“An Ancient Sect, A Brazen Theft And The Hunt To Bring The Manuscripts Home”
“The Samaritans trace their roots to the ancient Israelites and regard themselves as the most loyal followers of the word of God as transmitted to Moses. Women are kept apart from others when menstruating in adherence with ritual purity, and men sacrifice sheep each year on Passover, a biblical commandment Jews gave up millennia ago.
If the Samaritans are the true keepers of the biblical faith, their Torahs are title deeds: rare and sacred manuscripts, written in a variation of the original Israelite script that Jews abandoned long ago and featuring passages scholars say preserve some of the earliest drafts of the Bible. Of the three dozen old biblical manuscripts left in the community’s coffers, the Samaritans say one is the oldest in the world, written by Moses’ great-grandnephew…
In total, Benny estimates about 4,000 Samaritan manuscripts were sold in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, hauled away to the Vatican, Russia’s National Library in St. Petersburg, Oxford University, Michigan State University and other corners of the globe…
Palestinian leaders embrace the Samaritans as an example of the Palestinian people’s tolerance, diversity and deep roots, while Israeli leaders embrace the Samaritans as living proof of Jewish history in the West Bank. The Samaritans are poised between these two adversaries, and dependent on both. It’s a matter of survival, reflected in Benny’s own family: His brother is an activist in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conservative political party, while his cousin is a civil servant of the Palestinian Authority.”
