The Samaritan Liturgy[1]

Edited by

A. E. Cowley

 

In Two volumes

Oxford

At the Clarendon Press

1909.

 

 

CONTENTS

(pages appear aligned in various directions but print correctly)

 
 
PAGE

INTRODUCTION

 

TEXTS PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED

 

vii

 
 

METHOD OF THIS EDITION

viii

 
 

LIST OF MSS. USED

 
ix
 

DATES OF THE TEXTS (SEE INDEX OF AUTHORS)

 
xviii
 
GRAMMAR OF THE ARAMAIC TEXTS
 
xxxv
 

LIST OF HIGH PRIESTS

 

xliii

 
 

GENEALOGICAL TABLES

 

xlv

 

GLOSSARY

 
 
xlix

INDEX OF FIRST LINES

 
 
lxxiii

INDEX OF AUTHORS

 
 

xcvi

 

CORRIGENDA

 
 
xcix

TEXT[2]

 
 
 
 

COMMON PRAYERS (DEFTER)

3-29

30-49

50-69

70-92

 
 
PASSOVER SERIES

93-113

114-139

140-159

160-179

180-209

 

 

 

 
 

PENTECOST SERIES

 
284
 

SERVICES OF THE SEVENTH MONTH

 
428
 

OCCASIONAL PRAYERS - MARRIAGE AND CIRCUMCISION.

 
818
 
OCCASIONAL PRAYERS - BURIAL
852
APPENDIX
 
867
 
 
 
August 28, 2005

 

 

 

Select Bibliography and Links[3]

 

The Samaritan Community’s own web site  - http://the-samaritans.com/ and The Samaritan Update

 Search in the following (usually available in university libraries) for “Samaritan”

Index To Theses (http://www.theses.com/ ) - A comprehensive listing of theses with abstracts accepted for higher degrees by universities in Great Britain and Ireland since 1716. There are just under half a million theses in this collection.

ProQuest Digital Dissertations – key online searchable source.

 

Bibliographies

Crown Alan. D., A Bibliography of the Samaritans, Scarecrow Press; 2nd Edition edition (1993), ISBN: 0810826461

- A Bibliography of the Samaritans, supplement to the Second Edition, Sydney, 1996.  19 p.  Paperback

Crown Alan. D. and Reinhard Pummer, A Bibliography of the Samaritans: Revised, Expanded And Annotated (Atla Bibliography Series), Scarecrow Press; 3rd edition (2005), ISBN: 081085659X

Purvis Collection’s Samaritan Bibliography

 

Summary and Encyclopedic Works 

Crown Alan. D. (ed.), The Samaritans, Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1989.

Crown Alan. D., Reinhard Pummer, and Abraham Tal., (eds.), A Companion to Samaritan Studies, Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1993. 244 p

Pummer, Reinhard, “The Present State of Samaritan Studies: I”, Journal of Semitic Studies 21 (1976): 39-61.

- “The Present State of Samaritan Studies: II”, Journal of Semitic Studies 22 (1977): 27-47.

- The Samaritans (Iconography of Religions Xxii/5), Brill Academic Publishers (1987), ISBN: 9004078916  

Encyclopedia Judaica, “Samaritans” article in volume 14 columns 725-758, Keter 1972

Wikipedia article “Samaritan”

Samaritan -- Facts, Info, and Encyclopedia article – this has some interesting links

 

History, Religion and Culture 

Anderson, Robert T. and Terry Giles, The Keepers: An Introduction to the History and Culture of the Samaritans, Hendrickson Publishers (2002), ISBN: 1565635191 - see review

- Tradition Kept: The Literature Of The Samaritans[4], Hendrickson Publishers (2005), ISBN: 156563747X

Boid, I. R. M., Principles of Samaritan Halachah (Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity, Vol 38), Brill Academic Publishers (1997) ISBN: 9004074791  

Crown Alan. D. (ed.), The Samaritans: Their Religion, Literature, Society and Culture, Coronet Books Inc (1988), ISBN: 3161452372

Feldman, Louis H., "Josephus' Attitude toward the Samaritans: A Study in Ambivalence" in   Volume 3: Jewish Sects, Religious Movements,and Political Parties in Proceedings of the Third Annual Symposium of the Philip M. & Ethel Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization  October 14-15, 1990. © 1992. ISBN 1-881871-04-5

Hjelm Ingrid, Samaritans and Early Judaism: A Literary Analysis (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. Supplement Series, 303)  (2000)

- “What do Samaritans and Jews have in Common? Recent Trends in Samaritan Studies”, Currents in Biblical Research 2004 3: 9-59

Ireton, Sean, The Samaritans - A Jewish Sect in Israel: Strategies for Survival of an Ethno-religious Minority in the Twenty First Century

Purvis, James D., The Samaritan Pentateuch and Origin of the Samaritan Sect, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1968.

