A Samaritan perspective · By Abood Cohen
The Samaritans,
from the inside.
A sacred mountain. A living language. A way of life passed from parent to child. Discover the stories behind the tradition.
Notes, knowledge & lived experience
The reading room.
A place for the curious. Start with a question, follow a story, or look closer at a tradition.
Who are the Samaritans?
Beyond the familiar phrase ‘Good Samaritan’ is a living community, a sacred mountain, and a tradition passed from one generation to the next.
Mount Gerizim: a place at the center
To understand Samaritan life, begin with the mountain toward which the community turns in prayer.
Learning the letters, inheriting a world
A childhood memory of one difficult letter reveals how writing, language, and belonging grow together.
A Sabbath, from sunset to stillness
Incense, a prayer before dawn, family reading, and the quiet of a day without phones: a Sabbath inside Abood’s home.
Under a ceiling of fruit
Inside a Samaritan sukkah, fruit, branches, family, and hospitality turn a room into a festival space.
Finishing the Torah. Beginning again.
Hatimat Torah celebrates a child’s first complete reading of the Torah, and the responsibility that follows.
Melodies carried by memory
The words can be written down. Learning how to chant them takes listening, repetition, and another person.
The day I became the guide
A museum beneath a family home, curious visitors, and an unexpected invitation to explain the Sabbath.
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An everyday tradition
One day. A different rhythm.
Follow a Sabbath through Abood’s account, from the quiet before sunset to the last prayer with his grandfather.
Preparation makes room for a different pace.
Meals are ready, water is stored in thermoses, and the neighborhood grows quiet. In the synagogue, bakhoor incense rises as families gather for the first prayer.
Manuscript, page 30For students & curious minds
A good place
to begin.
Build a foundation in the community, its sacred place, and the traditions children learn. Read these three articles in order, then follow what interests you.
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