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Samaritan
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The Samaritans ( Shomronim), known in the Talmud as Kuthim , are an ethnoreligious group of the Levant. Ancestrally, they claim descent from a group of Israelite inhabitants who have connections to ancient Samaria from the beginning of the Babylonian Exile up to the beginning of the Common Era. The Samaritans, however, derive their name not from this geographical designation, but rather from the term (šameri^m), "keeper [of the Law]".
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The Samaritans ( Shomronim), known in the Talmud as Kuthim , are an ethnoreligious group of the Levant. Ancestrally, they claim descent from a group of Israelite inhabitants who have connections to ancient Samaria from the beginning of the Babylonian Exile up to the beginning of the Common Era. The Samaritans, however, derive their name not from this geographical designation, but rather from the term (šameri^m), "keeper [of the Law]". Religiously, they are the adherents to Samaritanism, a sister religion to Judaism, separate from the historically mainstream form of Judaism. Based on the Samaritan Pentateuch, Samaritans claim that their worship is the true religion of the ancient Israelites, predating the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.
As of November 1, 2007, there were 712 Samaritans according to their tally, living almost exclusively in Kiryat Luza on Mount Gerizim near the city of Nablus/Shechem in Samaria (now a part of the West Bank) and in the city of Holon in Israel. There are, however, converts of various religious backgrounds who follow the Samaritan traditions outside of Israel, especially in the United States.
The Samaritans now speak either Modern Hebrew (in Holon) or sometimes Arabic (in Nablus/Shechem) as their mother language. For liturgical purposes, Samaritan Hebrew, also known as ancient Hebrew, and Samaritan Aramaic are used. These languages were in use by Jews of Judea prior to the Roman exile, and beyond.
Early history according to Samaritan sources
According to Samaritan tradition, Mount Gerizim was the original Holy Place of the Israelites from the time that Joshua conquered Canaan and the twelve tribes of Israel settled the land. The reference to Mount Gerizim takes us back to the biblical story of the time when Moses ordered Joshua to take the Twelve Tribes of Israel to the mountains by Shechem and place half of the tribes, six in number, on the top of Mount Gerizim, the Mount of the Blessing, and the other half in Mount Ebal, the Mount of the Curse. The two mountains were used to symbolize the significance of the commandments and serve as a warning to whoever disobeyed them.
Abu l-Fath, who in the 14th century CE wrote a major work of Samaritan history, comments on Samaritan origins as follows:
Further, the Samaritan Chronicle Adler, or New Chronicle, believed to have been composed in the 18th century CE using earlier chronicles as sources states:
Non-Samaritan view of origins
The emergence of the Samaritans as an ethnic and religious community distinct from other Levant peoples appears to have occurred at some point after the Assyrian conquest of the Israelite Kingdom of Israel in approximately 721 BCE. The records of Sargon II of Assyria indicate that he deported 27,290 inhabitants of the region (Jewish).
Jewish tradition maintains a different origin for the Samaritans. The Talmud accounts for a people called "Cuthim" on a number of occasions, mentioning their arrival by the hands of the Assyrians. According to 2 Kings 17 and Josephus (Antiquities 9.277–91), the people of Israel were removed by the king of the Assyrians (Sargon II- see special wording of 2 Kings 17 which mentions Shalmaneser in verse 3 but the "king of the Assyrians" from verse 4 onward), to Halah, to Gozan on the Habor River and to the towns of the Medes. The king of the Assyrians then brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avah, Emath, and Sepharvaim to place in Samaria. Because God sent lions among them to kill them, the king of the Assyrians sent one of the priests from Bethel to teach the new settlers about God's ordinances. The eventual result was that the new settlers worshipped both the God of the land and their own gods from the countries from which they came.
A Midrash (Genesis Rabbah Sect. 94) relates about an encounter between Rabbi Meir and a Samaritan. The story that developed includes the following dialogue:
- R. Meir asks the Samaritan: What tribe are you from?
