Samaritans:
Samaritans are the
true, real and direct dynasty of the Children of Israel.
They are the ancestors’ branch whom time massacred with
its tragedies and toughest setbacks; composing the
hardest historical epic that history has ever known.
Samaritans are the
sunbeams of their senior predecessors, who refused to
abandon the sacred land of Palestine since their very
arrival 3654 years ago.
However, this sect has a
great importance on the religious, historical, and
cultural arenas, besides, the nobility of its culture
and traditions with other ancient and sequent cultures
on the sacred land of Palestine. But writers,
researchers, Orientalists, Archeologists and Historians
hadn’t given it enough attention until the twentieth
century though.
Their History:
Samaritans are the
rest of an ancient people originated from the Southern
kingdom of Israel. In spite of the passing by years,
they haven’t lost their identity as an autonomous and
independent people. Nowadays, the Samaritan sect
represents the smallest, most ancient and most noble
sect in existence. It has been living on the land of
Palestine, and is dated back to the time of king Solomon
(923B.C.), who built his temple in Jerusalem opposing to
the teachings of Torah. After Solomon’s death, his son
Rehoboam refused to cancel, or even reduce the tax his
father imposed, during the erection of his temple, on
the southerns. Therefore, the Hebrew State had split
into two kingdoms: the Southern kingdom, Judea, which
centered in Jerusalem as its capital, and the Northern
one, Israel/ Samaritan kingdom, which took Sebastaea
as its capital. At that time, the two kingdoms would be
competitors, or rather enemies. Each kingdom had golden
days, and in turn declination days, and power would be
once for the advantage of Israel, another for Judea.
Samaritans belong to
three of the twelve Jacob’s sons; Leah, the one the
Kohen Gadol (High Priest) family belongs to; in
addition, the two sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim
to whom the other four families (Danfi,
Tsedakah, Mafraj
and Sarawi) belong.
Their Population:
When the Hebrew
State separated into two parts, the Northern kingdom
would number millions, but this number decreased to the
toll of 1200,000 Samaritans in the 4th and 5th
centuries A.D. They resided on several Palestinian towns
and villages across the Palestinian land. In 1971, and
because of the tough measurements, chase and massacres
that had been practiced against them, the number of the
sect declined to 146 persons. Nowadays, the Samaritans
number is about 725 adherents. Half of them live on top
of the Mount Gerizim, just south of Nablus in Palestine,
which is their religious centre. The rest live in Holon
district right outside Tel Aviv in Israel.
Their Religious Beliefs:
The Samaritan dogma is
based on five basic principles:
1.
The Oneness of God; there is one God.
2.
The Prophecy: One Prophet Moses Ben Amram.
3.
Torah: Samaritans just believe in the Pentateuch (the first five books
of the Old Testament).
4.
The Sacred Mount: Gerizim is the sacred sanctuary chosen by God.
5.
The day of Vengeance and
Retribution:
is the day of punishment and deeds review.
Any
Samaritan who hasn’t a strong belief in these five
principles is regarded nothing of the Samaritan
religion.
The
Ten Commandments:
1.
You shall have no other gods before me.
2.
You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God.
3.
Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.
4.
Honor your father and your mother.
5.
You shall not murder.
6.
You shall not commit adultery.
7.
You shall not steal.
8.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
9.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your
neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or
donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
10.
You shall keep the mount Gerizim holy.
Their feasts:
Samaritans celebrate their religious occasions, which
are rather seasonal ceremonies:
1.
Ta'anit Bechorim:
this day coincides the fourteenth day of the first
month on the Jewish calendar. On this day, Samaritans
present their sacrifices, as thanksgiving, acknowledging
their thanks to God for freeing them from the slavery of
ancient Egypt’s pharaoh. This celebration, for
Samaritans, is the freedom and liberation day.
2.
Harvest Day/
Shavuot
(שבועות:
its also known as the Seven Weeks Day). It coincides the
harvest season, for it’s been given this name. On this
day, Samaritans commemorate the reception of Torah.
3.
Passover/Pesach
(פסח):
on the fifteenth day of the first month on the Jewish
calendar, Samaritans commemorate their salvage,
liberation and exit from ancient Egypt, and they eat
unfermented/ unleavened dough during the holidays, which
take place within seven days.
4.
Rosh Hashanah (IPA:
[ˈroʊʃ
hɑˈʃɔnə])
(Hebrew:
ראש
השנה, ro’sh
ha-shānāh):
it is on the first day of the seventh month according to
the Jewish calendar.
5.
The Atonement Day (Yom Kippur): it is on the tenth day of the seventh
month, on which every soul denounces food and drinks
with continuous prayers, supplication and worship.
6.
Sukkot
(סוכות
or
סֻכּוֹת
sukkōt)/The
Throne’s Day (Al- Madal): it is on the fifteenth of the
seventh month. It takes place within seven days, during
which Samaritans commemorate the stray in the dessert of
Sinai for 40 years.
7.
Shemini Atzeret (שמיני
עצרת -
"the Eighth Day of Assembly"):
it is dated on the eighth day of Al- Madal (
Sukkot) and the last day as it points to the end of the
Jewish celebrations.
