The Washington herald. [volume], November 29, 1914, Image 24

About The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
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elrpised and Hated By
All Their Neighbors.
BY ARCHIE BELL.
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i HE Jews have no dealings with
the woman whom Jesus met
nearly two thousand years ago,
when the words came from her
dition to the Jews, the same thing might be
Mohammedans with whom the remnants of
elbows In the affairs of their dally life. The
spised on the face of the earth by Jew and
has almost come for him. There are 170 members of the faithful
together in Mule white-domed houses around
gogue, at Nablous, a very modern and very
In the middle of Palestine. Nablous is the
the valley beyond Its gates lies Jacob's well.
Sabasteih, the ruins of the beautiful metropolis of Samaria and
stronghold of Herod the Great. The Samaritan of today m
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Jacob High Priest f cTAmpiTAX
from his roof at sunset and see them, as
he can see Mount Gerizim, which he con
siders the place "chosen of the Lord."
All of these places have lost their former
glory. They seem to have reached the
end before "God's Chosen People." The
little group of Samaritans, poverty
stricken, degenerate in appearance and
despised, huddle around the diminutive
white synagogue and vow that they will
remain faithful to the end.
"The struggle is almost over: God.
may He be exalted, only knows how long
and we shall be no more; but we shall
remain faithful." says Jacob, son of
Aaron, High Priest of the tribe, and the
graybeards at his side on a little stone
bench on his housetop repeat the vow:
"we shall reinain faithful."
In the tone of their voices there is
the sorrow of centuries, the decay of
pride and the wail of blasted hope. Also
there is a faint echo of what must once
have been bravery, when Samaritans
were men among men and when they
could force their wills. Now they seem
to be resigned to the fate that awaits
them and is rapidly overtaking them.
As I pressed my way through the nar
row streets toward their dwellings, dark,
narrow passageways scarcely worthy of
bein called streets at all. dingy alleys
Into which the light never penetrates
because the housetops and balconies
met. overhead. I was met at the foot
of a narrow stairway by a brother of
the High Priest. I was followed by a
trlli" of hoodlums and Mohammedan
children, who threw sticks and stones
and spat at me. I was an infidel. I was
paying a visit to the despised Samari
tans; that was enough to bring down
any klrd of insults upon my head, and
the two guards who accompanied me
were kept busy protecting me from
missiles which are often dropped upon
sue! as me from overhanging window
led ges.
I pounded on the little wooden door,
for I knew that I was expected at an
appointed hour, but the keeper of the
door hesitated before he opened it. He
feared the fury of the hooting pedes
trians; and when he finally did turn
back the bar, the guards hustled me in
side and slammed the door closed again.
It was a dramatic moment, for it was
all unexpected.
"The Jews have no dealings with the
Samaritans." I knew that was true
centuries ago, but what I did not know
was that even Mohammedan beggars
sneer and hoot at the Samaritan rem
nant as it exists today. Their blood
brothers have prospered and spread over
the face of the earth, but they. 170 of
them, about all favorable of them that
can be said Is that they are interesting
to the antiquarian and they "remain
faithful."
At the top of the narrow stairway
which led to an Irregular white terrace,
which was In reality the roofs of the
Samaritan dwellings, an old man met
me and extended his hand In greeting.
His beard was white, his long flowing
gown seemed to be a winding-sheet and
a white turban was bound around his
head. He had a strong face and a dig
nified bearing, as did other elders of the
tribe whom I saw during my visit, but
these features were not characteristic of
the younger generation. Tills was Jacob.
son of Aaron, the High Priest. At his
aide was his eldest son, who In his torn,
if the dwindling tribe endures to another
the Samaritans," declared
at Jaeob's well. That was
but It Is as true today as
mouth. And today. In ad
said of the Christians and
a once-proud nation rub
Samaritan Is a thing
infidel. The end of all tjnng
their only remalnli
fanatical Mohammei
Shechem of the BlbW
On the distant
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HOHrvtftST
A
generation, will assume lifs father's
wand of office. The son is a weird in
dividual in appearance. The Samaritan
"heir apparent" may not cut his hair,
so this youth, perhaps twenty years of
age. has two long braids of black which
are worn in a coil at the back of his
neck. His skin Is dark and his features
are those cf an imbecile. Immediately
Jacob received me, he presented his son,
and the latter gibbered and chattered
throughout my interview with the High
Priest. The others paid no attention to
him, apparently well used to his eccen
tric manner.