- The Samaritan answers: From Joseph.
- R. Meir : No!
- The Samaritan: From which one then?
- R. Meir : From Issachar.
- The Samaritan: How do you figure?
- R. Meir: For it is written (Gen 46:13): The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Iob, and Shimron. These are the Samaritans (shamray).
Zertal dates the Assyrian onslaught at 721 BCE to 647 BCE and discusses three waves of imported settlers. He shows that Mesopotamian pottery in Samaritan territory cluster around the lands of Menasheh and that the type of pottery found was produced around 689 BCE. Some date their split with the Jews to the time of Nehemiah, Ezra, and the building of the Second Temple in Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile. Returning exiles considered the Samaritans to be non-Jews and, thus, not fit for this religious work.
The Encyclopaedia Judaica (under "Samaritans") summarizes both past and the present views on the Samaritans' origins. It says:
Furthermore, even to this day the Samaritans still claim descent from the tribe of Joseph:
Rejection by Judeans
According to the Jewish version of events, when the Judean exile ended in 538 BCE and the exiles began returning home from Babylon, they found their former homeland populated by other people who claimed the land as their own and Jerusalem, their former glorious capital, in ruins.
According to , the Persian Emperor Cyrus the Great permitted the return of the exiles to their homeland and ordered the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem (Zion). The prophet Isaiah identified Cyrus as "The Lord's anointed" (Meshiach; see ).
says that the local inhabitants of the land offered to assist with the building of the new temple during the time of Zerubbabel, but their offer was rejected. According to Ezra, this rejection precipitated a further interference not only with the rebuilding of the temple but also with the reconstruction of Jerusalem.
The text is not clear on this matter, but one possibility is that these "people of the land" were thought of as Samaritans. We do know that Samaritan and Jewish alienation increased, and that the Samaritans eventually built their own temple on Mount Gerizim, near Shechem.
It took several decades for the work of rebuilding of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem to be finalised. The project was first led by Sheshbazzar (about 538 BCE), later by Zerubbabel and Jeshua, and later still by Haggai and Zechariah (520–515 BCE). Work was completed in 515 BCE.
Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim
The precise date of the schism between Samaritans and Jews is unknown, but was certainly complete by the end of the 4th century BCE. Archaeological excavations at Mount Gerizim suggest that a Samaritan temple was built there c. 330 BCE.
According to Samaritans, it was on Mount Gerizim that Abraham offered Isaac in human sacrifice .
The Torah mentions the place where God shall choose to establish His name (Deut 12:5), and Judaism takes this to refer to Jerusalem. However, the Samaritan text speaks of the place where God has chosen to establish His name, and Samaritans identify it as Mount Gerizim, making it the focus of their spiritual values.
In the Christian bible, the Gospel of John relates an encounter between a Samaritan woman and Jesus in which she asserts that the mountain was the center of their worship .
Antiochus IV Epiphanes and Hellenization
In the 2nd century BCE a particularly bitter series of events eventually led to a revolution of the Israelites against their Greek oppressors.
Antiochus IV Epiphanes was on the throne of the Seleucid Empire from 175 to 163 BCE. His determined policy was to Hellenize his entire kingdom and standardize religious observance. According to 1 Maccabees 1:41-50 he proclaimed himself the incarnation of the Greek god Zeus and mandated death to anyone who refused to worship him. A major obstacle to his ambition was the fidelity of the Jews to their historic religion and their refusal to allow their homeland to be defiled.
The universal peril led the Samaritans, eager for safety, to repudiate all connection and kinship with the Jews. The request was granted. This was put forth as the final breach between the two groups, being alleged at a much later date in the Christian bible (John 4:9), "For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans."
