Iconic books are texts revered as objects of power rather than just as words of instruction, information, or insight. In religious and secular rituals around the globe, people carry, show, wave, touch and kiss books and other texts, as well as read them. This blog chronicles such events and activities. (For more about iconic books, see the links to the Iconic Books Project at left.)

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Torah Scroll at Samaritan Passover

Video of this year's Passover celebration by the Samaritans shows the carrying and display of the Torah scroll, similar to Jewish customs. One difference is that the person holding the scroll is the high priest, an office that fell into disuse in Judaism after 70 CE.



A major difference between Samaritan and Jewish practices that is not displayed here is that the Samaritans read Torah aloud from a codex-bound Pentateuch, rather than from the scroll itself (see Benyamim Tsedaka, “Who are the Samaritans?”).

1 comment:

Zvi said...

I know what their High Priest as of 2004 looks like. The man in the photo is a lay priest.