Israel

Samaritans Celebrate Sukkot

Sharon A

This week it was good to be back on the road again after a difficult year at home with so many annual events canceled or otherwise extremely limited.

We drove from the Jerusalem hills past the site of ancient Shilo,

then through the Binyamin region to the Shomron,

and up past Har Bracha to reach Har Gerizim.

The Samaritans, (Shomronim in Hebrew) are a tiny sect with ancient Israelite roots, a unique and fascinating group.

Their religious-ethnic community consists primarily of 840 people who reside in Kiryat Luza, a small village near Shechem in the Shomron, and a smaller community in the central coastal city of Holon.

Once numbering over 3 million people, today the Samaritans are Israel’s smallest religious minority and view themselves as the keepers of the ancient Israelite religion and culture.

They study the five books of Moses in the ancient Hebrew script, which children learn how to read as 6-year-olds. Their version of the biblical Shema is posted over their outside door, not on the doorposts.

Circumcisions are performed on the eighth day. They do not use electricity on Shabbos. On Yom Kippur, they spend most of the day in prayer.

On a tour of the Samaritan Museum, matzah, bitter herbs, and a shofar are on display, along with ancient stones.

Samaritans celebrate the biblical holidays of Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot. However, the Samaritan celebration is different from its Jewish counterpart in multiple ways.

Their writing is in ancient Hebrew script.

Their version of a Torah scroll is on display in the museum.

The scroll written on animal skin has three branches on top to represent Shimon, Levi, and Menasheh who they view as their forefathers, our guide explained.

The Samaritan Sukkot, though based on a lunar calendar, is held at a different time of year due to a different leap year structure. This year they celebrate Sukkot a month after the Jewish calendar, beginning October 20th, and ending after seven days, with Simchat Torah. 

Tourists can only view their synagogue from the outside. Usually, only men go to the synagogue services, however, on Simchat Torah women attend.

In addition, the Samaritan sukkah built in honor of the festival has a different appearance and is built inside the home.

The ornate sukkah ceiling took a day for the family to build, starting first with a layer of palm leaves, and then with an arrangement of real fruit, included etrogim.

In his sukkah, museum director Husni Al Kahen told us that he is a 164th generation descendant from Adam. He discussed the significance of Har Gerizim and its holiness and aliyah le’regel. 

Tour groups are scheduled all week, a soldier and a young woman arrive, as

the younger brother of the High Priest was showing his bible to our group.

The annual Samaritan slaughter of one-year-old lambs for Pesach, with salting and roasting, attracts crowds of tourists on a regular year. 

However, I am much more a fan of the Sukkot colors and customs.

More than once we were told that the Samaritans love peace. Many have passports from Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, and Israel. The Samaritans from Kiryat Luza attend Palestinian Authority schools in Shechem. However, those living in Holon attend Israeli schools and serve in the IDF but not in sensitive locations. 

Kiryat Luza has a garbage dumpster with markings of the Israeli Shomron regional council,

but the collection truck probably from Turkey had Arabic written on it.

I noticed an Israeli Magen David Adom ambulance donated in memory of Rabbi Raziel Shevach z”l and Talia Mizrahi Amali z”l, who were murdered in terrorist attacks.

The Samaritan community moved from Shechem to Kiryat Luza in the late 1990s because of the intifada and manages to keep to themselves. With fewer females than males, men are allowed to marry women from outside, but only if the women learn with the high priest and then convert. However, if a young woman were to marry a Muslim or a Jew, she would be disowned by her family. 

The last stop on the Media Central sponsored tour was the home of the Samaritan High Priest Abdallah Wasef dressed in his gold robe, who apologized for not feeling well, but took time to meet our group.

Samaritan Sukkot, one of the interesting Israeli smaller stories to share.

Jerusalem Getting Back to Normal

Sharon A

People are slowly coming back onto the Jerusalem streets, like bears emerging slowly from hibernation, lumbering up from deep in their caves.

Recognizing friends you have not seen in over a year (or was it two?) whose faces are hidden behind a mask is not so easy. But what a pleasure it is to reunite and speak to people in real life, rather than via a computer screen.

Weddings with bubbles and brides! What could be better this week? Albeit with caution and held outside, but celebrations are back, better than last year and with anticipation and enthusiasm.

Organized tour groups have returned to the Jerusalem streets.

The Kotel (Western Wall) train is back in business.

Not your usual train tunnel

or usual train track,

but the Kotel train, love it or hate it, is back on the Jerusalem streets.

Inside and even outside the walls of the Old City, photoshoots for bar mitzvahs and other celebrations are common again.

Shopping at Mamilla Mall? Masks are needed inside stores, but not outside.

The cats are not back, they never left the Jerusalem streets. Need at least one cat photo, here in the new parking lot in the Armenian Quarter.

Parking in Jerusalem has never been easy, but these workers found a convenient spot on the sidewalk near the construction area at the Paris Fountain.

Remember the parking lot at Shaare Zedek hospital that opened up and swallowed cars? Repair work has progressed, but the area is still not back to normal.

