Intro:
Sunday, December 20, 2020
Friday, December 18, 2020
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Theft of the Holy Scroll
One of the most interesting and disturbing things I have discovered during my research on the Samaritans has been the story of the theft of their holy scroll. This post will be covering the Samaritans' scrolls, their theft and attempted recovery as well as the unwillingness of the Palestinian government to aid the Samaritans in recovering their lost treaures.
https://www.npr.org/2018/04/29/602836507/who-stole-the-torahs
https://www.npr.org/2018/04/29/602836507/who-stole-the-torahs
Samaritans, Jews, Christians and the True Name
Despite all three (major) Abrahamic religions being united in their worship of a single deity, the names which are used to worship said G-d vary significantly between the three.
For example, Muslims famously will call G-d “Allah” (Simply G-d in Arabic) or “Rahman” (Meaning merciful). Christans have various names for G-d depending on their own language. Because of this, we will simply use Latin’s “Deus” (Meaning G-d) as it is the closest to a formal Christan name for G-d. Among Jews and Samaritans, it is more complicated. There are many holy names that are used such as “Eil”, a cognate to “Allah” meaning simply (G-d). “Elohim” the ancient plural form of “Eil”, although it should be noted that this is still in reference to a single deity- this is likely a result of a monotheistic Israelite upper-class ruling over other Canaanites who may have been more lukewarm in their acceptance of the “G-d of Abraham”.
The holiest name which the Jews use in reference to G-d, however, is “Adonai”. This name, however, is rarely spelled as is written, but is almost always spelled “YHVH”. This is because “Adonai” is a stand-in name for something much older, and much more holy. The Tetragrammaton, the original Abrahamic name for G-d and, depending on what stream of Abrahamic religion you follow, if any at all, the true name of G-d.
Thousands of years ago the Jews stopped pronouncing this name. It appears that as time progressed, the Israelites used the name with increasing caution out of fear of its alleged power. As such, there is some evidence that even the Israelites enemies did not know the name at a point. One sign of this is the mocking of the Israelites in the book of Samson where they say that they worship a “G-d with no name”. It appears that as time progressed only the Cohanim or Priests of Israel were allowed to know the sacred name. When the Jews were forced into exile by the Babylonians, the name was forgotten.
Many Jews and Christians throughout the years have tried to rediscover “The Name.” Notably, this has been of Kabbalists and other Jewish mystics. There is an old Jewish folk tale which I can neither corroborate nor testify as to its origin. The story goes that three Rabbis finally discover “The name” and decide to say it. One dies on the spot, one becomes an insane raging Nihilist, and one is given great wisdom and power. What is the lesson of this story? Be careful. “The Name” is very powerful.
Christan and Western intellectuals have sought out after “The Name” in a scientific manner lacking the cultural sensitivity or carefulness of their Kabbalistic counterparts. Like westerners do, they gave it a fancy name the “Tetragrammaton” which is a complicated Greek way of saying “four-letter word”.
How does this all tie into the Samaritans?
Much research has been done over whether or not the Samaritans still know the holy name. In an uncharacteristically passionate and dubiously edited article, our favorite Samaritan intellectual, Benyamin Tsedaka attempts to answer this same question.
Monday, December 14, 2020
An Introduction to Benyamin Tsedaka, the Chief intellectual of the Samaritans
Samaritan culture is fascinating for numerous reasons. I believe many people find the tiny indigenous Levantine nation that has survived a Millenium of persecution to be quite endearing. After all, who doesn’t love a good underdog story? There are few who can call themselves underdogs as in the way the of the Samaritans.
It seems to me in the common appreciation of Samaritan culture and the Samaritan people, appreciation for them as individuals is often lost. The Samaritan Cohen Gadol or High Priest is somewhat well known, as his existence itself is somewhat of a novelty to some people.
There is one person, however, who’s importance to this generation of Samaritans, rivals that of the High Priest himself. That person is Benyamin (Benny) Tsedaka, the chief intellectual of the Samaritan community. In doing my research for this project his name has come up again and again. In almost any reliable article you read on the Samaritans he is mentioned or credited.