Their Purity:
Samaritan religion
depends a lot on purity as a main and basic pillar of
the Samaritan religion. For example, during her period,
a Samaritan woman is forbidden to touch any Samaritan,
or even any thing in her house. During these seven days,
she isolates alone in her private bed. In case of having
birthed a male, a Samaritan woman must isolate her
people for 41 days, and 80 days if the born is a female.
Moreover, a Samaritan is to immediately have a bath in
case of having a sexual intercourse, either in reality,
or in a dream. Touching a dead, or an animal whose meat
is forbidden to Samaritans, requires a bath, too.
Their Prayers:
Prayers for
Samaritans is a way to approach God as well as the
sacrifices presented in the temple. It takes the form of
contemplation, redemption and supplication for God’s
forgiveness. In addition, it is carried on twice a day;
once at dawn and another at sunset.
On Sabbath, there are
seven prayers preceded by purity of the body in addition
to the washing of every external part of the body thrice
with the recitation of particular verses, from Torah,
indicate each part’s movement. Thus, and in order to
keep the holiness of this day, a Samaritan is not
allowed to work, nor is he/ she allowed to do any thing
save preparation of one’s food.
Their Marriage:
Marriage is a sacred
bond for Samaritans, and it goes through three stages:
engagement, celebration and the wedding. Marriage,
according to the Samaritan teachings, is held with the
help of a contract and the senior Kahen (High Priest)
to head the required celebration.
A Samaritan male is not
allowed to marry his aunt, mother’s sister, niece, an
illegal or a step mother’s daughter. In addition, he
mustn’t marry his divorced wife again if she’s married
to someone else. Just in case of having convincing
reasons, a Samaritan male can be a bigamist. How ever,
divorce cases are very rare within the Samaritan
community.
Their Food:
Samaritans mustn’t
gather two “souls” in the same meal, such as yoghurt and
meat. Moreover, they mustn’t eat slaughtered animals
save for those slaughtered according to their religious
way and terms. These terms are as follows:
1.
The butcher must be Samaritan and fully updated with the Samaritan
teachings; the forbidden and the halal.
2.
The knife used must be very sharp and more than 25 centimeters long.
3.
The butcher must know the neck- place, where an animal’s throat is cut,
in order not to hurt the prey.
4.
The direction to which the butcher must head during the process is Mount
Gerizim.
5.
The animal’s blood must be buried/ Hidden with sand.
In terms of birds,
Samaritans don’t eat prey- birds, or birds with unsplit
fingers. Sea animals of fins and scales are halal for
them. On the wild animal arena, just regurgitating and
hoof- split animals are allowed. Pregnant animals,
generally, are also forbidden to be slaughtered.
Their Circumcision:
Circumcision, for
Samaritans, is a holy treaty God gave to Abraham. Since
then, they circumcise their males on their eighth day
after birth; its postpone is unjustifiable under any
condition.
Their Legacy Division:
Legacy is divided
equally, save for the oldest son who takes a doubled
portion. Females don’t inherit real estates. Just in
case of having only females, legacy is to be handed
down to them, but this is conditional on marrying their
cousins( the sons of their father’s brother), so that
the sacred land can be divided equally amongst Jacob’s
sons.
Their Calendar:
Samaritans have a
special astronomical and lunar way of calculation
named the
“Right”. It has been in existence since the days of Adam
and is handed down amongst the High Priests family. The
Jewish year consists of 12 lunar months, and it adds an
extra month for leap years seven times in a 19-year
cycle. The commence of the Jewish dating is dated back
to the arrival of the Children of Israel to the sacred
land, Palestine, some 3645 years ago.
Their sacred Shur’ah:
Samaritans believe in
the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old
Testament), namely are, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers and Deuteronomy. They also posses the oldest
script of Torah, (Literally means “Tawriyah”; thing
consists of every want), which was written 3632 years
ago. The writer of this script, (Abesha’ Bin Finkhas bin
Ali- azer Bin Aaron), is said to be the fourth son of
Aaron’s offspring. This unique ancient script was
written 13 years before the entrance of the Children of
Israel to the sacred land. The language used was the
ancient Hebrew language which consisted of 22 letters,
would start from right to left, and had been used as
spoken and written language until the first century A.D.
To be it know, the
Samaritans’ Torah differs from that of the Jews’ with
about 7000 differences.
Their Mount:
Mount Gerizim, God’s
chosen place, where sacrifices are presented, is one of
the five basic elements of the Samaritan religion. It’s
the Samaritans’ centre and refuge of their emotions.
Mount Gerizim is given a special interest by God, for it
is mentioned with 13 different holy names in the holy
book. Meanwhile, Jerusalem is never mentioned in the
Samaritan religion. Thus, Abraham wanted to sacrifice
his son Issac there, whence Jacob, in his dream, saw
angels ascending to heaven and Joshua b. Nun (יְהוֹשֻׁעַ)
had just Moses’ temple built at the time of the sacred
land entrance.
Samaritans And Other
Religions:
All religions mention the
Samaritans in their scriptures, this is why the sect
given a notable status amongst all religions.
Moreover, as some
Samaritan sources mention, at the time of the Islamic
spread, a Samaritan delegation led by Sarmasa, one of
their leaders, headed the prophet Muhammed, and then
were given a safety treaty, in which it had been
written, “ I, Muhammad Abdullah Abdel- Muttaleb announce
that Samaritans, their souls, houses, money, religion
practices, worships and synagogues are safe… .”
