Thursday, February 04, 2010

Death of a High Priest.

Jameel posts the news that Elazar Ben Tzadka, the Samaritan kohen gadol, has died at age 83. According to his brother (?) Benyamim Tsedaka (whom I would guess is the most well-known Samaritan in the world) his successor will be Aharon ben Av-Chisda.
Posted by at

12 comments:

  1. Manchester Boiler Repair11:24 AM, February 04, 2010

    My his soul Rest In peace

    ReplyDelete
  2. shimon11:29 AM, February 04, 2010

    You mean a spiritual brother, right?

    ReplyDelete
  3. S.11:34 AM, February 04, 2010

    No, Jameel said that Benny is his brother, and considering that he knows him, I would guess he's correct. The only reason for my question mark is because Jameel didn't give "Benny"'s last name, but I am reasonably sure he meant him. I also assume that "ben Tzadka" is the source of Benny's surname, only Jameel wrote it according to Samaritan Hebrew pronunciation.

    ReplyDelete
  4. shimon12:22 PM, February 04, 2010

    Are we talking about Benny? Benyamim ben Ratson ben Benyamim ben Shalach Sadaqa HaTzafri, of Holon? Making him a physical brother of Elazar ben Tsedaka ben Yitzhaq Cohen of Nablus?

    ReplyDelete
  5. S.12:27 PM, February 04, 2010

    Yes,I think/ thought so. I guess Jameel can enlighten me.

    ReplyDelete
  6. shimon12:51 PM, February 04, 2010

    Benyamim b. Ratson [1944-] - He has studied at the Hebrew University of
    Jerusalem. He worked for 25 years for the Jewish Agency [till Oct. 1994]. He married
    Miriam Davidovici from Romania and has 4 children. He founded in 1969 the Samaritan
    bi-weekly A.B. – The Samaritan News which contains material in four languages. The
    first issue was only of 2 pages, but nowadays the issues run to 50 pages and even more.
    This paper has opened a venue of literary expression to many Samaritans, who otherwise
    would not have published anything. Mainly it serves to keep the flame of Samaritan
    nationhood burning, to educate the younger generation to pride on their ancient traditions,
    but also to serve as mirror of its current development. It is an indispensable source of
    information for the use of scholars and acquaints the members of the community with
    some of the worldwide developments of Samaritan research. Benyamim is active in
    Samaritan public affairs, travels much and has founded a center for Samaritan studies in
    his home: "A.B. - Institute of Samaritan Studies"

    http://shomron0.tripod.com/articles/tsedakafamily.pdf

    BTW Benny is one of the friendliest people I know. If you didn't contact him yet, just try.

    ReplyDelete
  7. S.12:56 PM, February 04, 2010

    I didn't realize he was that young; I thought he might be about ten years older than that, which of course made it even more likely that Jameel's "Benny" was the man we're talking about.

    I'll update the post according to whatever reliable info I can get.

    ReplyDelete
  8. MDJ8:39 PM, February 04, 2010

    Is "Benny's" wife Samaritan originally or Jewish? (They do make that distinction, don't they)

    ReplyDelete
  9. shimon9:23 PM, February 04, 2010

    IIRC, Bennys wife and mother are Jewish.

    ReplyDelete
  10. shimon9:29 PM, February 04, 2010

    Just some interesting notes:

    1. Since ancient times the Samaritans claimed descent from the 10 northern tribes, mainly Ephraim and Menashe

    2. Since ancient times they lived in the territories of the 10 tribes.

    3. The Y-DNA tests of most non-kohanic Samaritans corresponds with what became known as CMH ("the Kohen gene", considered by many as the DNA marker of ancient israelites).

    http://evolutsioon.ut.ee/publications/Shen2004.pdf

    ReplyDelete
  11. Lion of Zion8:46 AM, February 05, 2010

    i met benny once in the jts library

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous7:17 AM, June 18, 2012

    Shalom,

    Will the Jews rebuild the Samaritan Temple THEY destroyed and pay whatever monies, with interest that is due on what was stolen?

    Ask Abe Foxman is he interested in fighting their cause.

    ReplyDelete

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