Several centuries before the Common Era, the Samaritans had built their own temple on Mt. Gerizim to rival the Temple in Jerusalem. Here, they offered sacrifices according to the Mosaic code. Anderson notes that during the reign of Antiochus IV (175–164 BCE):
Josephus Book 12, Chapter 5 quotes the Samaritans as saying:
In 167 BCE the Seleucid ruler Antiochus Epiphanes defiled the Jewish temple by setting up an altar to Zeus over the holy altar of burnt offerings in the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, which was the center of Jewish religious life. Antiochus also sacrificed a pig on the altar in the Temple in Jerusalem. This event is known as the "abomination of desolation".
The authority of the high priesthood was severely damaged when first Jason and then Meneleus bought their office from Antiochus.
The persecution and death of faithful Jewish persons who refused to worship and kiss Antiochus' image, along with the desecration of the Holy Temple, ultimately led to a revolt led by Judah Maccabee (Judah the Hammer) and his family. Though quite outnumbered, the Israelites, led by the Maccabee family, managed to regain control of their land. This "miracle" restoration of Jewish sovereignty in the face of Greek dominance has been since observed by Jews in the winter "Festival of Lights" holiday known as Chanukah.
Judah's priestly family, the Hasmoneans, introduced a dynasty that ruled during a period of conflict, with tensions arising both from within the family as well as from external enemies.
This Samaritan Temple at Mount Gerizim was destroyed by John Hyrcanus in about 128 BCE, having existed about 200 years. Only a few stone remnants of it exist today.
164 BCE and after
During the Hellenistic period, Samaria (like Judea) was largely divided between a Hellenizing faction based in Samaria (Sebastaea) and a pious faction, led by the High Priest and based largely around Shechem and the rural areas. Samaria was a largely autonomous state nominally dependent on the Seleucid empire until around 129 BCE, when the Jewish Hasmonean king Yohanan Girhan (John Hyrcanus) destroyed the Samaritan temple and devastated Samaria.
Roman and Sassanid times
Samaritans fared badly under the Roman Empire, when Samaria was a part of the Roman-ruled province of Judea.
However, this period is also considered as something of a golden age for the Samaritan community. The Temple of Gerizim was rebuilt after the Bar Kochba revolt against the Romans, around 135 CE. Much of Samaritan liturgy was set by the high priest Baba Rabba in the 4th century.
The oldest, known Samaritan synagogue, the Delos Synagogue dates from between 150 and 128 BCE, or earlier and is located on the island of Delos.
There were some Samaritans in the Persian Empire, where they served in the Sassanid army. Many Jews had also lived in Persia for millennia, after various exiles and captivities.
Byzantine times
Later, under the Christian Byzantine Emperor Zeno in the late 5th century, Samaritans and Jews were massacred, and the Temple on Mt. Gerizim was again destroyed. This period is considered the worst for Samaritans. Under a charismatic, messianic figure named Julianus ben Sabar (or ben Sahir), the Samaritans launched a war to create their own independent state in 529 CE. With the help of the Ghassanid Arabs, Emperor Justinian I crushed the revolt; tens of thousands of Samaritans died or were enslaved. The Samaritan faith was virtually outlawed thereafter by the Christian Byzantine Empire; from a population once at least in the hundreds of thousands, the Samaritan community dwindled to near extinction.
After the Muslim Conquests
By the time of the Muslim Conquests, Samaritans were living in an area stretching between Egypt, Syria, and Iran. Like other non-Muslims in the empire, such as Jews, Samaritans were considered to be People of the Book. Their minority status was protected by the Muslim rulers, and they had the right to practice their religion, but adult males had to pay the jizya or "protection tax". It has been suggested that they were forced to wear red colored turbans as a result of the terms of a document known as the Pact of Umar, but this stipulation is not explicitly mentioned in the document, the authenticity has been questioned by contemporary scholars, and the tradition cannot be independently verified. During the Crusades, Samaritans, like the other non-Latin Christian inhabitants of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, were second-class citizens, but they were tolerated and perhaps favoured because they were docile and had been mentioned positively in the Christian New Testament. In 1624, the last Samaritan high priest of the line of Eleazar son of Aaron died without issue, but descendants of Aaron's other son, Ithamar, remained and took over the office.