Nowadays, Christians
call most of their charitable institutions “The Good
Samaritan”. These institutions are, doubtlessly, named
after the Samaritan man who healed the sick on
Jerusalem- Jericho road. In addition, the Samaritan
woman who watered Christ at Jacob’s well, near Nablus.
Jews also give a great
interest to the Samaritan sect for many reasons. First
of all, because they have the oldest script of Torah.
Secondly, Samaritans speak the ancient Hebrew in
addition to their clinging to the old Jewish traditions,
rituals, habits and customs.
Other peoples give
interest to the Samaritans just to establish a
relationship with a people survived with the most noble
traditions under the toughest conditions of chase,
persecution and massacres that had been practiced
against them to abandon their religion.
The Samaritan Museum:
In 1997, on the top
of Mount Gerizim, the first Samaritan museum was
established. This museum narrates the story of a
struggling sect, had undergone various kinds of torture.
And to let history record a sect had suffered more than
any people in this world, as it is documented in their
religious scripts, relics, pictures, Samaritan hymns and
Jewish books. Besides, the museum provides university
professors, students, researchers, archeologists and
others with any information they want to know.
Address: The Samaritan
Museum.
Nablus, Mount Gerizim.
P.O. # 172.
Mobile:
0523545006
– Teli-fax:
2370249
e-mail : info@
Samaritans-mu.com
www.samaritans-mu.com
WHO WILL HELP THE GOOD SAMARITANS?
By Judith Fein
When I travel, I laugh a lot
and I don't usually cry. But all that changed the day
Israeli archeologist Ronen Bitan drove me about an hour
north of Jerusalem to Mount Gerizim, in the Palestinian
Authority, on the West Bank. He led me into the small
Samaritan museum, and as I walked around, looking at the
exotic clothes, texts and artifacts of a culture I know
nothing about, Yefet Kohen, the director of the museum,
came up to me. We Samaritans are very ancient people who
belong to the house of Israel. There are only 300
Samaritans who live here on Mount Gerizim. Our Bible is
the oldest Bible that exists. It is written in the
Samaritan language, which is the oldest form of Hebrew,
almost like Aramaic. Look, look at the letters. Each
one of them corresponds to a body part. The ‘ayen’ is
really an eye, the ‘peh’ is a mouth. And look over
here--this is our genealogy, every generation, every
name, going all the way back to Moses. Then he pointed
to a small photo gallery on the wall and lovingly
indicated the picture of his venerable father. I started
to sob. I am only now beginning to understand what
moved me to tears.
Most people know nothing about
the Samaritans except that in the New Testament, there
was a good Samaritan who showed kindness and generosity
to the victim of a roadside robbery. The general
interpretation is that even though the Samaritans were
despised, there was a still a good one among them. So
who were these people, and why were they so vilified?
The answer to this question is
intertwined with the fact that the Jewish view of the
Samaritans and the Samaritan view of the Samaritans is
radically different. Most of the Jews I spoke with,
including Rabbis and scholars, describe the Samaritans
as non-Jews who claim they are Jews, or as people who
were once Jews, in the very distant past.
In 722 B.C.E., when the
northern part of Israel was conquered by the Assyrians,
the military strategy of the victors was to exchange
populations. They exiled the northern tribes to diverse
regions of the Assyrian Empire, and peopled the north of
Israel with others they had conquered from Babylonia,
Hamath, Cutha and among the nomadic Arabs. These pagan
newcomers merged with those who had remained in Israel,
and they became the Samaritans. They adopted Jewish
ways, but they are not Jews. They practice loathsome
customs like dove worship and ritual sacrifice. They bow
down to other gods, they were the enemies of king David,
and they are anathema to the Jews.
The Samaritan side of the story
is that there was a gradual separation of the northern
tribes of Israel from the tribes in the south. After
the division, the people from the north were called
Samaritans because the name of their region was
Samaria. The people from the south were called Jews
because their origin was from Judah. After the split, a
rivalry ensued between the north and the south.
The main bone of contention
seems to be that King David established the Davidic
monarchy in the south, in Jerusalem, but to the
Samaritans, the holy site is, and always has been, Mount
Gerizim in the north. They do not recognize Jerusalem
and consider it more of a political entity and a
fictional creation than a holy place. They scorn King
David because he lusted after Bat Sheva, a married
woman. He got her pregnant and tried to deceive her
innocent husband into thinking the baby in the womb of
Bat Sheva was his. And then, in an act of unparalleled
immorality, he had the husband, who was a loyal soldier,
killed at war. The holy tabernacle of the Israelites
wasn’t at Shiloh, as the Jews tell it, but was at Mount
Gerizim. The Jews claim that Abraham took Isaac to be
sacrificed on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. The Samaritans
say that it wasn¹t Mount Moriah at all-but was Mount
Gerizim. They also claim that they have the oldest
version of the Torah in their ancient language and it
comes directly from Aaron, the brother of Moses. The
Jewish version of the Torah, which was altered by Ezra,
is less authentic and has over 6,000 discrepancies from
the original text; most of them are deleted references
to the holy Har Gerizim. The Samaritans do not
recognize those who called themselves prophets: to them,
Moses is the only true prophet. They had a strong and
powerful kingdom in the north that was conquered by the
Assyrians. Some of them were exiled, but the numbers
were greatly exaggerated; a good number of them remained
in Israel. Those people have kept up their ancient
tribal customs until today. They are not Jews, descended
from the tribe of Judah, but their lineage goes back to
Joseph¹s sons-Menasseh and Ephraim, who settled in the
north of Israel. They consider themselves
Samaritan-Israelites. They have suffered horrific
persecutions, mass murders, forced conversions, forced
idol worship, humiliations and every assault on their
faith at the hands of Christians, Muslims and
Assyrians. In the 4th and 5th centuries C.E., there
were more than a million Samaritans. By the beginning of
the 20th century, there were only l46 souls left. Today
they cling to their culture and there are about 300 who
live on Mt. Gerizim and another 325 in the town of
Holon, south of Tel-Aviv.
