple. Keywords Samaritans – Mount Gerizim – sanctuary – temple – altar In the
1970s it appeared that the Samaritan sanctuary had been discovered on Tell
er-Ras, the lower summit (831 m above sea level) of Mt. Gerizim. According to
Robert Bull, the large cube of stones excavated by him and called "Building
B" was the Samaritan altar of sacrifice1 or the Samaritan temple.2
Volume: 47, Page Numbers: 1-21, Publication Date: 2016
Publication Name: Journal for the Study of Judaism
Vasilyeva,
Olga
(National Library of Russia)
Documents
in the Firkovich Collection: Valuable Sources on the History of the Jewish
Communities in Europe and the Middle East from the 12th to the 19th century. Karaite
Archives 2 (2014),
pp. 201–220
~~~~~~~~~
The
Samaritan Update is open to any articles that are relative to Samaritan
Studies. Submit your work to The Editor
TheSamaritanUpdate.com, is a Bi-Monthly Internet Newsletter
Editor: Larry
Rynearson. Contact: The Editor
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