Samaritan Homilies and Sermons, Manuscript on Parchment, [Damascus]: ca.1335

Estimate

5,000 - 7,000 USD

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Description

14 leaves (4 x 23/4 in.; 100 x 70 mm) in two gatherings [1^{4, 2^{3] written in ink on parchment in vocalized Arabic script with occasional phrases in Paleo-Hebrew (Samaritan) script; modern foliation in pencil. ff.1, 8 loose, ff.2-7 unsewn and loosely nested; ff.9-14 sewn with a filament of twisted parchment. Brittle, with numerous cracks, holes, and losses; stained and soiled. Leaves secured atop a modern red velvet tray and tied with attached ribbons, and set within a modern red velvet cloth portfolio.}}

Literature

Marina Rustow, "The Samaritans," Scripture and Schism: Samaritan and Karaite Treasures from the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York: 2000, pp. 6-59.

Catalogue Note

Dating back more than 2,500 years, the Samaritans are the longest-lived religious sect in Jewish history and their traditions, beliefs and practices are still maintained by a small community of less than eight hundred. As they always have, most Samaritans live in the vicinity of the biblical city of Shechem (Nablus) near Mt. Gerizim in Israel. The Mountain is central to Samaritan worship and beliefs and is the site of the sect's annual Passover sacrifice. With their own version of the Pentateuch, the Samaritans have always maintained the use of Hebrew, written in Paleo-Hebrew letters, for ritual purposes and used Aramaic as a vernacular until around the 11^th century when, under the influence of Islam, it was gradually replaced by Arabic.

At about the same time, the Samaritans began to develop an important center in Damascus. During the course of the 14th century the two centers achieved the height of their social and religious development, and the contact between them, which sometimes reached the dimension of competition, brought about the strengthening and crystallization of the Samaritan life by the renewed writing of books on religious law, history, and the order of rituals.

This manuscript is a rare relic of a bygone era in Samaritan history when their numbers were measured not in hundreds but in hundreds of thousands.

For a complete transcription of the manuscript as well as a translation into Hebrew, please inquire of the department.