So who is right? The
Samaritans are so small and so unheard that they have
little credibility, and yet, that day in the Samaritan
museum, something told me that there was truth in their
side of the story. I couldn¹t put my finger on it, but
it had to do with piety and persistence and all the
proofs they kept proffering. When they allowed me into
their synagogue and I saw their Torah and heard their
devotion to the Torah and the laws of Moses, I had this
feeling that I was encountering the real thing-that
despite some modern trappings, these people were
maintaining the same traditions today that the tribes of
Israel practiced three thousand years ago. I felt in my
bones that the Samaritans provided us with an
opportunity to experience living history, and that we
needed to hear what they were saying. No one I spoke to
agreed with me. They adhered to the ³official² version
of who the Samaritans are.
I interviewed a few of the
Samaritans at length. Yefet Kohen, in his museum,
showed me a map that he had worked on for twenty years.
It indicated where the Israelites had stopped and lived
in the desert during their forty years of exile after
the exodus from Egypt. He said that for years he had
also been trying to figure out how the urim v’tummim
worked. How could he know that I was obsessed with the
same question? The urim v’tummim were precious stones on
an ephod, or apron. They were worn by the high priest
and were used for divination by the leaders of the
Israelites. It was said that each of the stones had the
name of one of the twelve tribes inscribed, and when
there was a problem with one of the tribes, the
corresponding stone would light up. Yefet Kohen said
he thought he knew how this worked. There was a thin
gold wire around the stones, and when the priest wore
the ephod and consulted the urim v’tummim, the beating
of his heart sent out an electrical current along the
golden wire. If there was a problem, the priest was so
tuned in that the energy would be blocked at one of the
stones and by identifying the stone, he would know in
which tribe the problem was.
Whew, I thought that was pretty
brilliant. But even more: if this man were a fake
Israelite, if he were someone masquerading as a Hebrew,
why in the world would he care?
The Samaritans do not have
rabbis, and their religion is pre-rabbinic in origin.
They are presided over by a cohen gadol, or High Priest,
in the tradition handed down by Aaron, the brother of
Moses. Their religious and political leaders are all
Levite priests. I spoke at length with one of the
priests, in the synagogue. His name was Itamar Abraham
Cohen. He took out the Torah scroll, adorned in
gorgeous, shimmering, bright green material, and pointed
to the three crowns on top. He explained that these
crowns represented the origins of the Samaritans-the
tribes of Ephraim, Menasseh and Levi (from Aaron). He
showed me the beautiful ancient letters of the Samaritan
script, which looked almost like Aramaic to my untrained
eye. And then he showed me how the Samaritans pray:
down on their knees, heads to the ground, facing the
holy ark and Mount Gerizim. Their synagogue has no
adornment and no chairs. There are rugs on the floor.
Their hours of prayer are very long, very intense. On
Sabbath, the men come to the synagogue and start praying
at 3 a.m. During the course of the Sabbath day, they
come to the synagogue three times to pray. The Torah is
held up during the services, but the study of the weekly
Torah portions happens at home, with the family, when
the men return from their 3 a.m. prayers, before eating
breakfast.
Wow, I thought. That’s really
amazing. If this man were a fake Hebrew, why was he
telling me, in great detail, about the origins of his
people from the tribes of Israel? Why was there such
devotion and prayer? What did they have to gain from it?
I met Yefet Tsedaka, who lives
in Holon and publishes A.B., the bi-weekly Samaritan
newspaper, with his brother Benyamim. He told me that
the Samaritans only believe in the Pentateuch, the five
books of Moses, and not the other sections of the Bible
that came later.
They do not celebrate the ‘newer’
holidays--Hanukah and Purim. On Passover, they
celebrate the way the Torah commands them to,
re-enacting the Exodus from Egypt. Every Samaritan, no
matter where he lives, makes a pilgrimage to the holy
Mount Gerizim. There, at night, on the sacrificial spot
and under the watchful eye of the High Priest, they
ritually slaughter unblemished male sheep in their first
year. They roast them in ovens and eat them hurriedly,
and everything must be eaten by the end of the night. If
anything is left, it must be thrown into the fire.