"Meester, me splk Anglis," he said as
he grasped my hand, "High Priest no
spik Anglis and yes I do. I have him
study Anglis, meester."
But it was to Jacob that I wanted to
address my questions and It was his re
plies that ! desired In better English
than the son would muster, so we
chatted through an Interpreter, as my
Vhost led the way over the roofs of snowy
whiteness, some of which had little
arbors of grapevine and flowering plants.
We came to his residence, which was
different from the others only in that It
had a larger arbor where there were
several big sofas. Apparently, ft was a
big council chamber, for as we walked
along several men of the tribe joined
us and, arrived at the house, they
squatted themselves tn oriental fashion
upon the divans, sssa to have their
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regular places to receive the cup of
coffee that was soon forthcoming. Jacob
clapped his hands and three women
came from the house probably his
wives one bearing a littfe clay stove
about a foot high, in which charcoal was
burning, another a pair pf hand bellows
and the other a tray filled with cups.
The woman with the bellows squatted
beside the primitive stove and tried to
make the fuel blaze. The second busied
herself with the blackened coffeepot, and
the other held the tray until the black
stuff had been poured Into the cups,
then she hsnded the tray to the eldest
son of Jacob and after he had knelt be
fore his fsther while the latter took a
cup from the tray, he served the rest
of us and continued to chatter: "Me
splk Anglis, High Priest he no can spik
Anglis."
"We are very, very poor." began
Jacob, after we had gone through tare
formalities of oriental eoffee-slpplng.
"Ton see how we live, and because the
people are combined against us we have
little opportunity to Improve oar condi
tion, because work tor others Is for
bidden. We have a few fields which we
cultivate, hat the product of these fields
Is barely enough to keep breath in our
bodies. Perhaps oar chief revenue is
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from tourists who come to our synagogue
to see our ancient copy of the Penta
teuch. Many .of them are eager enough
to see It until they learn that we charge
an English shilling for showing It, and
although this Is our principal source of
income, the strangers who come seem to
be very unwilling to contribute. But.
God's will be done, we shall remain
faithful."
Faithful to what?" I Inquired, for
the question seemed to be prompted by
the constant repetition of the vow.
"To the law of God. who Is highly
exalted," replied Jacob, and his expla
nations that followed proved that in his
opinion, the Bible at least that portion
of It that is accepted by the Samaritans
must be taken literally, and without
any of the "meanings" which modern
men have come to look upon as figures
of speech.
"Nothing in the Hebrew Bible was in
spired after Moses upon whom be
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CELEBRA7QN f FAJJOVER FAsT7 X,
peace," he explained; "we accept noth
ing later as of divine origin, but we have
the law and we strive to fulfill it."
Then Jacob explained to me many of
the ancient laws to which he and his
people still subscribe, literal observation
of which was discarded by the most
orthodox Jews of the world centuries
ago. and It became plainer and plainer
as we chatted that herein is the prin
cipal line that separates Jews from
Samaritans and makes the latter de
spised by Jews and infidels alike. They
practice polygamy, but they do not
marry blood relatives and will not do
so even though the tribe become extinct.
When a man dies, the brother marries
the widow. While he offered me no
evidence that such a law was necessary
at this time, tbe High Priest said that
an adulteress Is killed, under the law,
and that her property is Inherited by
the high priest who condemns her. When
a woman marries outside of the tribe.
her property goes to her nearest of kirn
within the tribe and evar-y member of
the tribe goes to tt39fk priest.
Biblical contrjfpKe in which the)
Samaritans hsjflPVhered to unpopular
views haveHPly but surely alienated
them (rogsHEaacU. They insist that
the plaJoBPsVEgypt lasted but two and
one-half month before the exodns. They
believe thj the new calendar of the
ivi djsHrpm the exodus, but they
that it was merely a re-
of the calendar dating
reatiofi. They believe that
was written by the actual
ad of God and that it was passed to
Moses In a single scroll in a language
that he could oMtafptand. They are
particularly biUs ajsjnst the Jews for
the slander .sutMttBpses. which says
ataried 'to a n egress, or
Interpreting the word
be "kash-sheet." which
plump or beautiful."
beliefs and minor differ-
l opinion have in the past led to
lesions and quarrels which with the
ling of the years and centuries have
developed the animosities and hatreds
hat hare gradually driven away the
people wje -were once their friends.
