Hebrew Voices #155 – Meet the Samaritans!

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Benyamim: So, he took the temple, folded it, folded the tent and hid it in one of the caves. But when he returned after two days to the place, he didn’t find the mouth of the cave.

Nehemia: So now it's missing in a cave somewhere…

Benyamim: Well, it sounds like a legend, okay?

Nehemia: Yeah.

Benyamim: It sounds like a legend, but fortunately, Josephus Flavius, the Jewish historian, confirmed the story…

Nehemia: Shalom, this is Nehemia Gordon with Hebrew Voices, and today I am on Mount Gerizim with Benyamim Tsedaka. He is the editor of A.B The Samaritan News and the head of the A.B Institute of Samaritan Studies. He's written 107 books and is working on his 108th and 109th books! Shalom Benyamim.

Benyamim: Not only written, but also published.

Nehemia: Wow! That's amazing.

Benyamim: Yes.

Nehemia: So Benyamim, you are what Jews would call a Samaritan. Tell us about the Samaritan community and how do you define yourselves. Because Samaritan is a Jewish term for Samaritans. How do Samaritans see themselves?

Benyamim: Well, it is not the way that we see ourselves. We are speaking about facts, okay?

Nehemia: Yeah.

Benyamim: In ancient times there were no Jews and no Samaritans, all of them were the people of Israel, all of them were Israelites. And this ran through the whole First Temple period until the exile of those that lived in the south of the country, that later on are called Jews. And Jews coming from Judea, the Kingdom of Judea, and those that lived in the north of the country in the Kingdom of Israel, and their capital and their main region was Samaria. That's why they created the terminology, “Samaritans”. So, Samaritans and Jews are actually and originally Israelites with different traditions. Our tradition is all around Mount Gerizim, the “Mountain of Blessings” that is mentioned in the Torah as the chosen place of the Almighty.

Nehemia: And we will get to that, because you actually have a different version of the Torah than the Jews.

Benyamim: No, no, just a minute.

Nehemia: Yeah.

Benyamim: And actually, just in 2008, Prof. James Charlesworth from the Theology Seminary of Princeton found a fragment from Qumran that speaks about Deuteronomy chapter 27 verses 4 to 6, and there it said in Aramaic script, which we call today, Hebrew, he found this verse that’s saying that the altar of the Almighty should be built on Mount Gerizim.

While in the Jewish version, it's written Mount Ebal, which is the “Mountain of Cursing”. Mount Gerizim is the “Mountain of Blessing”. So, it is irrational that the altar of the Almighty will be built on the Mountain of Cursing. It's more rational that it will be built on the Mountain of Blessing. So, this fragment from Qumran just proved the original text, because I remember when he discovered it and exposed it to all the people, he asked me, “Benny,” this is my short name, “Benny, would you tell me how it happened that there is such a version in Qumran? Qumran is all Jews; how did they admit it should be on Mount Gerizim?”

Nehemia: And Gerizim is what Jews call Gerizim.

Benyamim: Because Jerusalem is not… Jerusalem is not in any regard to the chosen place because it just developed later in the history of the people of Israel from the time of David and Solomon, and we are speaking about the ancient times of the Forefathers. So, I told him, “James, believe me, it’s time that we have to stop blaming the Samaritans with any changes between the two versions.” Because Jews are always claim… I mean in ancient times… claim against the Samaritans that they forged the Jewish text.

Nehemia: I don't think just in ancient times, also today we say that you falsified the...

Benyamim: Also, there are some that are still saying that today, but you know the saying, “don't confuse me with facts”. We prefer to focus on facts, not on how you believe. Facts. So, the facts are, first, Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Five Books of Moses.

Nehemia: Well, it might be mentioned…

Benyamim: Just a minute.

Nehemia: Okay.

Benyamim: No, no, no. Shalem is Salem.

Nehemia: In other words, in Genesis it mentions a man named Melchizedek, the King of Salem. And you say Salem is a village outside of Shechem, which might actually be correct.

Benyamim: It’s called Salem.

Nehemia: Even though most people read that and say it's Jerusalem. Okay. Go on.

Benyamim: To say Shalem is Jerusalem is only an excuse to say that Jerusalem is mentioned.