Modern times
In the past, the Samaritans are believed to have numbered several hundred thousand, but persecution and assimilation have reduced their numbers drastically. In 1919, an illustrated National Geographic report on the community stated that their numbers were less than 150.
As of November 1, 2007, there were 712 Samaritans half of whom reside in their modern homes at Kiryat Luza on Mount Gerizim, which is sacred to them, and the rest in the city of Holon, just outside Tel Aviv. There are also four Samaritan families residing in Binyamina, Giv'at Ada, Matan and Ashdod.
Until the 1980s, most of the Samaritans resided in the Samarian town of Shechem/Nablus below Mount Gerizim. They relocated to the mountain itself near the Israeli settlement neighborhood of Har Brakha as a result of the Arab Palestinian violence in the First Intifada (1987-1990). Consequently, all that is left of the Samaritan community in Shechem/Nablus itself is an abandoned synagogue. The Israeli army maintains a presence in the area.
Relations of Samaritans with Jewish Israelis, Jewish Palestinians and Arab Palestinians in neighboring areas have been mixed. In 1954, Israeli President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi fostered a Samaritan enclave in Holon, Israel. Those Samaritans living in Israel enjoy Israeli citizenship. Samaritans in the Palestinian Authority-ruled territories are a minority in the midst of a Arab majority, although the Samaritans are a recognized minority. They had a reserved seat in the Palestinian Legislative Council in the election of 1996, but they no longer have one. Palestinian Samaritans have been granted passports by both Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Samaritan communities tend to be more politically aligned with Israel, regardless of whether they live in Jewish-majority or Arab-majority areas. As a small community physically divided between neighbors in a hostile region, Samaritans have been hesitant to overtly take sides in the Arab-Israel conflict, fearing that doing so could lead to negative repercussions. While the Samaritan communities in both Arab-majority Nablus and Israeli Holon have assimilated to the surrounding culture, Hebrew has become the primary domestic language for Samaritans. Samaritans who are Israeli citizens are drafted into the military, along with the Jewish citizens of Israel.
One of the biggest problems facing the community today is the issue of continuity. With such a small population, divided into only four families (Cohen, Tsedakah, Danfi and Marhib; a fifth family died out in the last century) and a general refusal to accept converts, there has been a history of genetic disease within the group due to the small gene pool. To counter this, the Samaritan community has recently agreed that men from the community may marry non-Samaritan (primarily, Israeli Jewish) women, provided that the women agree to follow Samaritan religious practices. There is a six month trial period prior to officially joining the Samaritan community to see whether this is a commitment that the woman would like to take. This often poses a problem for the women, who are typically less than eager to adopt the strict interpretation of Biblical (Levitical) laws regarding menstruation, by which they must live in a separate dwelling during their periods and after childbirth. Nevertheless, there have been a few instances of intermarriage. In addition, all marriages within the Samaritan community are first approved by a geneticist at Tel HaShomer Hospital, in order to prevent the spread of genetic disease.
In 2004 the Samaritan high priest, Saloum Cohen, died and was replaced by Elazar ben Tsedaka ben Yitzhaq. The Samaritan high priest is selected by age from the priestly family, and resides on Mount Gerizim.
Genetic Research/Testing of Samaritans
Genetic and demographic investigations of the Samaritan community were carried out in the 1960s. Detailed pedigrees of the last 13 generations show that the Samaritans comprise four lineages:
- The Tsedakah lineage, claiming descent from the tribe of Manasseh
- The Joshua-Marhiv lineage, claiming descent from the tribe of Ephraim
- The Danfi lineage, claiming descent from the tribe of Ephraim
- The priestly Cohen lineage from the tribe of Levi.