I think he deserves all the praise which he gets. Tsedaka is quite an interesting individual. While most Samaritans are inwardly focused and (to people unfamiliar with the Samaritans) surprisingly average, Benny Tsedaka acts as a mediator to the outside world.
According to the Samaritan website, Benny Tsedaka was born in Nablus, Israel in 1944. This description raises more questions than answers. Firstly, Nablus was part of the British Mandatory-Palestine in 1944. It would become part of Jordan in 1949, following the Arab defeat in the first Arab-Israeli war, and the Jordanian-Egyptian occupation of the territories promised by the UN to a future Palestinian-Arab state. If the information listed was correct, then Benny Tsedaka would have been raised in Jordan.
This question over someone's birthplace is just one of the many complexities raised by the constant border shifting in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There is only so much information on Tsedaka available on the internet, if I am to try to get a more complete picture of this fascinating man, I will have to try to contact him myself.
As requested, here are some of the sources I used in writing this. A complete biography of him is hard to come by so I've priced information on him together from several different sources, mostly news sources of varying quality which provide details on him.
Thursday, December 10, 2020
How Palestinian Noir Written by a Welshman Relates to the Samaritans
One of the most unique tangentially related topics I have stumbled upon while researching the Samaritans has been my discovery of the Palestinian Noir written by a Welshman genre. Of course, given the blog's name, this post will be covering how it relates to the Samaritan nation.
While compiling as many sources as possible when starting research for this blog, I found one fascinating anomaly.
I was looking for books on the Samaritans and was being met with non-promising results. My first task was to sort out the plethora of Christian books that used the Samaritans' name, in conjunction of course with the story of "The good Samaritan". After I had filtered through all the Christian books I was mostly met with extremely overpriced and questionably reliable books on the Samaritans. I realized that my blog would mostly have to rely on internet sources. There was some good which came out of this search, however, as I soon found a novel titled "The Samaritan's Secret." My first reaction when reading this description was profound confusion and amusement. I will paste it below.
"No crime, whether a theft or murder, is an isolated event in Palestine; it's an intersection of religious, cultural and political issues, as shown in Rees's absorbing third Omar Yussef mystery (after 2008's A Grave in Gaza). Omar Yussef, a 57-year-old history teacher, becomes immersed in finding who killed Ishaq, a member of the tiny, ancient Samaritan community on the outskirts of Nablus. While his fellow Samaritans didn't respect Ishaq, he controlled millions of dollars of government money through his job at the Palestinian Authority—money that's now missing. Unless the funds can be found, the World Bank will cut off all financial aid to Palestine. If the quiet Yussef stretches believability as a sleuth, Rees excels in capturing the essence of Palestine, from the claustrophobic casbah with its myriad scents to the harsh beauty of the countryside. Rees vividly illustrates daily Palestinian life, where violence is a constant threat and religious attitudes permeate each decision."
This is very dramatic. I decided to buy the book out of curiosity. My first impression was not a positive one. From reading the back alone I was expecting a quite mediocre noir novel that capitalized on the Samaritans' precarious position and famous name.
I then chose to research the author, which was another fascinating rabbit hole in its own right. From the beginning, I was surprised by the series's reach and popularity. Both the author, Matt Rees, and his character, Omar Yusseff (who I am inclined to like as we share the same name) had their own Wikipedia pages.
Matt Rees is an author and journalist who seems to know a good deal about the Middle East (or Israel/Palestine more specifically). He lived in Jerusalem for 20 years and served as a high profile journalist during the intifadas. This was all very interesting, but what made it all the more fascinating to me was that he was not a native of the area. Given that Rees was neither Israeli, Palestinian or Jewish and most certainly not Samaritan, he did not seem to have any "skin in the game" so to speak.