Nehemia: Well, the understanding of Jerusalem that it’s Ir Shalem, The City of...

Benyamim: There’s no doubt that Jerusalem was a very ancient city, but not an ancient Israelite city, an ancient Pagan city, that David and Solomon changed from a Pagan city to an ancient Israelite cult.

Nehemia: And there's no question that it was captured from the Jebusites by David, no one disputes that.

Benyamim: There’s no question.

Nehemia: Okay.

Benyamim: I'm not telling you from Samaritan sources, I'm telling you from the sources that you know. From the Bible.

Nehemia: So, let’s stop here for a second and back up.

Benyamim: If we go back to the identity, we are Israelites, the Jews are Israelites, but what differs us one from the other…

Nehemia: Yeah.

Benyamim: … is that we have different Israelite traditions that derived from ancient Israel religion.

Nehemia: That's your perspective. So, let's back up a little bit. You, as a Samaritan…

Benyamim: It’s not our perspective! This is what really happened.

Nehemia: Well, you say it's a fact, but the facts are in dispute. In other words, according to the Jewish Bible…

Benyamim: How do you create historical facts? You create historical facts based on three factors. One, the source of the people telling the story. Two, the sources of other people that confirm what you’re saying about how you see your own history, and confirm it. And the third factor, archeology, findings that confirm it.

So, we’ve talked in the last five minutes about the three factors. How we believe, or how it is written in our sources… we saw how it is written in Jewish sources, meaning the Bible, not the Five Books of Moses. But all what comes after it is edited in Jerusalem, by the Jerusalem Temple people. And archeology, when you have the archeological proof, there's no place to say it is not true when you have these three factors.

Nehemia: So, let me… as I said, we’ve got to clarify some things. So in Judaism, and certainly Orthodox Judaism, the rabbis had the authority to interpret Scripture, and if I come along with my own interpretation, the rabbis say it doesn't count. Did the Samaritans have a similar thing of an authoritative group?

Benyamim: Will you repeat your question?

Nehemia: My real question is, is there any group or specific body in the Samaritan community who has the authority to interpret Scripture, the Bible… the Torah, I should say, over those of others? In other words, is it the priests, the Kohanim, or is it tradition?

Benyamim: Well, actually the priestly family, they are the religious teachers.

Nehemia: They’re the authorities.

Benyamim: Yeah. The religious authority, but especially the high priest.

Nehemia: Okay.

Benyamim: So, we don’t have any argument about who is giving the religious decisions.

Nehemia: Okay.

Benyamim: It is only by the high priests.

Nehemia: Only the high priests.

Benyamim: At any time.

Nehemia: So, for example if there’s a new situation…

Benyamim: But it doesn’t mean that others can’t just take the book and try to interpret.

Nehemia: They’re allowed to do that?

Benyamim: Yeah.

Nehemia: So, for example, and I don’t know the answer to this…

Benyamim: I, myself, wrote a complete commentary of the Torah.

Nehemia: And that’s going to be published soon, right? Your commentary on the Torah.

Benyamim: It’s already installed on the internet, from Beresheet until the end.

Nehemia: Alright, so we’re going to post a link to that.

Benyamim: You can find it.

Nehemia: Very good.

Benyamim: Yeah.

Nehemia: So, for example, if a new thing is invented… cellphones, and the high priest decides, “You’re not allowed to use a cellphone on Shabbat,” or, “You are allowed to use a cellphone on Shabbat.”

Benyamim: The high priest can’t tell me anything to say, that is not already written in the Torah.

Nehemia: Okay, so how do you deal with a new situation like cellphones?

Benyamim: Anything! Just a minute.

Nehemia: Or cars?

Benyamim: Why do we need religious decisions from time to time?

Nehemia: Yeah.

Benyamim: You know, the pace in Jewish tradition is twice a week. But in our tradition, our Halakhic decision, is maybe once in a hundred years.

Nehemia: I'm sorry, what's twice a week?

Benyamim: Halakhic decisions among the Jews.

Nehemia: Oh, the pace, the speed, okay.

Benyamim: The pace.

Nehemia: Okay.

Benyamim: I said the pace.

