As time goes on more and more we do realize the necessity of concentrating Samaritan dwelling places outside of Mount Gerizim in one place. This was the dream of the first Samaritans who settled in Holon in the beginning of the fifties of the 20th century. In those days the news about the success of establishing a central settlement for their community reached groups dispersed in various locations in the Dan Agglomeration area, the story of a place where they could live together and develop their culture and heritage, bring their children up in a Samaritan ambiance with all its uniqueness, assist their families and inspire an atmosphere of progress. A final seal of this togetherness was established with the foundation of the first Samaritan synagogue in the beginning of the sixties of the last century. Later it was only natural that in the first years after the Six Day War in 1967 Samaritan families from Mount Gerizim moved to Holon for economic reasons. In this large city they applied to the Ministry of Absorption to allot them apartments close to the Samaritan neighborhood, at a short walking distance that would enable them to attend their Synagogue every Sabbath and Festival. As the years went by other families who lived in the other side of the city realized that the best-suited place to bring up their children was in the vicinity of the Samaritan Center. Consequently there are eighteen families out of twenty residing in the Neot Yehudit and Kiryat Sharet neighborhoods that are situated next to the Samaritan one.

Despite constant complaints about the economic difficulties, it seems that the number of Samaritan families in Holon that buy land near the Samaritan neighborhood, building larger and more spacious houses there, for themselves and their children is growing. Most of those who found residence outside the neighborhood did so because they had given up waiting for the implementation of the construction scheme for young married couples in the northern part of the Samaritan neighborhood. It would seem that the Samaritan community in Holon has not managed yet to produce a Man of Vision who would gather together dozens of young couples and older ones and establish a third center for the Samaritans, in addition to the ones in Holon and Kiryat Luza on Mount Gerizim. There have been such projects in the past, but they didn't come through for lack of sufficient enrolment. Some dreamed of a center in the south of the country and others wanted to build a center in Ghinot Shomron at the centerof the country. These were only dreams.

Thus, without an entrepreneur and not knowing when the Samaritan neighborhood will be expanded only one solution was left - purchasing apartments and land designated for construction close to the Samaritan neighborhood, at a walking distance of few minutes, to enable a full Samaritan life.

Well said and done, every few months we hear of another young couple moving to Maalot Street in Neot Yehudit neighborhood or purchasing land for construction in Devorah Haneviah and Hashophtim Streets, which are very close to Ben Amram Street, the only one street of the Samaritan neighborhood. These steps spring from the realization of the need to dwell together, for only thus can the future of a complete Samaritan life be ensured.

Therefore life outside the neighborhood should not be welcomed or encouraged. The tremendous impact of secular culture leads some of us to think that a different kind of life, a blend of secular elements and Samaritan tradition, can be achieved and enable an even more successful confrontation of the surrounding influences. The more time passes the more will they realize the extent of their mistake.

Only a large number of people, at least twenty families who live together, act together, pray together, can make possible such a confrontation together with the preservation of a unique social life. There are, indeed, drawbacks to living together but the advantage of assuring the future of the community dwarfs all of them to almost nil. All of those who are toying with their future and their children's future should cease such empty imaginings; until someone among us puts the project of establishing a third center into motion they should join the almost absolute majority who continue to build a Samaritan society in the center of Holon.

Benyamim Tsedaka