Many of the Samaritans, especially the young men, adorn
themselves in the white clothes the Israelites wore when
they fled from Egypt. They eat matza--or unleavened
bread--that is very large, soft, flat and round. They
eat the matza and bitter herbs as they consume the
lamb. (An Israeli specialist in ‘second Temple’ Judaism
confirmed to me that this is how the Jews conducted
sacrifices and ate matza during the period.)
Yefet talked about the harvest
festival of the Samaritans. He explained that they were
persecuted and attacked by Byzantines when the holiday
of Succoth came and they constructed and lived in their
tabernacles outside, the way Jews do. So they took them
indoors for protection. Now they continue to construct
the Succoth or tabernacles indoors, and they celebrate
in a very unique fashion. They go into the orchards and
spend a fortune on fruits which they hang from the
ceiling. Last year, Yefet hung more than half a ton of
fruit. Yefet waxed eloquent about the Samaritan
marriage ceremony, which lasts for a week. ‘And do you
know what we are re-enacting during the wedding
process? The first marriage in Israelite history. The
marriage of Rebekah and Isaac, from the Bible.’
Why was I crying again? In
Yefet¹s words, there was deep truth. And yet, few of the
people I spoke to give the Samaritan¹s words much
credence.
I returned to America, and I
read everything I could about the Samaritans. I
consulted their own newspaper--called A.B.-and the
CD-rom I bought at the museum. I read Chaim Potok¹s
History of the Jews again and wrote to Rabbis. I went
to Border¹s bookstore and thumbed through every book I
could find on Jewish history. I corresponded with
Benyamim Tsedaka by email and read his entry and other
entries in the Encyclopedia Judaica. There was so much
conflicting evidence. It was clear that Biblical
history was written by a Judean writer, from the south.
He wrote about Jerusalem and the Davidic line and
largely ignored or discounted the northern kingdom and
Mount Gerizim. It was also apparent that there was
competition and enmity between Jerusalem and Mount
Gerizim, and it seems to be both religious and political
in nature. But how could I ever get to the truth?
And then, one night, a fellow
writer forwarded to me an article from the Jerusalem
Post that caused quite a stir in Israel. Briefly, the
article (by Abraham Rabinovich) explains that some
scholars are challenging the historical truth of key
elements of the Bible.....and their proof is in
archeological finds. I read the article in a breathless
state. The conventional view of the formation of Israel
is centered around King David, ascending to the throne
of Judah about 3,000 years ago, and uniting the northern
tribes into the Judean monarchy. He and his son Solomon
ruled for 70 years over a vast empire, and then the
kingdom split apart after Solomon’s death.
But the potsherds tell a
different tale. Israel, in the north, was
well-developed, had a palatial government center in
Samaria, fortified sites, and large settlements that
were signs of a strong and mature economic and political
center. If Jerusalem were the seat of such a powerful
monarchy, if it were the center of the vast empire that
the Bible describes, why did the archeological finds
suggest tiny settlements, and a very unimpressive
Jerusalem? The potsherds indicate that Judah only
emerged as a powerful entity after the fall of the north
to the Assyrians. And it seems as though many of the
people of the north fled to the south, greatly
increasing Jerusalem¹s population, but many of the
northerners also stayed where they were. An Assyrian
account of the conquest confirms a population transfer,
but the numbers are much less than those stated in the
Biblical version.
This coincides remarkably with
what the Samaritans are saying. They did not recognize
the dominance of Jerusalem. Mount Gerizim was an
important religious and political center. The tribes in
the north did not all go into exile after the Assyrian
conquest. Could the rest of what they claimed be true
too?
I went to bed that night, and
found it hard to fall asleep. I picked up a recent
issue of Archeology Magazine, and perused an article (by
Silberman, Finkelstein, Ussishkin and Halpern) about
recent finds in Israel at Megiddo, which is supposed to
be the earthly location of Armageddon. I sat bolt
upright when I read the words: ‘New evidence may suggest
that the first true Israelite monarchy...emerged not in
Jerusalem but in the rich valleys and cities of the
north....’ The article went on to explain that it was
likely that the first real Israeli kingdom arose under
northern kings, ‘who are pictured as sinful,
idol-worshipping villains in the biblical sources. The
biblical accounts of the northern kingdom that are
contained in 2 Kings were heavily edited and assembled
by the priestly and royal scribes of the south probably
no earlier than the seventh century B.C. Southern
scribes may have given the credit for empire-building to
the almost legendary King Solomon as a means of
enhancing the reputation and geographical reach of
Judah¹s Davidic dynasty. There is a certain irony in
viewing the villains of the traditional biblical story
as heroes of a new archeological tale of political and
economic development.’
There was no sleep that night.
I went back over Samaritan sources and excerpts from the
Samaritan chronicles. There was no mistaking it: the
truth of the tiny Samaritan community was beginning to
gain weight, power and prestige against the mighty
history of the Bible. The stones were silent witnesses
to what happened in our human past, and now they are
starting to speak.
In the northern stones and in
the Samaritan stories and lifestyle, there are
tantalizing hints of what happened thousands of years
ago, when the Davidic monarchy ruled and Judea
dominated, taxed and humiliated the tribes of the
north. The pain and the resentment persist. Even today,
Samaritans do not name their children Moses or David.