Nehemia: Okay, yeah, yeah.

Benyamim: So, when there is confrontation between the word of the Torah and the modern technology, so we need Halakhic decisions.

Nehemia: And then the high priest decides.

Benyamim: Only the high priest.

Nehemia: Only the high priest. Okay, very interesting.

Benyamim: Let me give you one example of that.

Nehemia: Please.

Benyamim: In 1958, the incubator was a new invention all over the world, not only in Israel.

Nehemia: The incubator for babies?

Benyamim: The incubator for babies.

Nehemia: Okay.

Benyamim: So, it happens that one of the fathers had twins, and they put them in the incubator. On the eighth day, the whole community… the community of Holon… just remember, 1958, this was a time that Jordan was here.

Nehemia: So, in 1948, the community was divided between the Samaritans of Holon and the Samaritans of Nablus.

Benyamim: Yeah.

Nehemia: And they were reunited in 1967. So, in Holon, which was Israel…

Benyamim: The community went to the hospital…

Nehemia: Yeah.

Benyamim: … in order to make the circumcision…

Nehemia: Okay.

Benyamim: … on the eighth day.

Nehemia: Yeah.

Benyamim: And the doctor said, “What are you doing here?” They said, “Doctor, don’t worry. It’s only five minutes and you can take him.” He said, “I can’t even open the incubator, otherwise they will die!”

Nehemia: Oh, wow. Yeah.

Benyamim: So, we had a problem. And especially, in 1958, the Samaritans counted around three hundred.

Nehemia: Three hundred people in the whole world?

Benyamim: Yeah.

Nehemia: Okay. How many are you today?

Benyamim: Now we are 800.

Nehemia: Oh, wow.

Benyamim: So, for us, twins, it was a reason for celebration, a big celebration!

Nehemia: Twins! Two more people.

Benyamim: And now we have a problem.

Nehemia: It’s an increase of almost one percent in the population.

Benyamim: They would not be circumcised at the eighth day; it means they could not be Israelites.

Nehemia: Oh, wow. Okay.

Benyamim: Could not be Hebrew!

Nehemia: And this problem hadn't come up before?

Benyamim: Never.

Nehemia: Never, okay.

Benyamim: Never.

Nehemia: Okay.

Benyamim: Well, I believe that before the incubator, they just died.

Nehemia: Probably, yeah.

Benyamim: Okay?

Nehemia: Yeah.

Benyamim: So, the whole problem was under the decision of the high priest.

Nehemia: Okay.

Benyamim: But the high priest lived in Nablus.

Nehemia: Oh no! Which was Jordanian occupied territory.

Benyamim: There was an international border between us.

Nehemia: Oh, wow!

Benyamim: And let's say that Israel was not the cup of tea of the Jordanians at that time.

Nehemia: They were not on good terms?

Benyamim: No.

Nehemia: Okay.

Benyamim: But in some way, Jordan was less drastic, less extremist in hatred to Israel than other nations.

Nehemia: Than the Syrians, for example.

Benyamim: Yeah. The Syrians or the Egyptians.

Nehemia: At the time, the Israelis referred to the Syrians as “the crazies”.

Benyamim: So anyway, there were Samaritans there, under Jordan, that were living in Nablus. And our luck was that King Hussein adopted the community.

Nehemia: Okay. He was the king of Jordan at the time.

Benyamim: Yeah.

Nehemia: Okay.

Benyamim: He was the king of Jordan. So, there was a kind of contact at the time, especially by radio. And we had met once a year for seven days on the mountain.

Nehemia: So, you were allowed to come to Mount Gerizim!

Benyamim: Yes, during Passover.

Nehemia: Even during the Jordanian occupation of Nablus!

Benyamim: Yes.

Nehemia: Wow.

Benyamim: Except the years of 1966 and 1967, when the Jordanians allowed only part of us.

Nehemia: Oh, because the tensions were so high.

Benyamim: Yeah.

Nehemia: Okay.

Benyamim: To cross the border at the Mandelbaum Gate in Jerusalem.

Nehemia: So, you must have been the only Israeli citizens allowed into the Kingdom of Jordan at the time!

Benyamim: Yeah.