Of the 12 Samaritan males used in the analysis, 10 (83%) belong to haplogroup J, which includes three of the four Samaritan families. The Joshua-Marhiv family belongs to haplogroup J1, while the Danfi and Tsedakah families belong to haplogroup J2, and can be further distinguished by M67, the derived allele of which has been found in the Danfi family. The only Samaritan family not found in haplogroup J was the Cohen family (Tradition: Tribe of Levi) which was found in haplogroup E3b1a M78. This article predated the change of the classifcation of haplogroup E3b1-M78 to E3b1a-M78 and the further subdivision of E3b1a-M78 into 6 subclades based on the research of Cruciani, et al.his 2004 article on the genetic ancestry of the Samaritans, Shen, et al., concluded that principal components analysis suggested a common ancestry of Samaritan and Jewish patrilineages. Most of the former may be traced back to a common ancestor in what is today identified as the paternally-inherited Israelite high priesthood (Cohanim) with a common ancestor projected to the time of the Assyrian conquest of the kingdom of Israel. Archaeologists Aharoni, et al, estimated that this "exile of peoples to and from Israel under the Assyrians" took place during ca. 734 BCE to 712 BCE.
Samaritanism
The Samaritan religion is based on some of the same books used as the basis of mainstream Judaism, but differs from the latter. Samaritan scriptures include the Samaritan version of the Torah, the Memar Markah, the Samaritan liturgy, and Samaritan law codes and biblical commentaries. Samaritans appear to have texts of the Torah as old as the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint; scholars have various theories concerning the actual relationships between these three texts.
Religious beliefs
- There is one God, the same God recognized by the Hebrew prophets.
- The Torah was given by God to Moses.
- Mount Gerizim, not Jerusalem, is the one true sanctuary chosen by Israel's God.
- Many Samaritans believe that at the end of days, the dead will be resurrected by Taheb, a restorer (possibly a prophet, some say Moses).
- They believe in Paradise (heaven).
- The priests are the interpreters of the law and the keepers of tradition; scholars are secondary to the priesthood.
- The authority of classical Jewish rabbinical works (the Mishnah and the Talmud) is rejected.
- They have a significantly different version of the Ten Commandments (for example, their 10th commandment is about the sanctity of Mount Gerizim).
The Samaritans retained the Ancient Hebrew script, the high priesthood, animal sacrifices, the eating of lambs at Passover, and the celebration of Aviv in spring as the New Year. Yom Teruah (the biblical name for Rosh Hashanah), at the beginning of Tishrei, is not considered a new year as it is in Judaism. Their main Torah text differs from the Masoretic Text, as well. Some differences are doctrinal: for example, their Torah explicitly states that Mount Gerizim is "the place that God has chosen" for the Temple, as opposed to the Jewish Torah that refers to "the place that God will choose". Other differences are minor and seem more or less accidental.
Relationship to mainstream Judaism
Samaritans refer to themselves as Bene Yisrael ("Children of Israel") which is a term used by all Jewish denominations as a name for the Jewish people as a whole. They however do not refer to themselves as Yehudim (Judeans), the standard Hebrew name for Jews, considering the latter to denote only mainstream Jews.
The Talmudic attitude expressed in tractate Kutim is that they are to be treated as Jews in matters where their practice coincides with the mainstream but are treated as non-Jews where their practice differs. Since the 19th century, mainstream Judaism has regarded the Samaritans as a Jewish sect and the term Samaritan Jews has been used for them.
Religious texts
Samaritan law is not the same as halakha (Rabbinical Jewish law). The Samaritans have several groups of religious texts, which equate to Jewish halakhah. A few examples of such texts are:
Samaritan Pentateuch: only inspired text. (Contains about 6,000 variations from the Masoretic text. Most are minor.)Historical writingsSamaritan Chronicle, The Tolidah (Creation to the time of Abishah)Samaritan Chronicle, The Chronicle of Joshua (Israel during the time of divine favor) (4th century, in Arabic and Aramaic)Samaritan Chronicle, Adler (Israel from the time of divine disfavor until the exile)Hagiographical textsSamaritan Halakhic Text, The Hillukh (Code of halakhah, marriage, circumcision, etc.)Samaritan Halakhic Text, the Kitab at-Tabbah (Halacha and interpretation of some verses and chapters from the Torah, written by Abu Al Hassan 12th century CE)Samaritan Halakhic Text, the Kitab al-Kafi (Book of Halakhah, written by Yosef Al Ascar 14th century CE)Al-Asatir—legendary Aramaic texts form 11th 12th centuries, containing:Haggadic Midrash, Abu'l Hasan al-SuriHaggadic Midrash, Memar Markah—3rd or 4th century theological treaties attributed to Hakkam MarkhaHaggadic Midrash, Pinkhas on the TahebHaggadic Midrash, Molad Maseh (On the birth of Moses)Defter, prayer book of psalms and hymns.