If a boy is named Moses and someone curses him, he will
also be cursing the name of their beloved prophet Moses.
As for David, no child should be named after him because
he is so reviled for his attitudes and his deeds.
Anyone who reads the Old
Testament (II King 17:29) can read the accusations
against the Samaritans. They are accused of adoring a
god named Ashima. But according to historians, this is
a misunderstanding. The Samaritans wanted to avoid
using the Tetragrammaton, the holy name of God, so they
used the surname ‘Shema’ and this was misinterpreted as
their believing in
Ashima. They are reviled for
worshipping doves, but there is no evidence that they
did so. And, as for accusations of idol worship, they
were startlingly faithful to monotheism, even though
there may have been decorative carvings and statues (of
calves and bulls) in their temples.
The Samaritan story would be
devoid of urgency and would, at best, be a fascinating
portal into another version of Biblical history, except
for one thing. Mount Gerizim is on the West Bank, close
to Nablus, which was called Shechem in Biblical days and
which is now a hotbed of rage and violence. Many of the
Samaritans children go to school in Nablus, and their
parents’ work is there. Who can guarantee their safety
during the current Jewish-Arab violence? When the
political dust settles, when the West Bank is carved up,
who will govern the tiny community of Samaritans? Will
they fall into the hands of the Israelis or the
Palestinians? How will the Israelis treat them? How will
they fare under the Palestinians? They are frightened
for their future. Under the last Intifada, when they
were attacked, Yassir Arafat intervened to offer them
protection, and he compensated them for injuries
sustained. At the founding of the State of Israel,
President Izhak Ben Zvi took a great interest in them,
and he helped to establish Holon as a Samaritan
community, where they could find work that didn¹t exist
on Mt. Gerizim.
But who will care for the
Samaritans now? They have sent missions to America and
Europe and are asking anyone who will listen to give
them identification cards that ensure their safety,
protection and free passage through checkpoints, no
matter who governs their sacred mountain and their
city. They want to be identified as
Israelite-Samaritans and have their future secured. They
want political, social, religious and economic
guarantees. They want help to develop their
infrastructure and to construct synagogues, schools,
research and community centers. They want their high
priests to be given the same recognition and recompense
as rabbis get. They want dignity, freedom, and the
right to continue their ancient way of life. Not only do
they face the threat of cultural annihilation because of
the pulls of western culture on their young, but they
face physical, social and economic strangulation when
their land becomes the playing field for Middle Eastern
politics.
The more I learn about the
Samaritans, the more their plight reminds me of the
conversos, or crypto-Jews, who have captured the
public’s imagination. In Spain, during the Inquisition
and under the long arm of the Inquisition that followed
the conversos wherever they went they suffered forced
conversions and persecutions for their Jewish beliefs.
At great peril and with astounding courage, they
continued to perform their Sephardic traditions. The
Samaritan-Israelites suffered the same fate and
exhibited the same stubborn adherence to their faith.
But because of their past conflicts with the tribe of
Jews from the south, they are accorded none of the
sympathy and there has been little or no outreach.
We owe it to the Samaritans to
recognize their existence and to listen objectively to
their history. We need to ensure their survival. Who
knows what secrets from the past may yet be revealed to
us through their ancient customs, beliefs and
practices? The Samaritans plan to tour the USA late
this year, talking about their culture and sharing their
stirring, unique music. They are reaching out to us, we
need to reach out to them.
When I was researching the
Samaritans, I received an e-mail from Rabbi Gershon
Winkler, who is never afraid to look the truth in its
face.
‘It is a tragedy to our people
that we have dismissed the Samaritans theologically and
nationalistically,’ Winkler wrote. ‘We are not whole,
not fully tribal, without them. I mean, look what the
rabbinate did to the Ethiopians, who, too, carried our
ancient ways for more than two millennia, and then had
to reconvert to be part of Israel again. Personally -
and you can quote me on this - I suspect the
authenticity of the Jewishness of those rabbis who have
the audacity and the arrogance to question the Jewish
authenticity of Falashas and Samaritans. Samuel the
Prophet was right in his hesitation to give in to the
request of the people that they have kings like the
other countries around them. Consequently, politics got
mixed with religion to the point where it replaced
spirituality altogether.’
‘Samaritans are as non-Jewish
as you and I..... Back in those early days, the sages of
Judea interacted just fine with those of Sumeria, and
the two sectors lived in respect of one another until
the politics of Jerusalem set in around the days of
Nechemiah and Ezra not long after.’
‘In those days
...fundamentalist religious reform was instigated by
guys like Ezra. Sort of akin to the religious right
today who reign supreme in Israel, and who dismiss
everyone else's Jewishness as suspect. The Samaritans
have preserved a treasure of richness, pieces of ancient
Israel that got lost to most of us "real" Jews who got
thrown into Babylonia and eventually Europe. The
Samaritans were not without their own silly politics
back when, engaging in their own meschugaas in reaction
to the rabbinic dismissal of their Jewishness.
Nonetheless, a few, very few of our rabbis respected
them as carriers of the old ways. Rabbi Yaakov Emden,
for example (18th century), wrote about the importance
of learning from them to recover some of our lost ways.
He even included in one of his books the Samaritan
version of the Hebrew alphabet, which looks nothing like
our Hebrew letters today, and which, he claims, is
older.’
