Principles of Samaritan Halachah.

• Author: Tal, Abraham

Unlike its Jewish counterpart, the Samaritan Halakha has never benefited from ample and detailed treatment. Studies on this subject are quite rare; only a few treatises have been examined in the past, partly for comparative purposes, by scholars whose interest was not confined to Samaritanism per se (as is the case with one of the best researchers of Samaritan sources in the last century, Abraham Geiger - his investigations in this field having retained their value up to the present). Only small parts of the Samaritan Halakhic treatises have been published and properly translated, mostly as doctoral dissertations, with the exception of S. Noja's excellent Italian translation (not an edition of the text) of Kitab al-Kafi.(1) Only one medieval treatise has been published in its entirety so far, on a critical basis. I refer to Heinz Pohl's edition of Kitab al-Mirat, the Book of Inheritance, the work of the famous 12th-century scholar Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Marut.(2) Lastly, the first half of the most important Halakhic composition, the Kitab at-Tabbah of Abu I-Hasan of Tyre (believed to be the author of the earlier Samaritan Arabic version of the Pentateuch), has been critically edited, translated into German and commented on by Gerhard Wedel.(3) Unfortunately, the author of the book under review was not able to utilize this edition, for it was submitted as a doctoral thesis in July 1987. This implies that Boid could not have had access to it before he finished his work. Otherwise, he might have chosen for the sequence tb h the traditional vocalization tabbah, meaning `cook', `slaughter', etc. (preferred by Wedel pending further investigation, p. 32), although his choice, tubah, `insight', looks more appealing.

Unlike the traditional prayerbooks, in daily use for the liturgical service, the Halakhic treatises have very limited circulation within the contemporary Samaritan community, tradition being the main source of inspiration for religious conduct. A Samaritan "canonic" Halakha resembling the Jewish systematic compositions never existed. This is why very few Halakhic treatises exist. The author complains with reason about the inaccuracy of the catalogues of various libraries in regard to Samaritan material, especially Halakhic treatises. According to his testimony, many manuscripts are not even catalogued (p. 12, n. 15).

Under such circumstances, the researcher is faced with the problem of finding the best text for investigation. In order to...