Strangest of all. however, is perhaps
their strict adherence to the words of
the prophets in regard to the Passover.
This completely separates them from all
other people of the world and makes it
literally impossible for them, at the pres
ent time, to live elsewhere than in the
little community at Nablous which is in
the shadow of Mount Gerizim. So it
was of the celebration of the Passover
that I asked Jacob to speak at length
and to each of my questions, he had a
passage of Scripture in reply, that from
his point of view at least made debate
or argument Impossible.
First I asked him why he felt certain
that Mount Gerizim was the plai e
"chosen of the Lord." whereas the Jews
have from ancient times ascribed that
dignity to Mount Moriah at Jerusalem
"Genesis xli: 1." replied Jacob. "God
told Abraham to move out of his land
and he went to the land of Shechem.
which we know is Nablous, and the Lord
gave the land to his seed. Abraham
was commanded to take Isaac into the
land of Moreh (Genesis xxii: 2). Jacob
slept here when he saw the ladder (Gen
esis xxviil: 7i and he came back to
Shechem fNablous) in peace" (Genesis
xxxiii: 1SV
"Why is the Passover celebrated today
literally as it was commanded?"
"Exodus xii: 17. we are told to ob
serve and fulfill this day in our genera
tion as an eternal ordinance. Genesis
xii: 24 repeats the same injunction and
In Genesis xiii: 10 we are told to cele
brate it from year to year."
"Why must a Samaritan live in Nab
lous?" "At least he must be here for the
Passover. In Deuteronomy xvi: 5 we
sre told that it is unlawful to celebrate
it in other towns and the same passage
tells us the date and that the celebration
must be at sunset. Exodus xii: 4 per
mits the poor to Join with their neigh
bors in the sacrifice and. as we are very
poor, we gather together as we have
done for 115 years and make one com
panv having one furnace. During the
celebration our people indulge greatly
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in praise, glorification and exultation
and do not cease doing so throughout
the night. Exodus xii: 42. We are told
how we must be dressed. Exodus xii: 11,
how we shall select the animals for our
sacrifice. Exodus xii: 3, in the sixth
verse how it shall he prepared for
slaughter, how It shall he cooked in
Exodus xfl: 8 and ! that is. broiled sc
that only fire and not water shall touch
It; how u shall he eaten, Kxodus xii: 11
and Deuteronomy xvi: 3; and with salt,
Leviticus il: 1 ' and not a particle of It
may remain. Exodus ii: 10."
Occasionally. Jacob would admit that
a passage was capable of two or more
meanings or translations, and when one
different than the Samaritans accepted
was suggested, he replied only: "God
possesses the best knowledge."
The Passover celebration of the Sa
maritans is the event of their year. Every
man. woman and child of the tribe is
dressed In a white robe as if preparatory
to starting on a journey, sheep are care
fully selected, and in a stately proces
sion they file to the top of Mount
Gerizim. where to the best of their
ability the ordinances are carried out in
strict accordance with Biblical command.
As several elders of the tribe arrived
at the house, apparently on business of
some sort, Jacob told some of the
younger men to take me to the syna
gogue to see the ancient copy of the
Pentateuch, which Samaritan tradition
declares was written by Aaron or a de
scendant of Aaron. There were several
tourists there inspecting the manuscript
and. as Jacob had said, they came eager
ly enough, but they hesitated and argued
when they were asked to contribute a
shilling for the privilege that they had
enjoyed.
As they were wrangling. Jacob came
to the synagogue himself and after the
other foreigners had left and I was pre
paring to leave, he asked me to remain
until they were out of sight. Then,
with a sort of malicious joy. he gave a
signal to the boys and they approached
the little altar, went behind draperies
and brought forth an ancient bronze
cylinder, which was opened and a parch
ment taken out.
"This is our ancient Pentateuch." said
the High Priest. "We don't show this
to the tourists, for the other one satis
fies them Just as well. That copy is
spurious (pointing to the one seen by
the earlier delegation to the synagogue),
thla on is the genuine."