I was so fascinated when I heard this that I decided to find a way to meet them when I was in Israel. My first visit was at the turn of the new millennium. Although tension was high between Israelis and Palestinians, I found a tour guide who agreed to drive me from Israel to the northern West Bank and then up Mount Gerizim to the Samaritan village of Kiryat Luza. We passed modest limestone houses and arrived at the dusty main street, where the guide stopped in front of a small, two-storey museum.
Inside, it was the size of a large living room, and I saw a diorama of ancient priestly garments, a sample of round matza unleavened bread and a genealogical tree in the shape of a menorah seven-branched candelabrum that went back thousands of years. One wall was covered with photographs of austere, bearded old men wearing turbans. The priestly lineage goes back to Aaron, the brother of Moses. I began to cry, and the tears never stopped until I left the mountaintop. I felt I had encountered something that was very ancient, powerful and true.
Many visitors to the sacred Mount Gerizim are Christians, drawn by the New Testament parable and the fact that the Samaritans still speak the ancient Hebraic language that Jesus spoke. According to Biblical tradition, the Israelites were divided into 12 tribes and the Israelite Samaritans say they are descended from three of them: Menasseh, Ephraim and Levi.
There he united the tribes with a ceremony that included a blessing for Mount Gerizim which became known as the Mountain of the Blessing and a curse for Mount Ebal the Mountain of the Curse. We eventually separated, but our origins are identical. They were persecuted and killed for practicing their ancient faith by Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Mamluks and Ottomans. By , there were only Samaritans left. Today they number more than , with half living in Holon south of Tel Aviv and the other half on the mountain.
Several years later, on my second visit to the region, I went to Holon to meet Tsedaka. We walked around Holon, where about 80 Samaritan families were then living and working as lawyers, teachers, bankers and engineers. We approached the Samaritan synagogue, a small building with a red-tile roof, limestone walls and a seven-branched candelabrum above the entry gate, inscribed with ancient Hebrew writing.
Inside were piles of prayer books but no seats. Tsedaka explained that the men kneel or sit on the floor, and their Torah holy book has three crowns on it, which represent their three tribes of origin.
On Friday afternoon, before the Sabbath, Tsedaka drove me from his house in Holon through the West Bank, arriving at his second home in Kiryat Luza without incident, even though a Palastinian uprising was roiling in the area.
The Samaritans who live on their sacred mountain, between Palestinians in the West Bank and Jews in Israel, try to be a neutral bridge of peace between the two. Many Samaritans speak Arabic, have Arabic names in addition to Hebrew names, and speak both ancient and modern Hebrew; some speak English as well. I know the Jews have another version of where these events took place, but our history says they happened here.
We walked around the Mount Gerizim archaeological site which had recently opened. More than ancient stone inscriptions were found here, Tsedaka told me, in addition to Persian, Hellenistic, Byzantine and Samaritan ruins and artefacts. Today the area is a national park , maintained by Israel.
Tsedaka went into his bedroom, and when he emerged, I was shocked by his transformation. He wore traditional ancient Israelite clothes: a long, white robe, tarboosh red cylindrical hat with the white band of an elder and sandals. We walked down the main street to the synagogue, joining other men and boys dressed like Tsedaka heading in the same direction. They left their sandals outside the sanctuary door. Inside, they sat, kneeled and stood on rugs, sometimes bowing their heads in the direction of their ancient Tabernacle.
The sound of their prayers was deep and throaty. After the service, a group of men approached me at the back of the synagogue, where I was sitting on a plastic chair.
After the death of King Solomon sometime around B. Israel and Judah co-existed for about two centuries, often fighting against each other. Its southern part is known as Judea , while the northern part is called Samaria.
It is known internationally as the West Bank due to its location west of the Jordan River, which separates the territory from Jordan.
Samaria means "watch mountain" and is the name of both a city and a territory. When the Israelites conquered the Promised Land, this region was allotted to the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim. Much later, the city of Samaria was built on a hill by King Omri and named after the former owner, Shemer. In the Bible the district of Samaria is called Mount Ephraim. Geographically, it consists of the central region of the mountains of western Palestine , bordered in the east by the River Jordan, in the west by the Plain of Sharon, in the north by the Plain of Jezreel Esdraelon , and in the south by the valley of Ayalon.
The Samaritans believe that, since more than years ago, they came to live on Mount Gerizim because Moses, in his tenth commandment, ordered them to protect it as a sacred mountain and worship on it by making pilgrimages to it three times a year. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus heals ten lepers and only the Samaritan among them thanks him, although Luke —56 depicts Jesus receiving a hostile reception in Samaria. Luke's favorable treatment of Samaritans is in line with Luke's favorable treatment of the weak and of outcasts, generally.
Going to the well Because of her lowly status , the Samaritan woman goes to the well during the hottest point of the day to avoid the wagging tongues of her fellow townspeople. Most other people were taking siestas at this time; nobody in his or her right mind is out in the noonday sun. As nouns the difference between gentile and samaritan is that gentile is demonym while samaritan is a good samaritan. The Ten Tribes of Israel have never been seen since.
Joseph and Mary were distant cousins. Gentile, person who is not Jewish. Does samaria still exist today? Asked by: Prof. Hollis Aufderhar MD. Who did Samaritans worship? Where is Judea and Samaria today? What is Judah called today? What did Jesus say about Samaritans?
Is Jacob's Well still in Samaria?
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