I've
posted what I think about Esau, that he gets a bum rap, & how I think that
our Jewish Sages love to demonize him. I asked my Israelite Samaritan friend
how Ishaab (to use the IS style) is seen by the IS community. He replied,
"As holy as his brother, seeker of peace and pampered by the Almighty, so
human and so compassionate." How wonderful!
I
saw a review of Gerald Russell's book "Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms:
Journeys into the Disappearing Religions of the Middle East" &
ordered the book. I had it shipped to my parents in the US & Dad forwarded
it to me here. I am almost finished with the first two chapters, on the
Mandeans & the Yazidis. I am reading the chapters in order & will get
to the (5th) chapter on the Israelite Samaritans eventually. It is a very good
read so far. My IS friend said it is "good and accurate."
I
first became aware of the "Samaritans" way back after my (Conservative)
bar mitzvah. I received from the synagogue a Hertz
chumash which I still have (actually I have my brother's; maybe he
has mine?) In his commentary on Genesis 49:7, Yaaqob is giving his
blessing to Shehmoon and Libee. The Masoretic Text version reads:
"Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath for it was
cruel; I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel." The
Hebrew for "Cursed" is arur.
Rav Hertz writes in his commentary: "It is characteristic of the
untrustworthiness of the Samaritan Text that instead of the reading arur, 'Cursed be their
anger,' it has adir,
'How splendid is their anger!'" The IS Version of the Torah reads
"Great is their anger, for it is strong, and their wounding, for it is so
hard. I will disperse them in Yaaqob and scatter them in Yishraael."
His
sneering condescension aside, I think that Rav Hertz completely misreads the
Israelite Samaritan version. Adir also
means great or mighty, which is clearly the meaning it has in the Israelite
Samaritan version. I don't get that Yaaqob is praising or commending his sons'
anger at all. Otherwise he would not "disperse them in Yaaqob and scatter
them in Yishraael." That Yaaqob wasn't praising their anger is also
obvious from Genesis 49:6, which reads not all that differently in the two
versions. The Jewish version reads: "Let my soul not come into their
council; unto their assembly let my glory be united; for in their anger they
slew men, and in their self-will they houghed oxen." The Israelite
Samaritan version reads: "In their secret my soul will not be involved,
and in their assembly my honor will not be angry; Because in their anger they
slew men. And in their will they lamed an ox."
So
until I discovered the Israelite Samaritans and their version of our faith, I
would read Rav Hertz every year and think "Those poor benighted
Samaritans..."
A
few Shabbats ago at our synagogue, as we were waiting for 10 men to show up so
we could say the afternoon prayers, the discussion turned to whether Jews
should or should not go up to the Temple Mount. The guys looked at me and I
said that I don't go up there. I wanted to shout, "BECAUSE IT IS NOT THE HOLY PLACE
CHOSEN BY GOD!!! THAT IS AARGAREEZEM!!!"
But
I didn't. Shouting rarely does any good.
In
Exodus 24:7, the Jewish Masoretic Text says, "...we will do and we will
hear," whereas the Israelite Samaritan Text says, "...we will hear
and we will do." Our Jewish Sages make such a big deal that we declared
that we would do God's words even before understanding ("hearing")
them & that without doing there can be no understanding. Now that I think
about it, I think our reading makes little sense. How can we do God's words if
we do not know what they are & what God in fact wants?