Nehemia: Certainly the only Israelite citizens.

Benyamim: No, but also Christian Arabs.

Nehemia: Yeah, but the only Israelite citizens.

Benyamim: For Christmas.

Nehemia: Wow, okay.

Benyamim: They could.

Nehemia: Very interesting.

Benyamim: But we were very limited there.

Nehemia: Okay.

Benyamim: In moving.

Nehemia: Yeah.

Benyamim: And we concentrated on the top of the mountain, without permission to go down to Nablus.

Nehemia: Okay.

Benyamim: Contrary to the Christians, who for three days could move anywhere.

Nehemia: Anywhere in Jordan, okay.

Benyamim: Yeah.

Nehemia: Wow.

Benyamim: But we're speaking now about the circumcision.

Nehemia: Yeah, what happened?

Benyamim: You have to take the Halakhic decision.

Nehemia: Yeah.

Benyamim: We were lucky that it was at the time of the second president of Israel, Yitzhak Ben Zvi, who was like a father to the Samaritan community, and adopted her to take care of anything that she needs. And he was involved with building the Samaritan neighborhood in Holon, and also building the first Samaritan synagogue in Israel.

So, my grandfather, the chief of the community outside Nablus, he called Ben Zvi and told him, “What is the problem? We don't want to lose two new Israelites of our community.”

Nehemia: One percent of the Samaritan population. That's a big deal!

Benyamim: Yeah.

Nehemia: Yeah.

Benyamim: Especially when we are all 300 people.

Nehemia: Wow, okay.

Benyamim: So, Ben Zvi, he had contacts through the Red Cross and United Nations, and they found a way that there was a, what do you call it? A convention call.

Nehemia: A conference call.

Benyamim: A conference call, a conference call between Yitzhak Ben Zvi and the high priest…

Nehemia: Oh, wow! Amazing.

Benyamim: … in Nablus, and my grandfather.

Nehemia: Wow.

Benyamim: And they spoke.

Nehemia: In Holon. Your grandfather’s in Holon…

Benyamim: Yeah. And Ben Zvi took the lead of this and explained to the high priest. First, for a long time he explained to him what it really means “incubator”, because it was a new invention, a new word.

Nehemia: And in Jordan, they probably didn’t have incubators at the time, they’re so backwards.

Benyamim: They also just followed us by a decade.

Nehemia: Okay.

Benyamim: So, after the high priest understood that the incubator was just replacing a mother’s womb, he came to a decision.

Nehemia: Yeah.

Benyamim: That, as Ben Zvi said, of course, to heads of the families there in Nablus, he collected them to his house and told them the whole story. So, he said, “As long as they are in the incubator and the incubator replaces a mother’s womb, they’re still in their mother’s womb.”

Nehemia: Ah! Wow!

Benyamim: And when they go out, the community… when they will be released from the incubator, the community should count eight days and make it on the eighth day.

Nehemia: Wow! So that's an example where the high priest made a decision.

Benyamim: And it was a precedent to other cases that happened after.

Nehemia: Okay, very interesting. Very fascinating stuff.

Benyamim: So, this is an example of confrontation between technology and the word of the Torah.

Nehemia: But the interesting thing is your father…

Benyamim: In the Torah, there is no delay.

Nehemia: Yeah.

Benyamim: You have to do it on the eighth day.

Nehemia: Right.

Benyamim: So, we serve the principal of the eighth day, but in other ways.

Nehemia: So, your father, who isn't the high priest, he had to defer to…

Benyamim: My grandfather.

Nehemia: Your grandfather had to defer to the decision of the high priest, which is kind of consistent with Deuteronomy 17.

Benyamim: He was under the decision of the high priest.

Nehemia: Okay. So let me ask you some quick questions, let's go through these. In Judaism, we have this idea of tzitzit, the “ritual fringes”, and tefillin, the “phylacteries.” Do you guys have that?

Benyamim: Yeah.

Nehemia: You do have that?

Benyamim: We have tzitzit, and it is 22 buttons.

Nehemia: Twenty-two what?

Benyamim: Buttons.

Nehemia: Buttons?

Benyamim: Yeah.

Nehemia: Oh!

