Revised Pages digital samaritans Revised Pages DIGITAL RHETORIC COLLABORATIVE The Sweetland Digital Rhetoric Collaborative Book Series publishes texts that investigate the multiliteracies of digitally mediated spaces both within academia as well as other contexts. We encourage submissions that address, among others, topics such as: • new convergences and economies; • shifting ideologies and politics; • global contexts and multilingual discourses; • reconstructions of race, class, gender, sexuality, and (dis)ability; • emerging theories and technologies; and • reconfigured divisions and connections within these spaces. We welcome born- digital as well as digitally enhanced submissions—in the form of collections, monographs, or teaching materials of varying lengths and genres— that engage with digital rhetoric’s histories and futures; its border- fields and transdisciplines; its ethics and aesthetics; its materialities, networks, praxes and pedagogies. Series Editors: Anne Ruggles Gere, University of Michigan Naomi Silver, University of Michigan Revised Pages Digital Samaritans rhetorical delivery and engagement in the digital humanities Jim Ridolfo University of Michigan Press ann arbor Revised Pages Copyright © 2015 by Jim Ridolfo Some rights reserved This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial- No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by- nc- nd/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. Published in the United States of America by the University of Michigan Press Manufactured in the United States of America c Printed on acid- free paper 2018 2017 2016 2015 4 3 2 1 A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3998/drc.13406713.0001.001 Ridolfo, Jim, 1979– author. Digital Samaritans : rhetorical delivery and engagement in the digital humanities / Jim Ridolfo. pages cm. — (Digital rhetoric collaborative) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978- 0- 472- 05280- 6 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978- 0- 472- 07280- 4 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978- 0- 472- 12133- 5 (ebook) 1. Samaritans— Historiography. 2. Learning and scholarship— Technological innova- tions. 3. Library materials— Digitization. 4. Tsedaka, Benyamim. I. Title. BM910.R53 2015 296.8'17072— dc23 2015018378 Revised Pages Acknowledgments This book would not be possible without the support of the National Endow- ment for the Humanities Office of Digital Humanities, Michigan State Univer- sity MATRIX, Michigan State University WIDE Research Center, the William T. Taft Foundation at the University of Cincinnati, the Council for International Exchange of Scholars Fulbright Middle East and North Africa Regional Re- search program, and University of Kentucky. I am grateful for the support of the program officers at the Middle East and North Africa desk in Washington, DC, and Jaclyn Assryian, Aminah Shah, and Gary Garrison. Their guidance and support made my Fulbright experience a truly productive one. The US Consul- ate in Jerusalem was especially helpful, and I am thankful to Maureen Mar- roum, Cultural Affairs Specialist for Exchanges in the Public Affairs Office for her support while I was in the West Bank Fulbright program. In the US-Israel Educational Foundation Fulbright program, I would like to thank Deputy Di- rector Judy Stavsky and Executive Director Neal Sherman for their assistance. To conduct the research for much of this book, I received a 2012 Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Regional Research Fulbright split between the West Bank and Israel. I would especially like to thank Basem Ra’ad, profes- sor emeritus of Al Quds University; Walid Shomaly and the Palestinian Center for Research and Cultural Dialogue; Ruth “Stella” Amossy and the Analyse du Discours, Argumentation, Rhétorique (ADARR) group at Tel Aviv University; and Benyamim Tsedaka, director of the A.B. Samaritan Institute in Holon. Projects such as this book do not develop in a vacuum. I’m fortunate to have worked with many talented and supportive faculty at Michigan State Uni- versity. I am especially thankful for the support of rhetoric and writing fac- ulty, especially my doctoral chair Julie Lindquist. From Julie, I gained a greater appreciation for the study of languages and the nuance of language in every- day rhetorical situations. I would also like to thank Malea Powell, Danielle DeVoss, Dean Rehberger, Ellen Cushman, Jeff Grabill, and especially WIDE chief software developer Michael McLeod. At Michigan State University, the confluence of scholar- researchers interested in digital technology and cul- tural rhetoric are no doubt the reason for this project’s existence today, but I am especially thankful to WIDE codirector Bill Hart- Davidson, who has been Revised Pages vi • Acknowledgments my co- PI on the Michigan State University digitization project since its earliest stages. Bill Hart- Davidson deserves special acknowledgment and thanks for being supportive of the initial Samaritan grant project from the beginning. Many