By Rosalie Whitehill
Thursday, after another fine day at school, we
visited a Samaritan community of about 700 people in Holon where we
gathered in the home of one of the community leaders to listen to him tell of
the community and their beliefs. The Samaritans do not consider themselves
Jewish....rather they are Israelites ........remnants of the tribes of Ephraim
and Menasha, who never left the kingdom of Israel,....... they speak, read and
write in Paleo-Hebrew, old Hebrew not in use by Israelis and he had his
granddaughter come in and read for us. The menorah, and not the Magen
David (Jewish star) is their official symbol. After the talk, we walked
to the community center and synagogue. We noted that mezuzahs were plaques over the doors of houses with prayers that the owners felt were
appropriate. At the synagogue, were shelves for shoes as they must be
removed before going in to pray. Fascinating stuff!!!
Dinner was at a favorite restaurant where the
food is great and the wait staff are all very charming young people formerly
considered "at risk"......a double reason to enjoy our meal!!
Rosalie