Benyamim: On the upper wing of the tallit.

Nehemia: Are they blue buttons? What color are the buttons?

Benyamim: Twenty-two.

Nehemia: What color are they?

Benyamim: From the same material as the tallit, which is simple white cotton.

Nehemia: So, they’re not blue. Very interesting. Wow. And tefillin?

Benyamim: And tefillin.

Nehemia: Phylacteries.

Benyamim: The origin of the tefillin is the story of the Exodus. It comes to serve the whole story of the Exodus…

Nehemia: But do you have a physical device like Orthodox Jews…

Benyamim: Just a minute! So, it says there in one place in chapter 13…

Nehemia: Of Exodus?

Benyamim: Yeah. It said, “Ve’hayu le’ot al-yadecha u’letotafot bein eiyn’echa wayu lut al yedeku 'atatafut bin 'ine.” But in the same chapter it said, “Ve’hayu le’ot al-yadecha u’lezikaron bein eiyn’echa”.

Nehemia: “It will be a memory between your eyes.”

Benyamim: “To become memory.” It means you have to memorize the commandments of the Almighty.

Nehemia: Okay.

Benyamim: So, for us, this is a spiritual regard, not a physical regard.

Nehemia: And that's actually something that Karaites agree with you on.

Alright, so milk and meat, we talked a little bit about this before the interview. So, can you explain that?

Benyamim: Nehemia…

Nehemia: Yeah.

Benyamim: We are all the people of Israel. It's okay that we think differently.

Nehemia: Yeah, for sure Absolutely.

Benyamim: But at the same time, this is what has given us the argument, given us the adrenaline.

Nehemia: Given what?

Benyamim: The adrenaline.

Nehemia: Adrenaline?

Benyamim: Yes.

Nehemia: Jews like to disagree, for sure. And Israelites for sure.

Benyamim: To keep on, to keep on.

Nehemia: But you were telling me before that you actually separate meat and milk and you take it from the verse, “You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk.”

Benyamim: “Lo teveshel g’di b’chalev imo.”

Nehemia: And you take the word “kid”, the gematria of the word “kid”, the numerical value of 17.

Benyamim: G’di, g’di.

Nehemia: Right. To be the 17 types of meat.

Benyamim: These are exactly the 17 kinds of meat that are mentioned in the Torah that it is permissible to eat.

Nehemia: So, for example, you wouldn't eat beef with cheese?

Benyamim: No, no, no!

Nehemia: You do not. Okay.

Benyamim: There is a separation.

Nehemia: What about chicken with cheese?

Benyamim: The same.

Nehemia: The same, okay.

Benyamim: This is one of the kinds, chicken.

Nehemia: It’s one of the 17, okay.

Benyamim: One of the 17.

Nehemia: Okay.

Benyamim: So, all those 17, when you cook them, or eat them, you have to make a separation of six hours after meat and three hours after milk.

Nehemia: Okay. And that goes back, again, to the time of Moses, according to you guys.

Benyamim: Yeah.

Nehemia: Okay, alright. You were telling me before, you don't call yourself Samaritans, you call yourself Bnei Israel Shamarim.

Benyamim: Or in English, Israelite.

Nehemia: Israelite keepers. And the word we say, Shomronim, “Samaritans”, you say is Shamarim.

Benyamim: Shomronim comes from a geographical area.

Nehemia: Yeah.

Benyamim: Samaria.

Nehemia: But you use the word Shamarim, “keepers”.

Benyamim: Samaria is one of the main regions of the Land of Israel, and our forefathers lived there. That’s why by foreigners, we are called Samaritans.

Nehemia: So, outsiders call you Shomronim.

Benyamim: And the same with Jews - Jews are called Jews because their origin is from Judea.

Nehemia: So, outsiders call you Samaritans, you call yourselves “Keepers”, Shamarim.

Benyamim: “Keepers”, Shamarim.

Nehemia: Instead of “Shomronim”. Okay.

Benyamim: Yeah.

Nehemia: So, according to Jewish historical sources, the Samaritans at one time had a temple, which was destroyed by John Hyrcanus…

Benyamim: We never had a temple.

Nehemia: … around the year 21-20 BC. And you say we never had a temple.