‘So yes, they are about old political stuff around Har
Grizim vs. Jerusalem, and their stance is no less
correctly founded as is the Jerusalem one.’
My tears began
to flow again. Here was a rabbi who was willing to
stick his neck out and give credence to the small and
struggling community of Samaritans.
No matter what
our beliefs about the Samaritans and who they are, a
unique and deeply traditional people whose way of life
must be supported and maintained. Religious freedom has
to be guaranteed to all if we are to consider ourselves
evolved humans.
The Days of Passover
with the Samaritans on Mount Gerizim
Prier to the evening of April 17th,
2000, a Monday, all the community of the 324 Samaritans
of Neve Marqeh, Holon, Israel, traveled to Kiryat Luza
where the 301 residents remain year round. The small
community of 301 residents that resides year round sits
on the summit of Mount Gerizim. The short main street
through the small community has no name. There are but
few side streets. The village has a new Samaritan
museum, a small grocery store, new tourist store and
restaurant. Each is worth the visit. The kids play on
the street like any small town in the world. Most
Samaritans speak at lest 3 languages, Arabic, Hebrew and
their own Biblical Hebrew. English is still new to the
community and understood by few. But even French is
instructed in the schools.
On this night, at sunset begins, the 13th
day on the Samaritan Biblical year. This is the night in
which matzos (unleavened bread) is baked. The day prior
all leaven was cleaned from the houses. In the evening
before sunset, the men dressed in their tradition
garments pray at the synagogue while the ladies prepare
the unleavened dough at home. The men return home after
sunset and begin the ancient memorial. The dough is
rolled into fist-sized balls. The oven is a 28-inch
steel shaped bowl rests upside down over a flame of wood
or propane. The men pound the dough flat and then flip
it from arm to arm like pizza dough. When the dough is
thin and about 18-22-inches in diameter it is placed on
the steel pan to bake. After about 20 seconds, the bread
is flipped for another 20 or so seconds more. The
unleavened bread of wheat and water does not take long
to bake. It is placed then on a stack for the weeks use.
It is acceptable to sample the unleavened bread but only
until midnight. From midnight on till the seasonal
festival is over, no prepared food is permitted. Only
what is made from natural products are permitted
excluding anything leaven, of course. With all the
matzos made, it is time to visit the family, neighbors
and friends. Hot tea with sugar or fresh juice is the
general welcome. Some men share water pipes called an
agila.
Early the next mourning comes the sound of the
men praying from the synagogue.
This evening is the Passover Sacrifice. This is a
very special day to the Samaritans.
At the center of town rests the prepared area
for this special celebration. This fenced area rests
between the new Samaritan museum and the grocery store.
The gate off the main street leads down to the
ceremonial area. On both sides of the walkway there are
a total of 5 stone mortared ovens. Each is about 5 feet
in diameter and around 6 feet deep. Over each has a ten
foot square steel grate. A temporary guardrail surrounds
each oven. Dried wood and brush are on hand for the
fire. Plastic bags of dirt sit next to each hole to be
used to over the ovens.
A couple of Levites oversee the preparations
and ceremony till its completion. A couple of Arab men
set up white plastic chairs for the tourists on the
raised areas outside the fence. Many local dignitaries
were invited, as always usually have the best seats. The
remainder chairs are for the tourists that come by
commercial tourist buses. Some Tourists prefer to stand
against the fence for a better look. There are many
camera crews, even from the BBC to document the
ceremony. The Israeli Army was also stationed in case of
trouble.
It was a beautiful day, warm, with not a cloud
in the sky. At four o’clock, a few of the younger
Levites kindle the fires in the ovens with the prepared
brush and wood. A fire truck from the town of Nablus was
on had in case of an emergency. Tourists begin arriving.
The museum was full of interested people. All were
asking questions. Most of them appeared to be Jewish. I
guess they were interested in their roots as some told
me.
I was told to watch for the clouds. A thick
dark cloud appeared moving in from the southwest moved
towards our direction. It was the only cloud in the blue
clear sky. It came towards the mount like the shape of a
flock of geese. When the clouds reached the mount it
stopped and spread fast covering the whole sky. There
was only one spot that the cloud did not cover. A hole
of blue sky was directly over us. I was told as I looked
around by a couple of Samaritans that this happens every
year. They also told me that during the Passover
sacrifice the opening would enlarge which it did. During
the ceremony I looked up and seen that the clouds around
the blue opening were slowly turning in a circular
motion. It was totally amazing!
The Samaritans all dressed in white clothes
gathered together in song. The white clothes worn were
as I was told, “so that no one stood out over the next
person”. Only the High Priests and Elders wore different
color garments, traditional of course. Their families
helped the older Elders to their chairs. The men each
had a cane or a type of staff along with their sandals.
The remaining Elders went to the High Priests
house. The oldest man in the community invites him to
the Passover Sacrifice, which is their custom. Accepting
his offer they all moved with a large following to the
Passover center. With everyone present chanting songs of
the Passover began. Prayers were also chatted.
As the time grew closer to dusk, the men placed
the gentle lambs between their legs. The guarded lambs
were inspected by the Levites and had been watched over
for a total of 14 days before this day. There were a
total of 37-40 lambs for all the families of the
Samaritans.
