Festival of Unleavened Bread
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Three of the six pits where Passover lambs are sacrificed. Approximately 8-9 sheep are sacrificed in each pit. In 2013, fifty sheep were sacrificed. In 1967, only twelve sheep were sacrificed using two pits. As the community grows, more pits are being added.
Samaritans are walking to and from the synagogue to celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread. This festival is celebrated only in the town of Kiryat Luza, located on Mt.Gerizim, West Bank.
There are approximately 800 Samaritans in the world with half living in Kiryat Luza, West Bank and the other half living in Holon, Israel.
The white garment is a tallit. Tallit are worn on Festivals and Shabbat. The head covering is a tarbush (turban). Priests wear white turbans with red tops. When the white material is patterned, the tarbush signifies that the priest is also an elder, the oldest male in his family. During the week, priests wear all-red turbans.
Samaritans are praying in the only synagogue on Mt. Gerizim. Three cantors are leading the prayers.
This prayer book in this photograph is specific to the Festival of Unleavened Bread. Each of the seven festivals has a different prayer book. All prayer books are written in ancient Hebrew (Biblical Hebrew) utilizing a Paleo-Hebrew script.
Samaritans are making the pilgrimage from the synagogue to the Temple Mount on Mt Gerizim. On the middle of the photo is the Samaritan town of Kiryat Luza. On the upper right part of the photo is the Palestinian refugee camp, Balata. Balata was once the largest refugee camp on the West Bank and is adjacent to Nablus.
This is the Alter of Adam where Adam and his third son, Seth, offered sacrifices to G-d.
All men are wearing virtually identical Samaritan tallit, lengthy white garments made of simple cotton, representing that all men are equal under G-d.
Shoes are removed for prayer and placed behind the prayer mat. Shoes are removed because when G-d exposed himself to Moses, he told Moses to take off his shoes because the ground was sacred.
The Torah is held high and waved three or four times at each of the seven prayer stations.
Walking from the Temple of Moses to the next station where Abraham saw the sheep.
The Samaritan Torah is being waved in its scroll case. Three pomegranates are located on top of each section of the scroll case. The three pomegranates represent Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. When the scroll case is closed it symbolizes the tree of life. The head cantor is wearing an additional tallit called a tzitzit-tallit, which is similar to a Jewish tallit. When the head cantor waves the Torah, it represents Abraham waving the sheep prior to sacrificing it.
The Head Cantor is waving the Samaritan Torah inside the scroll case. The Cantor is a Cohen (or Priest) from the tribe of Levi. Samaritans cover their faces during a blessing, moving their right hand (the hand of power). Initially they cover their eyes and then move their right hand down to their chin.
On the middle section of the Torah case are representational drawings of utensils used in Moses’s Temple
Can you find the woman in this photo? Tsipporah is a very independent woman (as described by Benyamim Tsedaka) and works as a sales person for a computer products company.
Samaritan women are preparing to go to the Altar of Isaac to make a wish.
To help offset declining numbers, Samaritan men can marry non-Samaritan women. Approximately, twenty-five percent of all marriages by Samaritan men are to non-Samaritan women. They are Arab, Jewish or from the former Soviet Union (and typically Jewish).
On a Samaritan tallit, there are twenty-two "twisted thread" buttons and twenty-two loops. Why twenty-two? Twenty-two is the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet.
Samaritan men of various ages are praying.
The prayer processional has just left the Altar of Isaac. The design on the Torah cover is in the stylized shape of a heart. The embroidered lines, written in ancient Hebrew, are verses from the Torah. The other side of the Torah cover contains the names of significant donors.
At the conclusion of the processional, the Samarians are gathered at the last of seven stations, the Eternal Hill. The building in the background is a 12th century Moslem structure. The wall in the background was built for an octagonal Byzantine church.