Benyamim: We never had a temple. We had, let’s say… a sacred site.

Nehemia: A sacred site? Okay.

Benyamim: Which is the top of the mountain that contains the eternal hill, which is the place where the Tabernacle of Moses was for 260 years.

Nehemia: For 260 years only?

Benyamim: I'm sorry?

Nehemia: It was only on the mountain 260 years?

Benyamim: Only 260 years.

Nehemia: And what happened after that?

Benyamim: Until… it was, because of the schism that happened inside the priestly family between Eli, the priest, and the high priest, Azi.

Nehemia: Azi?

Benyamim: Yes.

Nehemia: Okay.

Benyamim: So, Azi just pushed Eli from the temple, and he went to Shiloh and built there another tent temple according to the measurements that are mentioned in the Book of Exodus. So, because of the schism, and because the high priest was very afraid that supporters of Eli will come, and steal the Tent of Covenant…

Nehemia: The real Tabernacle.

Benyamim: …from Mount Gerizim, the Temple of Moses. So, he took the temple, folded it, folded the tent, and hid it in one of the caves. But when he returned after two days to the place, he didn’t find the mouth of the cave.

Nehemia: So now it’s missing in a cave somewhere…

Benyamim: Well, it sounds like a legend, okay?

Nehemia: Yeah.

Benyamim: It sounds like a legend, but fortunately, Josephus Flavius, the Jewish historian, confirmed the story, and he said that in the year 33 AD there was a prophet that came to the Samaritans and told them that he’s going to show them in which cave on Mount Gerizim the Tent of Covenant was hidden.

Nehemia: That was 33 AD?

Benyamim: 33 AD. And they gathered by tens of thousands only for this. Just remember, there was no Facebook.

Nehemia: Yeah.

Benyamim: And there was no electronics or radio.

Nehemia: They didn’t say on Twitter, “Show up on Mount Gerizim in five hours!”

Benyamim: But because this tradition was very deep inside the souls of the Samaritans, many of them came. And why did so many come? Because originally, this belief is when the Tent of Covenant, I mean the Temple of Moses, will be rediscovered, it means the end of days has come, and there will be salvation for all the people of Israel from the pressure of the Romans, especially the Roman governors. They were very cruel to the Samaritans.

So many thousands, many tens of thousands, came to the mountain. It's all written there in Book 18 of Antiquity of the Jews.

Nehemia: Okay.

Benyamim: But Pontius Pilate, that was the Roman governor, this famous Pontius Pilate, from the story of Jesus…

Nehemia: Right.

Benyamim: He translated this gathering as an attempt to rebel against him. So, he sent his legion and they destroyed the whole assembly, and many of them escaped and many of them were killed.

Nehemia: Wow.

Benyamim: So, the chance to find where it is hidden just disappeared, because the prophet himself escaped.

Nehemia: That’s an amazing story, and we’re going to post the Josephus passage on NehemiasWall.com. Amazing.

Benyamim: No. Because we know Josephus, his attitude towards Samaritans was…

Nehemia: Very negative.

Benyamim: …in all number of cases very negative.

Nehemia: Very negative, yeah.

Benyamim: So, take his testimony as truth.

Nehemia: Yeah. It's interesting. He calls the Samaritans at one place, “the apostates of the Jews,” and says all kinds of negative things about them. Okay, I want to just to a couple more questions.

Benyamim: The story is, which newspaper do you read? The New York Times, or The Washington Post.

Nehemia: They say, “History is his-story.”

So today - and actually literally today, because this is prerecorded - you're going to bring the Korban Pesach, the Passover Sacrifice, here on Mount Gerizim. Do you bring any other sacrifices throughout the year?

Benyamim: No, no, no. Only the Passover, because it's historical. In memory of the Exodus, and this is the only sacrifice that is offered by the people of Israel before building or making the Tabernacle.

Nehemia: Okay.

Benyamim: All other sacrifices that are mentioned in the Torah were replaced by our high priest with prayers.

Nehemia: Prayers in place of sacrifices; interesting, just like the Jewish understanding. Okay, last question.

Benyamim: Don’t ever say “like,” because you can’t say about the origin that it is like others. Others could be like the origin.