At this point, I was very intrigued. I did a short bit of research and soon got the impression that his books were mostly well-received by Palestinians. The only negative review I could find was a quite scathing review from a man I have decided to dub a "Philistinophile" or "Philo-Philistini" if you'd rather. I do not want to give his name here, because I am discussing another man's book and don't want this aside to be mistaken for slander. That being said, I found his review quite amusing. He seemed to have much less exposure to Palestine than Matt Rees with the author of this scathing review's only credentials seeming to be that he married a Palestinian woman. Palestine must have been close to his heart, if not so much to his head.
After my bit of research, I finally got around to reading Matt Rees's novel. I was pleasantly surprised. Although a bit tropy, and containing some uncomfortable jokes about marrying multiple women the book was quite fun to read. It was Palestinian pulp, but entertaining Palestinian pulp none the less.
The book acts as a condiment to explore the Samaritans and while it was an informative introduction to someone with no knowledge of their community, I found its portrayal unflattering to the Samaritans. Rees grasped at seeds of truth to form the story. He built it largely around a news story about how local Arabs had stolen a Samaritan holy book and attempted to ransom it. The small community was unable to afford the price and the Palestinian authority was of no assistance.
His critiques of corruption in the West Bank seemed to be largely accurate but his attitude towards the Samaritans not so much.
For one, the two most prominent Samaritan characters (one of whom was dead for the entirety of the story despite like in any good Noir novel) were both villains in some way or another. The Samaritans were portrayed as wicked, backward, and inbred and as someone with a great deal of sympathy for the community, I felt somewhat vicariously insulted.
All in all, the book's background was as interesting as the novel itself and I would recommend you read it. If you want actual good information on the Samaritans, however, I'd recommend you visit their website or read my blog instead.
Here is a link to an overly dramatic youtube video in which Mr. Rees discusses his novel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0Wg6KpZ_iw
Monday, December 7, 2020
As someone who is very interested in music and its relation to culture, the Samaritan choir is endlessly fascinating to me. Their unique musical traditions and style could be a glimpse into the ancient Israelites and their past. The Samaritan community’s small size may have allowed them to preserve ancient musical traditions that have been lost to their Jewish brothers and Palestinian cousins.
The Samaritans ( as seem to be somewhat characteristic of their tiny nation) make several bold claims about their choir’s purity. While these claims are almost impossible (at least for me) to verify, they are nonetheless fascinating.
On the official Samaritan webpage (which I have a sneaking suspicion was written almost entirely by Samaritan chief intellectual Benyamin Tsedaka), they begin by stating “Samaritan music is unique. Despite study in the beginning of the 20th century, musicologists have found no similar music anywhere else in the world. Its unique nature stems from its origins in ancient Israelite music.” They go on to make the very bold claims that despite around 1.5 thousand years of foreign domination, the indigenous Samaritans’ music has not been influenced at all by the plethora of conquering nations and different peoples who have settled in the land. This is very unlikely, however, it likely contains some truth.
The Samaritans, unlike the Jews, were never displaced from the land. Their culture owing to their isolation, small numbers, and to oppression by Christian and later Muslim overlords has led their culture to be somewhat stagnant. This is not to say that the Samaritans do no poses a rich and vibrant culture, they obviously do. These conditions have made it so very little change in the Samaritan culture was able to occur. As such, they provide a unique insight into the land’s original inhabitants. While it is exceedingly unlikely that Samaritan music is untainted by outside forces as they claim, there is a strong likelihood that it does contain some elements of indigenous Levantine culture which was lost on the Jews due to their some two Millenium of exile and upon the neighboring populations due to the Arab influx and Islamic domination of the local cultures.
I have yet to find a less biased account of the Samaritans’ musical culture. Yet, when taken with a grain of sand, the information on the Samaritan website could be very valuable. Samaritan music, at least the small sections of it which exist on the internet is endlessly interesting. I will seek to explore Samaritan musical culture more as this blog progresses.
Below is a link to one of the only good recordings of Samaritan music I could find.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWbxhbun4XE While I do not understand this video, the first couple of minutes include Samaritan music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hFgZLAL5vc
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