Samaritans use modern means to keep ancient faithFor an earlier article about Shura, see here.
Tue Jun 2, 2009 9:58pm EDT
By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor
KIRYAT LUZA, West Bank (Reuters) - Guardians of an ancient faith with a cameo role in the Bible, the 750 surviving followers of the Samaritan religion are using surprisingly modern methods to keep their tiny community alive.
Internet acquaintances, mail-order brides and pre-nuptial genetic tests have all become familiar to Samaritans trying to plan future generations despite a shortage of young women within their own tight-knit community.
Such openness to the outside world seems baffling in a group that considers itself the original Israelites and upholds rigid traditions about diet, sex and the Sabbath
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UPDATE (4 June): In response to this article, Sharon Sullivan Dufour, North American Representative of the A.B. Institute of Samaritan Studies, e-mails:
Dear Jim:There's more on Sharon and this Samaritan Pentateuch translation here.
I am writing from Holon, Israel, near the end of a three week visit in which I spent the past 7 days upon the summit of Mount Gerizim, living in the Kiryat Luza neighborhood among the Israelite Samaritans. I was so pleased, as I always am, to see PaleoJudaica cover articles on the Israelite Samaritans. As the North American Representative of the A.B. Institute of Samaritan Studies I would like to make a few comments on the article by Tom Heneghan.
It is unfortunate that the Israelite Samaritans are to this day judged by standards of later Jewish traditions, and not to the written Torah (Pentateuch) itself which the Samaritans hold to fervently in determining all matters of their religious tradition. It should not be considered baffling at all that in 1924 one of the prominent priests, Abraham b. Phinhas on behalf of the High Priest Yitzhaq b. Amram [1855-1932] lifted a long-held ban against marriages with the Jewish community, and allowed a few men to marry women from the Jewish community because the Samaritans have kept the law found in Deuteronomy17:8-9 that allocates authority to the High Priest in matters of practices that are not clearly stated in Torah, and because the Israelite Samaritans consider the Jews as part of the ancient people of Israel. Therefore, in 1924 the priests had very little difficulty in making the decision in favor of marriage for four male individuals who otherwise would not have had wives, nor procreated to carry on their family line. Recently it was decided by the High Priest Shalom b. Amram [1922-2004] that marriages were acceptable with non-Israelite girls from other religions due to the lack of girls among the Israelite Samaritans. For the Torah itself is not according to the later Jewish practice of tracing matrilineal descent, but traces it through the males of whom several married non-Israelite wives: such as the wife of Moses. The Israelite Samaritans translate the word in Numbers 12:1 "Kaashet" as "Beautiful" relating to Zipporah, with no meaning of ethnicity. Onkelos, the famous Jewish convert of the first century CE and nephew of the Roman Emperor Titus, suggested that the true meaning was not one of nationality, “Cushite” but had a true meaning of “beautiful.” In addition several of the Patriarchs took wives from outside the Israelite faith, such as the wife of Joseph, and the wife of Judah, and the Canaanite wife of Simeon.
Secondly, the current practice of Samaritan men who marry outside of the Samaritan community is no longer a matter of necessity due to genetic defects, nor to a lack of women. The current practice is based upon the change in religious tradition that was decided in 1924 by the High Priest Yitzhaq b. Amram and currently a matter of choice among some Samaritan males. Many Samaritan men don’t like the idea of making a match within the community to a woman they have known all their lives, but prefer it be based on love and followed by the condition that she joins the community, and practices all of the commandments of the Torah according to the Israelite Samaritan Tradition. It should be noted that there is no ritual conversion process for these women.
Lastly, I am in Israel working with Israelite Samaritan Benyamim Tsedaka, and here as an advisory member in a recently awarded National Endowment for the Humanities Grant with this goal: to bring together religious studies scholars and members of the Israelite Samaritan community – two groups that have a significant stake in the cultural and scholarly value of the (Michigan State) university’s Samaritan archive – through an online environment in which they can view and interpret the Samaritan texts, interact with members of their own communities, and interact with one another. See full article here: http://www.cal.msu.edu/Samaritan.php
You may notice in the article that the Samaritan manuscript collection was a donation on behalf of the family of E.K. Warren, a humanitarian in the early 1900s who played a major role in reversing the population decline (at that time only 146 individuals) among the Samaritans who nearly were an extinct people. On May 25, 2009 Warren’s great grandson, Charles “Gus” Whalen accepted the posthumous Samaritan Medal of Peace on behalf of his great grandfather by the High Priest of the Israelite Samaritans, Elazar b. Tsedaka, the High Priest since February 2004. See article here: http://blmc.enr-corp.com/UploadDir/oneKIT/MC80404/1005688/index.html Benyamim Tsedaka and I are sole partners in an historical project of the first English translation of the Israelite Samaritan version of the Pentateuch (SP), parallel to the English translation of the Jewish Text (MT), to be published this year.