Nehemia: Okay. Well, you can compare and contrast things, and that's a comparison. So, I've read about this thing called the Avisha or Abisha Scroll, which is supposed to, according to Samaritans, have been written at the time of Joshua. Scholars say it’s from the 12th and 13th century.

Benyamim: I’m not going as a scholar.

Nehemia: So, you don’t make that claim.

Benyamim: No, no.

Nehemia: Alright.

Benyamim: I can say for sure this is the most ancient complete Torah…

Nehemia: Okay.

Benyamim: … that exists today. So, there are arguments between scholars if this is… So, the argument is about its date. The earliest date by scholars, like Moses Gaster, he said that it was 1st century AD. Some say 13th century AD. It was never checked by C-14.

Nehemia: Carbon 14?

Benyamim: Yeah.

Nehemia: Why not? That could be really important.

Benyamim: First of all, it’s very ancient and it is kept in a wooden case with glass.

Nehemia: Here on Mount Gerizim?

Benyamim: Yes.

Nehemia: Okay.

Benyamim: In a safe. A very heavy safe.

Nehemia: Ah, good place for it. Okay.

Benyamim: And only once a year we are taking it out.

Nehemia: On what day?

Benyamim: Yom Kippur.

Nehemia: Ah, okay. Alright, so Jews, of course, have this understanding that there will be a Meshiach, a Messiah who will come, who will be a descendant of King David. You believe that David was an apostate.

Benyamim: Well, I'm still wondering, with such a very complicated personality as David was, that you, the Jews, made him as a father of your Messiah.

Nehemia: Yeah, well, he's my ancestor, so I'm biased.

Benyamim: Okay. He had so many bad qualities. I don't know why.

Nehemia: So do I! But anyway.

Benyamim: Okay.

Nehemia: Yes.

Benyamim: But you never killed anyone.

Nehemia: No, I have not.

Benyamim: You never raped anyone.

Nehemia: Oh, thank God, no.

Benyamim: Okay.

Nehemia: Alright. So, your understanding of Mashiach…

Benyamim: You never cheated on your wife when you were married?

Nehemia: Definitely not.

Benyamim: Okay. So, David did all of this.

Nehemia: Okay.

Benyamim: And you never assassinated the husband of your future wife.

Nehemia: No, I have not.

Benyamim: Like he did with Bat-Sheva.

Nehemia: I have stepped on some ants though.

Benyamim: But anyway, if we speak about our tradition, that there will be a returner, that we call him Taheb. Taheb, this is an Amaraic word, that means “the returner”.

Nehemia: Okay.

Benyamim: And it will be a prophet like Moses, that the Torah said, “And Moses said to the people of Israel, a prophet like me will appear.” So, we believe that he will appear at the end of days. When will be the end of days? It could be tomorrow; it could be ten thousand years from now.

Nehemia: But he's definitely not a descendant of David, the Taheb?

Benyamim: The Taheb is not a son of David, he is the son of Joseph. I mean from the tribe of Joseph.

Nehemia: Interesting. So, what are the letters in taheb?

Benyamim: Tav-Hey-Bet.

Nehemia: Oh, okay. La’shuv in Aramaic, taheb. So, alright, very interesting.

Benyamim: I want to take you now with me to see reception in the house of the high priest.

Nehemia: But before we do that, can I ask you to do one thing?

Benyamim: Yes. But we have to be there at 10:00.

Nehemia: Okay.

Benyamim: Five minutes from now.

Nehemia: So, this will take 30 seconds. And maybe we'll ask the high priest to do this, but in case he doesn't agree, would you recite for us in your ancient Hebrew… there's the thing in Numbers chapter 6, the Birkhat Kohanim, the Priestly Blessing. Would you recite this in your Hebrew?

Benyamim: Yedabber Shema el mushi limo. Dabber al Aharon w’al bano limo. Ka tebareku it’bani Ishrael. Emar lem, yevarekak Shema u’ishmarak. Ya’er Shema fano ilek uya enak. Yisha Shema fano ilek, u’yashem lak shalom. Shimu et shemi al bani Ishrael, wani evarekina.

Nehemia: Amen! Thank you so much.

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