August 29, 2002
Volume II, Issue I
*Profile of a Samaritan
*One Year
Anniversary of the Samaritan Update
*Small Samaritan Scroll
*Studies on the Samaritans in India
*"The Commandment Keepers" – A new video on
the Samaritans
*Samaritan Art
Your link
to the Update Index
and to our
Web Site: The-Samaritans.com
Coming soon to our web site:
SALAMEH B. GHAZAL, THE HIGH PRIEST AND
HUSSEIN’ABD U-HADI, THE GOVERNOR OF NABLUS
By Haseeb Shehadeh [University of
Helsinki]
The Third Edition of " A Bibliography
of the Samaritans" should be on sale later this year. Watch for it!
The latest book,
The Samaritans has been written in
Hebrew by
Ephraim Stern and Hanan Eshel, publication by Ben Zvi
And Read:
The Tsedaka Family: One of the Most
Active Elements in the Samaritan Community in the 20th Century
by
Nathan Schur.
The Return of the Diaspora Samaritans to
Nablus at the End of the Middle Ages
by Nathan Schur.
Our
Store is Open, Come on in!
Samaritan Interactive CD-ROM works
on Windows or Macintosh pc. Exhibits many photos, mini-movies. Addresses
the Samaritan religion, chronicles, community, language and literature.
The Samaritan Singers reform (Osher sings with them on this cd-rom) their
music on the CD-ROM. It is full of information.
Other items:
Samaritan Cookbook in Hebrew,
CD of the Samaritan Singers,
Check it out today!
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The Samaritan News-
Since December 1969.
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Profile of a Samaritan
The man
in the photo is Abraham Ben Pinhas,
a cantor in the second and little synagogue in Holon. During the week on
regular days, he is found working
at "Menora," an insurance company as an accountant. He is
approximately 47 years
old and is one of the professionals that calculates the calendar, "Ishban Kashta (the truth calculation in
Aramic)." He is the first born son of
Pinhas, the first priest who came from Nablus to Holon after 1967 and served as the
cantor. Abraham has five brothers, and three daughters. Besides being one of the
priests of the the young and next generation, Abraham is a former member
of the committee of the community in Holon till recent years.
He is considered to be a moderate priest with some
ideas for changes, not all of them are in the middle of the consensus.
Pinhas, Abraham's father is considered to be one of the smartest elders in
his day. Phinhas was a priest and from a young age people called
him "welcome my priest"(English translation) and was greatly honored among the community.
There are articles from Phinhas in Hebrew located in our archives.
Osher Sassoni (article and photo)
One Year
Anniversary of the Samaritan Update
It has been one year since the Samaritan Update first began by the
suggestion from Osher Sassoni. The first issue, a one page document
appeared on August 23rd 2001. Since then the Samaritan Update has became quite
the project, mostly to find new and interesting stories. I received much
help from Osher Sassoni (Director of the-Samaritans.com), and Benyamim
Tsedaka, (co-editor of the A. B. Samaritan News). Both men are Samaritans
living in Holon, Israel. I have received much help from scholars also, in
related information. Numerous book sellers and departments have also helped
contribute to the articles. To all these people, I wish to say thank you,
THANK YOU! In the future I hope to enhance the articles with new exciting
ingredients. Any one wishing to write an article, please contact us at
Shomron@yahoo.com. I hope you have
enjoyed the past year of the Samaritan Update and you can now go to the
Samaritan Update Index found at thesamaritanupdate.com.
Shomron
Small Samaritan Scroll
I recently purchased a
small scroll from a dealer that obtained it from an estate sale in
Connecticut from a Jewish family.
 The
small scroll with it's tin cylinder case is smaller than 6 inches. It is
being shipped to
me as I write this article. Upon trying to locate further information
concerning these small scrolls I was only able to locate one similar
scroll that is in the
William E. Barton Collection of Samaritan Materials at Boston
University. Their scroll (C-062 WEB Box 4, Scroll 15) appeared to
have had five handles, now missing three. It also contains a hand written
Biblical text but there is no information as to which chapter. The chapter
of our recent purchase, written in Samaritan script is Numbers
chapter one, with verses 32-47 shown in the photo to the right. As you can
see in the photo of the scroll below, one of the lower handles is missing.
Benyamim Tsedaka informed me that the 'Samaritan priests
living in Nablus in the first half of the 20th century made an
'industry' of selling small scroll cases as souvenirs to tourists
that visited mount Gerizim. Each case contained a chapter from the
Torah.' It is not known at this time how many tin cases were made and
how many have survived the last one hundred years. If
anyone has any further information, including locations of other similar
scroll cases,
please contact us at Shomron@yahoo.com
Any valuable further information may be forthcoming.
Shomron
Studies on the Samaritans in India
Machon HarGerizim Lelimudei
Shomronuth Aal Shem Mar Christu Doss Benjamin
at Vettuvila, Kashmire,
India By: Adv. Premdoss Swamidoss Yehudi
My third book in
English, entitled "The Samaritans of Israel", published by Sachetana in
Thishri 5752, was received well by those interested in Bible Studies and
the general public. Consequently I was invited by several groups to give
lectures on the history and traditions of Ha Yisraeleem Hashomroneem.