se- nior faculty would have balked at the idea of a graduate student proposing such a project. He didn’t. Bill took a chance working with me, and this book would not be possible without his collaboration and early vote of confidence. I’m also grateful for the support of my friends Collin Craig, Donnie Sackey, Kendall Leon, Robyn Tasaka, Angela Haas, Qwo- Li Driskill, and Stacey Pigg. I especially thank Stacey Pigg for reading many drafts of this manuscript. A supportive graduate cohort is a rare gift. Their support and feedback has made my work stronger. I would also like to acknowledge Jessica Enoch and David Gold, who responded to multiple drafts as editors of my 2013 piece in College English. Their insights helped me to shape this book project. Addition- ally, I also want to thank the editors and staff at University of Michigan Press, especially series editors Anne Ruggles Gere, Naomi Silver, the Digital Rheto- ric Collaborative, University of Michigan Press editor Aaron McCullough, and the anonymous manuscript reviewers. Without their critical feedback, vision, support, and editorial expertise, this book would not be possible. I also want to acknowledge the support of the many language instructors that made this work possible. For Hebrew, I thank Ellen Rothschild, Marc Bernstein, and the Ulpan faculty at Hebrew University and the University of Haifa. For Arabic, I am grateful for Mohamed Elayyadi at the University of Cincinnati, Nada El Majzoub, Maher Alkhateeb, and Ghadeer Shaheen Zan- noun at the University of Kentucky, and Wael Kubtan from Jaffa for his tutor- ship in colloquial Palestinian Arabic. I would also like to thank Shlomi Daskal for his Hebrew and Arabic assistance and expertise. This project would not be possible without Michigan State University Emeritus Professor Robert Anderson’s support and translation assistance of Samaritan Hebrew. His work over the last four decades with the MSU Cham- berlain Warren Collection and his extensive body of scholarship are impor- tant foundations for my work. I would also like to thank Peter Berg, director of special collections at Michigan State University, and David Gilner, director of libraries at Hebrew Union College– Jewish Institute of Religion, for their collaboration. I am also thankful for the friendship and collaboration of Sha- ron Sullivan Eretz for her assistance on the National Endowment for the Hu- manities Office of Digital Humanities Start- Up Grant. In addition, a special thanks to my fall 2013 undergraduate research assistant Charles James Carter for helping me prepare bibliography and spreadsheet data. I thank Benyamim Tsedaka for his friendship, humor, and vast knowl- edge and the many elders in the Samaritan community for their support of my Revised Pages Acknowledgments • vii work. In Holon and Mount Gerizim, I have been welcomed on countless occa- sions; I consider it a true honor to have had the opportunity the past six years to learn and collaborate with Tsedaka. I have had the privilege to meet and visit with two of the most recent High Priests before their passing, Elazar ben Tsedaka ben Yitzhaq and Aharon ben Ab- Chisda ben Yacob. While they are gone now from this earth, I hope that what I have written in this book honors each of their memories. I wish the current High Priest Aabed- El ben Asher ben Matzliach many long years of leadership and prosperity. Lastly, I especially want to thank my wife and life partner Janice Fern- heimer for her support during all stages of this project. Without her love, support, humor, and feedback on numerous drafts, this book would not be possible. In the process of completing this book, our son Lior was born. This book is dedicated to him. Revised Pages Revised Pages Contents Preface: Rhetorical Serendipity xi 1 Introduction to Digital Samaritans 1 2 Between the Raindrops and Two Fires: A Brief History of the Samaritans and Their Diaspora of Manuscripts 23 3 From Parchment to Bytes: Digital Delivery as a Rhetorical Strategy 51 4 Leveraging Textual Diaspora: Rhetoric and the Digital Humanities as Engaged Scholarship 77 5 The Good Samaritan: At the Crossroads of Rhetoric and the Digital Humanities 99 Appendix A: Transcripts 111 Appendix B: Images of Seven Principles Document 114 Appendix C: Benyamim Tsedaka’s Call for the Repatriation of Artifacts 118 Notes 121 Bibliography 147 Index 157 Revised Pages Revised Pages Preface: Rhetorical Serendipity My involvement with the Samaritans and their collections did not begin with an extensive rhetorical understanding of their history or present situation. Rather, it began as a digital humanities project I initiated as a graduate stu- dent. In late December 2007, I was halfway through my PhD in Rhetoric and Writing at Michigan State University, and I was in my fourth year of employ- ment as a graduate research assistant at the Writing in Digital Environments (WIDE) Research Center. With some free time between semesters, I found myself one evening browsing the online catalogue for Michigan State Univer- sity Special Collections.