Schur, Nathan, History of the Samaritans (Beitrage Zur Erforschung Des Alten Testaments Und Des Antiken Judentums, Bd 18), Peter Lang Pub Inc; 2nd Rev/En edition (1992), ISBN: 3631436424

- The Karaite Encyclopedia (Beitrage Zur Erforschung Des Alten Testaments Und Des Antiken Judentums, 38), Peter Lang Pub Inc (1995) ISBN: 3631477422

Steinberg, David, The Origin and Nature of the Samaritans and their Relationship to Second Temple Jewish Sects

- Israelite Religion to Judaism: the Evolution of the Religion of Israel

- Jewish Sects of the Second Temple Period

- Flavius Josephus, Judaea and Rome: A Question of Context

- The Greek Influence on Judaism from the Hellenistic Period Through the Middle Ages c. 300 BCE- 1200 CE

- Jewish History Tables

Whaley, Ernest Boyd, "Josephus' Antiquities 11.297-347: Unraveling the Evidence Regarding the Founding of the Gerizim Temple and the Background of the Samaritan Religious Community" in   Volume 3: Jewish Sects, Religious Movements and Political Parties in Proceedings of the Third Annual Symposium of the Philip M. & Ethel Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization  October 14-15, 1990. © 1992. ISBN 1-881871-04-5

Whaley, Ernest Boyd, Samaria and the Samaritans in Josephus's 'Antiquities' 1-11, PhD thesis EMORY UNIVERSITY, 1989, 539 pages AAT 8924720

 

Liturgy[5] and Literature

Ben Hayyim, Ze' ev. Tibat Marqe: A Collection of Samaritan Midrashim, Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1988 (Hebrew).

Brown, S., “Critical edition and translation of the ancient Samaritan Defter (i.e. liturgy) and a comparison of it with early Jewish liturgy”, 1954 – 1955, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Leeds, 5-62

MacDonald, J., Memar Marqah. 2 vols. Berlin: Topelmann, 1963.

 

Texts and Language

Ben-Hayyim, Z. and Abraham Tal,  A Grammar of Samaritan Hebrew: Based on the Recitation of the Law in Comparison With the Tiberian and Other Jewish Traditions, Eisenbrauns; Rev edition (2000) ISBN: 1575060477

Shehadeh, Haseeb, The Arabic Translation of the Samaritan Pentateuch Vol. I: Genesis-Exodus, The Israel Academy of Science and Humanities, 1989

- The Arabic Translation of the Samaritan Pentateuch Volume II: Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, The Israel Academy of Science and Humanities, 2002

Purvis, James D., The Samaritan Pentateuch and Origin of the Samaritan Sect, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1968.

Tal, Abraham, A Dictionary of Samaritan Aramaic (Handbook of Oriental Studies/Handbuch Der Orientalistik), Brill Academic Publishers (2000), ISBN: 9004116451

- “The Samaritan Targum to the Pentateuch, its Distinctive Characteristics”, Journal of Semitic Studies.1976; XXI: 26-38.

- The Samaritan Targum to the Pentateuch. 3 vols. Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, 1980-1983


[1] Cowley’s edition of the Samaritan liturgy has been widely praised. However, as Crown (A. D. Crown, “A critical edition and translation of the Samaritan burial services and a comparative study of the related Jewish liturgies”, 1957 – 1958, unpublished M.A. thesis, Leeds, p. 199) wrote “But Cowley’s work is by no means perfect…. For he omitted the whole of the Law and concentrated his efforts on the poems or hymns….”

A number of Israeli scholars have been researching and writing about the Samaritans. The veteran Samaritanist Professor Ze'ev Ben Hayyim now in his mid nineties and after over half a century of study on the community and its language and traditions has produced many books.  Professor Ben Hayyim's pupil Professor Avraham Tal has himself had a number of books published relating to the Samaritans. In turn Dr Moshe Florentine was his pupil and his works include a treatise on the history of the Tolidah. Now Israel Tsedaka is working with Florentine's understudy Uri Mor on the prayer and poems of the Samaritans. Ref  Ireton, Sean: The Samaritans - A Jewish Sect in Israel - AnthroBase

[2] John MacDonald, (“A critical edition of the text of the Samaritan Yom-ha Kippur liturgy with translation thereof and comparison with the corresponding Jewish liturgies”. 1957 – 1958, unpublished Ph.D., Leeds, p 209) wrote

“The … contributors to the School of Samaritan Studies in the University of Leeds have not succeeded in discovering any clear relationship of close similarity or inter-dependence between the Samaritan and Jewish Festival (liturgies).  It is to be expected that both will have the following points in common, since they derive their authority from the same source.