In 1994 I shifted from my parental home and settled down at Vettuvila, on
the northern outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram city, with my wife Usha
Yehudi. We built a residential house-cum-study center here and named it
Har Gerizim. On 19 Teveth 5755/December 22, 1994 a baby girl was born to
us, whom we named Betty Bath-Yehudi. We follow the tenets of the Thorah as
understood and interpreted by HaYisraeleem Hashomroneem. Machon HarGerizim
Lelimudei Shomronuth Aal Shem Mar Christu Doss Benjamin was founded here
to carry out studies and research in Shomronuth and Shomroni literature.
It was founded in honor of my paternal grand-father, the late Mar Christu
Doss Benjamin of blessed memory, a noted Bible scholar. On November 13,
1999 a meeting was held at Trivandrum Hotel under the auspices of Mahon
HarGerizim Lelimudei Shomronuth Aal Shem Mar Christu Doss Benjamin, which
was attended by representatives of different religions. Noted Malayan
novelist Rev. Samuel Nettiyadan presented a paper on "Religion in the 21st
Century". Adv. Kanjiramkulam S. Jayakumar presided. It was followed by
discussions in which Mrs. E. J. Vijayamma, Adv. K. Simon, Mr. M. Subhash,
Mrs. Retnamma Victor, Mr. N. K. Bhasy, Adv. K. G. Vijayakumar, Adv. R.
Sreekantan, Mr. Neyyattinkara Retnaraj, Mr. T. Poul Mony, Mr. Edward
Cherukary and Adv. C. Sukumaran participated..
A. B. News Services
"The Commandment Keepers" – A new video on the
Samaritans
A thirty-minute video entitled "The Samaritans – Commandment Keepers" has
been produced by a Canadian production company and the A. B. Institute of
Samaritan Studies. The film is in English and has already been screened to
various audiences in Canada and the USA, as well as on western television
networks. A Hebrew-subtitled version of the film is in preparation. The
film describes the story of the survival of the Samaritans, their struggle
for existence and their proud preservation of their unique tradition. The
film opens, of course, with the landscape of Mt.Gerizim. Against this
background, with visual illustration in picture and movement, the proud,
tragic and joyous history of the Samaritans is told. After this there is a
full description of the Paschal sacrifice, as filmed in April 1999. This
is followed by a tour of the Samaritan neighborhood in Holon and the old
Samaritan quarter of Nablus – an emotional tour symbolizing the exodus of
the community from the shadowy lanes – the community's gloomy period – to
the houses of the growing district of Kiryat Luza on Mt. Gerizim and the
well-tended homes of the Samaritan neighborhood of Holon. The film ends
with a description of two cultural enterprises that are representative of
the entire community: the journal A.B. Samaritan News and the A.B.
Institute of Samaritan Studies. The film is moderated by its editor, Dr.
Jay Rawlings, and Benyamin Tsedaka, an editor of A.B. Samaritan News and a
director of the A.B. Institute of Samaritan Studies. Among the main
participants are Yefet b.Ratson Tsedaka, an editor of A.B. Samaritan News
and a director of the A.B. Institute of Samaritan Studies, the young
Ab-Sickuwwa b. Abed-Anuna Altif and the young priests Yussef b. Tsedaka,
Phinhas b. Sadeck and Maslih b. Beret. Also seen for a few seconds are
young Samaritans including as Na'amah Tsedaka, Liran Yehoshua and Avi
Tsedaka. The film has been produced for broadcast by two systems: that in
use in Europe and Israel (apart from France); and that in use in North
America. A Hebrew-subtitled version of the film is in preparation. All
rights are reserved to the Canadian production company and the A.B.
Institute of Samaritan Studies. The film may not be copied or screened in
public without their consent. Those interested in ordering the new video
film can do so directly from the A.B. Institute of Samaritan Studies, POB
1012, Holon 58110, tel:03-5567229; or 03-5564553; or 03-5562055; or mobile
telephones 053-566559; 053-408988.or by email to
tsedakab@netvision.net.il
Price per each film: $35 [$30 plus $5 postage].
A.B. News Services
Samaritan Art
Recently I located some information on the internet concerning a grant
that was given to Einat Ron. She has been working on the image of the Tabernacle in
Samaritan ritual art. She received her Master's degree from the Department
of Art History. In the past she researched the 'Sacrifice of Isaac.' If
anyone has any information to her article, I would be interested.
James
Purvis of Boston University wrote an excellent article on the Sanctuary
and Holy Vessels in Samaritan Art that he read at the Societe d'Etudes
Samaritans, Congress in Milano, in 1996. While we have not found any
photos that we have permission to use, that relate to his article, we are
hopeful that in the future we will obtain a couple and add them to his
article. We will notify you of this materializes.
Learn more at our Web site by reading:
The Sanctuary and Holy Vessels in Samaritan Art
By James D. Purvis of Boston University
Watch for the next issue of the
Samaritan Update for an article with photos from the British
Paper, the Picture Post of
April 24, 1943, written by Cecil Roth and
called,
Samaritans Keep the Passover
Thank you!
We would like to thank you for
visiting our website,
www.The-Samaritans.com
in the past and hope you visit us again real soon. We ask you to forward
this Update to your friends. The purpose at our web site is the
education of the existence and history of the Samaritan-Israelites,
descendants of the ancient Kingdom of Israel. Recently we have been
working on expanding our web site. We do hope you enjoy visiting our
site and recommend it to your friends. Again we thank you for visiting
us at
www.The-Samaritans.com .
Take care and may you be blessed from the Holy One from above.
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