All was quiet as the High Priest spoke in Hebrew
at the beginning of the setting of the sun. Then finally
there was a loud repetition to the Priest last words. It
was the words to make the sacrifice and all the
Samaritans repeated them. At this moment is when the
opening in the clouds enlarged so I was told but I was
too busy to see this phenomena. With all the family
members gathered around their lambs I could only see
their movements. The trained men one per lamb made only
one quick movement. The lambs were skinned and cleaned
then inspected once more. Each was placed on a skew. The
wooden skews were about 10 feet long 3” at one end and
narrowing. At about 30” inches up from the base are four
12” wooden pegs, two in each direction. The lambs were
guided on headfirst. When the meat touched the wooden
pegs the skew is lifted vertically. The body is tied
tightly to the skew. The koshering salt is poured over
each lamb.
The sun now set, lights give them vision as the
meat is placed into the hot ovens. At least 7 skews per
oven are carefully held while the steel grates are
lifted and the skews are positioned in-between the
webbing of the grate. When all is satisfied the grates
are covered with wet burlap bags. The heat coming from
the opening in the ground, the oven is scene at this
point. There are red-hot ashes in the bottom from all
the burnt wood. In a mud pan dirt is mixed with water
and bucketed to the burlap. Young men pack the mud
creating a crust over the oven. A weak point from the
heat pops oven and is quickly repaired. They heat
remains inside and because air cannot enter the oven the
skews are not burnt. The exposed skews are shortened
with a saw.
The guardrails are placed around the ovens. The
Levites inspect that all the remains are burnt. The area
is cleaned with water washed into the ground. Singing
still is heard. At this point the gates are opened. Some
of the tourists enter asking questions. Most of the
older Samaritans decide to reside at home at this time.
Slowly the tourist buses depart. At 9:30 pm the only
remains one camera crew and a few tourists looking for a
ride home. There are only about one third of the
Samaritans present, mostly the younger generation.
At 11:15, ladies with pans and bowls begin to
appear. Within minutes the area is full again and they
uncover the hot ovens. Hoes are used to pull off the
crusted hard dirt. The steam is very hot and all move
cautiously fast. The aroma of the meat smelled
deliciously wonderful. Carefully the grate is lifted
over the cut skews. The skews are pulled out so that
they do not touch the sides of the oven. Some of the
tender meat falls into the oven. Families gather
collecting their portion. The right thighs are collect
for the Priests. The ladies quickly head for home with
their full trays.
Some families decide to stay to eat because of
the open ovens in the center. Osher Sassony’s family was
one of them. His sweet mother and sisters carried down
the rest of the supper to the center. Osher’s father
Shoham and his brother ------------ sit eating with
their staffs in the hands. Once all have eaten the extra
meat is thrown in to the open fire were the remains and
skins were burnt. Trays appear and their remains are
also burnt. All is burnt; nothing is left of the meat.
The fire soars from the meat! Levites inspect the
grounds that no meat goes unburnt. Some meat that had
fallen on the ground from the skew is burnt also.
The last camera crew had left during the meal.
The last of the tourists were a guy and a girl that
became friends during this feast, they finally leave. I
at 12:30 AM decide it is time for bed. Some of the
Samaritans stayed there all night. I was too tired from
the long day.
As I slept I was awoken at 3:30 AM by a loud
noise. It was the wind. It was blowing very hard thru
the buildings that it woke me. I lay there with only one
thought on my mind. I wondered if I would be alive in
the mourning. I am the first-born son of my mother.
Silly, I know but that is what I felt at the time. I
also felt that I was missing something that may have
also been going on outside but I did not go to
investigate.
I asked Osher about the wind and he told me that
it was strange. I just smiled.
What an incredible experience it was to see the
Passover, Samaritan style. No, I think I should say
Hebrew Style!
The
Samaritan Museum
Next to the location of the
Samaritan Passover on Mount Gerizim is the Samaritan
Museum. When Yefet Kohen had retired he decided that it
was time for the Samaritan to have their own Museum and
where better then mount Gerizim. The tourists guide
welcomed the idea as well as the rest of the Samaritans.
With contribution from other Samaritans, Yefet  began
his project with enthusiasm to the extent of learning
other languages that he had not spoke before. The museum
hosts a number of ancient artifacts, a Samaritan Torah
scroll, a display of the lineage of the Samaritan High
Priests, and so much more to describe. The tour buses
with people from all over the world would stop on the
mount and enter his building on the main street. Yefet
always greets his guests with a big smile and is always
happy to answer any of their questions. But now since
all the trouble in the West Bank the tour buses stopped
and very rarely come if at all for the last two years.
Yet Yefet Kohen does not give up to the absence of his
patrons. Anyone that has visited the museum can
recognize the value of what Yefet has accomplished. He
is spending his time making improvements, despite the
low income at the museum. When the Israeli Army moves
into the region as they do, it develops into a bad
situation for the Samaritans that live on mount Gerizim.
For the last two weeks they have been unable to return
to their work below mount Gerizim in the town of
Nablus. (Yefet Kohen at the museum placing post cards
of the Samaritans in their rack.)
Shomron (photo
by Shomron, 2000)
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