1. Same scriptural verses quoted (Torah)

2. Similarity of  language (Biblical Hebrew)

3. Similar expression of contrition and petition

4:. Similar basic beliefs about Atonement”

[3] Most fundamental works in largest font.

[4] Contains commentaries on various Samaritan works and selections from them in English. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. Contents - Samaritan Pentateuch -- Samaritan Joshua -- Kitab al-tarikh (The annals of Abu'l Fath) -- Additional Samaritan chronicles: The new chronicle (Chronicle Adler) and Chronicle II -- Tibat Marqe (Memar Marqe) -- The Samaritan liturgy -- Miscellaneous texts.

[5] “The texts of the liturgy were collected by Cowley in his two volume work of 1909, The Samaritan Liturgy. It is an admirable work which prints the text in Hebrew letters (almost 900 pages), has a lengthy introduction (100 pages), a glossary, lists of high priests, genealogical tables, as well as indices of authors and initial lines of poems. Unfortunately it is not without shortcomings….  Since Cowley, further liturgical texts have been edited, especially by Ben--Hayyim.  In Leeds a number of theses were written which present introductions, the Samaritan text (in Hebrew letters) and/or English translations of a number of texts….  However, they are not easily accessible.”  Pummer 1987 p. 14.  The Leeds theses, referred to by Dr. Pummer are –

Baguley, E. C., “A critical study and translation of the Samaritan New Year liturgy with a comparison with the corresponding Jewish rite”, 1955 – 1956, unpublished M.A. thesis, Leeds, 6-305

- “A Critical Edition with Translation of the Hebrew Text of the Malef: and a Comparison of its Teachings with those in the Samaritan Liturgy”, 1962,  unpublished PhD. thesis, Leeds

Boys, D. J., “A Critical edition and translation of the Samaritan Festival Liturgy for Hag Shavuot, with special reference to the use of the Law”, 1956, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Leeds

Brown, S., “A Critical edition and translation of the ancient Samaritan Defter (i.e. liturgy) and a comparison of it with early Jewish liturgy”, 1954 – 1955, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Leeds, 5-62

Cowley, Arthur. E. The Samaritan Liturgy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1909.

Crown, A.D., “A critical edition and translation of the Samaritan burial services and a comparative study of the related Jewish liturgies”, 1957 – 1958, unpublished M.A. thesis, Leeds, 8-291

Gale, N.E., “A critical edition and translation of the Karaite liturgy for the Sabbath and a comparison of it with the corresponding Rabbanite and Samaritan liturgies”, 1962 – 1963, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Leeds, 13-347

Green, Leslie C., “A Critical Edition and Translation of the Liturgy for the Samaritan Feast of hag ha-Succoth, with Special Reference to the Historical Development Involved”, 1958, unpublished Ph.D., Leeds

Lerner, Isaac, “A Critical Investigation and Translation of the Special Liturgies of the Samaritans for their Passover and their Feast of Unleavened Bread”, 1956, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Leeds.

MacDonald, J., “A critical edition of the text of the Samaritan Yom-ha Kippur liturgy with translation thereof and comparison with the corresponding Jewish liturgies”. 1957 – 1958, unpublished Ph.D., Leeds, 8-293

- The Samaritan day of atonement liturgy: With selected translations (Monograph series - Leeds University Oriental Society), 1963, ASIN: B0007J1S14

Mowbray, D. D. W., “A critical edition and translation of  the Samaritan Liturgies for the Zimmut of  Pesah and Zimmut Sukkot ans Associates Semi-Festival Liturgies”, 1959, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Leeds

Trotter, R. J. F., A Critical Study of the ideological Background of 14th Century Samaritanism with Special Reference to the Works of Abisha b. Phinehas, to Abdullah b. Solomon and Ben manir, 1962, unpublished Ph.D., Leeds

Turetsky, M., “A critical investigation and translation of the Karaite liturgy for the Passover services, and a comparison of it with the corresponding Rabbanite and Samaritan liturgies” 1962 – 1963, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Leeds, 13-348

Unsdorfer, J., “A critical edition and translation of the Karaite Liturgy for Yom Ha' Kippur, and a comparison of it with the corresponding Rabbanite and Samaritan liturgies”, 1961 – 1962, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Leeds, 12-331