Reinhard Pummer

The Samaritans are cousins of we Jews - religiously speaking that is. They have synagogues where they read from a Torah; they celebrate Passover and Yom Kippur – albeit at slightly different times from us; they acknowledge Moses as their only prophet, and their priests count their descent from Moses’ brother Aaron. And yet, their most holy site is not Jerusalem; it is Mount Gerizim near the West Bank city of Nablus; this is where half of the worldwide population of Samaritans – about 800 people - now lives. The Samaritan messiah will be a descendent of Joseph, from the tribe of Ephraim - not, like ours, a descendent of David, from the tribe of Judah. They consider themselves the true Children of Israel, and that we Jews are followers of a deviant path. According to the Samaritan narrative, the Jews were led astray by the Biblical priest Eli, who stole the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant away from its rightful place on Mount Gerizim, and installed it at Shiloh.

If this story of the “other” Israelites fascinates you, read this book. It tells you everything you could want to know – probably more – about the Samaritans. It covers their origins, their history right up to the modern day, their version of the Pentateuch and other Samaritan literature, their beliefs and practices and the existential challenges facing them today. The traditional Jewish view of the Samaritans is that they were originally foreigners, brought into northern Israel from the east by the Assyrians in the 8th century BCE, in exchange for the original Israelite population – the “lost” ten tribes – who were exiled after the Northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed. According to the Book of Kings, these foreigners adopted Israelite worship so as to appease the “local” deity of their new homeland. The author informs us that scholarly opinion, which once accepted this view of Samaritan origins, now favors a different narrative. According to most scholars, the Samaritans were not immigrants, but members of the original Israelite population who were not exiled - neither by the Assyrian nor by the Babylonian conquerors – and who remained living in the land of Israel throughout.

With each regarding the other as deviant or inauthentic, it is unsurprising that there have been tensions in the past between the Samaritan and Jewish communities. However, the fact is that Jews’ return to Israel in modern times – there are no Samaritans outside of Israel – has greatly benefited and provided practical support for the Samaritan community, which was down to about 160 souls in the early 20th century. There were very few Samaritan women and, were it not for the advice of Israel’s second president, Yitshak Ben-Tsvi, they might well have disappeared by now. He convinced them that marrying a Jewish woman was not “marrying out”, and they now also benefit from genetic counselling in Israel. I believe that the Samaritans give something to Jews too. A few years ago, I attended their Passover celebrations on Mount Gerizim; the men slaughter and then roast yearling lambs over huge outdoor fire pits, and then the whole community sits down to consume the Pascal lamb. Despite the differences between this and our rather more sedate Seder celebrations, I found it strangely moving to see, and to know that their beliefs and practices derive from the same sources as ours. In a way, the Samaritan presence in the land of Israel complements and validates our own. And if they are indeed descendants of the ten tribes who were never really lost, then that will save us a lot of searching.… (meer)