Construction outside the hospital parking area is only part of the story.

The work on the new Route 16 nearby is extensive.

Mountains of dirt are being moved, and

tunnels are emerging from underground.

On the other side of Shmuel Bait Street, there is more huge equipment.

Part of the mountain is gone to make room for new lanes of traffic.

A whole new scene awaits when you return to these Jerusalem streets.

As mentioned last week the Jerusalem Marathon is back!

The Sports Expo returns for two days, October 26-28, at a new venue in the Jerusalem Cinema City, before the Friday marathon races.

Will the new children’s playground at Sacher Park be ready in time?

Participants will see new buildings in the city center as they run by.

The Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference is to be held at the new The Museum of Tolerance building. Last year it was held online.

Israeli President House lunch for German delegation in Jerusalem Israel

Andrea Merkel is back again. Three years ago this was the table set for the German Chancellor at a special lunch at Beit Hanasi, with then-President Reuven Rivlin and Israeli Nobel Prize winners. This time no media, private lunch for two, but I did see her motorcade leave.

The First Station parking lot has been full at night. People are back in large numbers. But, the winter igloos have popped up for those who still need more time in a cave and are not ready to party in crowds.

Here’s to celebrating, coming back, and enjoying life.

Hope to see you soon on the Jerusalem streets!

Sights and Sounds of Sukkot in Jerusalem

Sharon A

This time of year in Jerusalem, Israel, as the temperatures cool down and the Sukkot holiday season begins people come out of their homes, and the streets are filled with new strange sights and sounds.

In the Old City, in the Rova, the Jewish Quarter, there were many sukkot.

This large sukkah was at the Kotel, at the back of the Western Wall Plaza, and many more sukkot were visible above.

The festive Birkat Cohanim the holiday Priestly Blessing was scheduled for two days, not just one, to spread out the crowds and limit size and numbers attending this year for Sukkot.

Police and security were in place for the masses, but as you see on Wednesday, there were more security barriers than people at Jaffa Gate.

Inside Jaffa Gate, people went to pass through the Arab Shuk, as it was relatively quiet also.

Dignitaries were positioned to the left and up above the crowd at the Wall.

The whole service was broadcast live and available on YouTube both days.

I have come to Birkat Cohanim before, but certainly, on Wednesday, the scene was not like the usual as in 2012.

There was room for people to move freely, with the special security personnel wearing purple vests checking that everyone had a mask.

For the two minutes of the Birkat Cohanim, most people stood quietly. From this angle, the scene appeared similar to the past. It was so hot in the sun that my camera overheated, so I didn’t get a video.

But I did get a few minutes of the Musaf service to share with you. The choir added a more musical touch and length to the prayer service.

But Sukkot is about the sukkot, those “huts” or “illegal structures” that pop up and around the Jerusalem streets for this holiday week.

This one I had not noticed before and I’m not sure who built it.

I wondered how many others noticed it way up there over the Kotel Plaza?

Look up and you can see sukkot on porches, wooden ones and simple ones,

a sukkah on a Jerusalem porch with a wall of colorful fabric,

or made of wood with flower boxes.

The King David Hotel didn’t have the usual huge sukkah in their parking lot, but it looked like something was on the roof.

The Jerusalem Theater had a sukkah in front near the main entrance.

Some were placed on Jerusalem street corners.

This one was not new, but in a new location, off the new main sidewalk.

The giant sukkah in Kikar Safra was back. Who remembers that it was featured in one of the early RJS posts 11 years ago?

It is big, public, and with special times for the Jerusalem Mayor and his wife to greet the public.

Similar to old times, Mayor Moshe Lion and his wife, stood and posed for photo after photo. New, security checked for a green pass and mask to enter.

Across Jaffa Road from the Jerusalem Municipality is Shushan Street, dressed in new colors for the Sukkot holiday crowds to appreciate.

On Jaffa Road was a Chabad sukkah available for one to stop and make their holiday blessings.

But on the other side of the light rail tracks, Jaffa Road was lined with sukkot from the various food places for their customers to sit and eat.

Thursday evening families crowded around the various entertainers,

performers were every few meters, and other musicians were nearby.

Not sure what this was on Ben Yehudah Street, but it did get my attention.

One of several couples performing – more photos on Facebook – HERE

There were the traditional holiday sights in the Old City.

But this year for the first time there was a neighborhood street festival called The Heroines of the Palmach – for those interested, see more Here

Our sukkah was up and ready, and decorated in time for a photo, and happily withstood the wind and a little light rain.

Though we kept the meals much smaller than usual, it was good to have guests again after last year’s limitations.

We are only partway thru the holiday week, with Hashana Raba and Simhat Torah coming to make this another “short” week ahead. As we ask and try to remember each morning “what day is this”? More holiday events are planned, limited in scope, but at least happening much more than last year.

Shana Tova! In Jerusalem, signs are posted near major Jerusalem parks.

Here’s hoping this will be a healthy and good year for all!