List of the Samaritan High Priests (from 1613 CE)
- 1613–1624 Shelemiah ben Pinhas
- 1624–1650 Tsedaka ben Tabia Ha'abta'ai
- 1650–1694 Yitzhaq ben Tsedaka
- 1694–1732 Abraham ben Yitzhaq
- 1732–1752 Tabia ben Yiszhaq ben Avraham
- 1752–1787 Levi ben Avraham
- 1787–1855 Shalma ben Tabia
- 1855–1874 Amram ben Shalma
- 1874–1916 Yaacov ben Aaharon ben Shalma
- 1916–1932 Yitzhaq ben Amram ben Shalma ben Tabia
- 1933–1943 Matzliach ben Phinhas ben Yitzhaq ben Shalma
- 1943–1961 Abisha ben Phinhas ben Yittzhaq ben Shalma
- 1961–1980 Amram ben Yitzhaq ben Amram ben Shalma
- 1980–1982 Asher ben Matzliach ben Phinhas
- 1982–1984 Phinhas ben Matzliach ben Phinhas
- 1984–1987 Yaacov ben Ezzi ben Yaacov ben Aaharon
- 1987–1998 Yoseph ben Ab-Hisda ben Yaacov ben Aaharon
- 1998–2001 Levi ben Abisha ben Phinhas ben Yitzhaq
- 2001–2004 Shalom ben Amram ben Yitzhaq (Saum Is'haq al-Samiri)
- from 2004 Elazar ben Tsedaka ben Yitzhaq (he is the 131st Samaritan High Priest)
Samaritans in the Christian Gospels
The Christian Gospels mention Samaritans on four occasions:
- The Parable of the Good Samaritan. Begins in .
- Jesus asks a Samaritan woman of Sychar for water from Jacob's Well. .
- Jesus healed 10 lepers, of whom only one returned to praise God, and he was a Samaritan.
- In the Gospel of John, Jesus is accused of being a Samaritan and being demon-possessed.
Luke has the parable of the Good Samaritan and the story of the Samaritan Leper, but it also contains a story of a Samaritan village denying hospitality to Jesus and his disciples, because the villagers did not want to facilitate a pilgrimage to Jerusalem—a practice which they saw as a violation of the Law of Moses.
In , when instructing his disciples as to how they should spread the word, Jesus tells them not to visit any Samaritan city, but instead go to the "lost sheep of Israel".
The Gospel of Mark contains no mention of Samaritans, either positive or negative.
Samaritan media
The Samaritans have a monthly magazine started in 1969 called , which is written in Samaritan, Hebrew, Arabic, and English and deals with current and historical issues with which the Samaritan community is concerned.
The Samaritan Update is a bi-monthly e-newsletter for Samaritan Studies
Literature
- Heinsdorff, Cornel (2003).
Christus, Nikodemus und die Samaritanerin bei Juvencus. Mit einem Anhang zur lateinischen Evangelienvorlage (= Untersuchungen zur antiken Literatur und Geschichte, Bd. 67), Berlin/New York. ISBN 3-11-017851-6Zertal, Adam (1989). "The Wedge-Shaped Decorated Bowl and the Origin of the Samaritans". Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 276. (November 1989), pp. 77–84.
See also
External links
Ynetnews 05.02.07 (Includes photos) (photographs)
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