In the New Testament parable of the " Good Samaritan , " Jesus differentiate the tale of a traveler who was robbed , beaten and will for dead on the side of the route . Several people walk by the naked , injured man , include Judaic priests and bureau , but a Samaritan , a stranger , stops . He treats the victim ’s trauma , takes him to an inn and leaves the innkeeper money to pay for any expenses .
The parable of the Good Samaritan is such a potent model of categorically " sleep with thy neighbour " that manyhospitalsandcharitiesnow carry the name " Samaritan . " There are also " in effect Samaritan Torah " which give effectual trade protection to people who give aid to those who are injured or in peril .
But when Jesus first say the parable 2,000 years ago , it would have been receive very differently . To the Jewish community of the first C C.E. , the Samaritans were an unclean and wicked sect . A " good " Samaritan , in fact , would have been unthinkable .
" It ’s like saying ' the good Osama bin Laden , ' " saysTerry Giles , a theology prof at Gannon University in Erie , Pennsylvania . " It would have been scandalous to a Judaic interview that a Samaritan was the hero of the fib . "
The truth is that Samaritans andJewshave a marvellous amount in common . Both are ancient peoples who can trace their origination back to the biblical Israelites , God ’s " chosen people " whom Moses led into the Promised Land . Both Samaritans and Jews revere the Torah , the first five al-Qur’an of the Hebrew Bible , as the tidings of God and reliably follow its precept . And they both have suffered centuries of cruel persecution .
What most hoi polloi do n’t be intimate is that there is still a small but palmy residential area of Samaritans in the Holy Land , where they continue to do their distinct Israelite religion and traditions . And the good news is that the ancient animus between Jews and Samaritans has for the most part faded away .
When and Why the Samaritans and Jews ‘Split Up’
Abood Cohen is one of 830 Samaritans ( he estimates ) presently living in Israel and the West Bank , a Palestinian territory . Cohenconducts English - speaking toursof his Samaritan residential district on Mount Gerizim , an ancient Samaritan holy land site near the Palestinian city of Nablus .
Cohen says thataccording to Samaritan history , the rip between the Jews and the Samaritans happened 400 years after God extend Moses and the Israelites out of Egypt and into the promised estate of Canaan .
" About 3,200 long time ago , we were one commonwealth , but then we split in two , " enounce Cohen , " Samaritans and Jews . "
The breakup , agree to the Samaritans , had to do with a battle over the right location of the Tabernacle holding the Ark of the Covenant . InDeuteronomy 12:5 , God instructed Moses to demonstrate a place of worship in a position that he " will select . " The Samaritans conceive that the take location was always Mount Gerizim , the same place where Samaritans say that Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac , and where Jacob had his sight of a ravel reaching up to the heavens .
The trouble start , Samaritans say , when an Israelite in high spirits priest appoint Eli rebelled and took his followers to another site called Shilo . The genuine temple remained on Mount Gerizim , Samaritans say , while Eli and his followers constructed a new one in Shilo and then take it to Jerusalem , where Solomon establish his famed Temple .
The chemical group that chose Jerusalem as God ’s dwelling position became the Jews , and the hoi polloi who stay to idolize at Mount Gerizim became the Samaritans .
The name " Samaritan " was apply to the mathematical group by outsider include the Judaic - Roman historianFlavius Josephus , who believed that Samaritans come from the geographic area known as Samaria . Giles says that the name might also be a Latinized edition of the HebrewShomrim , which entail " steward " as in the keeper of the true Israelite religion on Mount Gerizim .
Giles , who has written several books about the Samaritans , including " The steward : An presentation to the chronicle and Culture of the Samaritans , " says that historians believe that the rip between the Samaritans and the Jews in all likelihood hap much later than the traditional Samaritan history , sometime between the third and first century B.C.E.
The Samaritan Torah and Beliefs
Since Samaritans and Jews descended from the same people , they portion out many of the same spiritual impression and tradition like observingShabbat , the weekly Clarence Day of relief , and observe kosher , which mean avert nutrient prohibited by God in the Torah . But over the centuries since their split up , the two groups have developed distinct tradition , based in large part on their differing versions of the Torah .
The Samaritans apply a variation of the Torah known as theSamaritan Pentateuch(Greek for " five book " ) . The Samaritan text contains the same five script as the " Masoretic " or standard Jewish Torah — Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy — but Cohen tell there are around 6,000 small variations in the Samaritan Book and about 30 major conflict .
Most of those major differences are verses that solidify the Samaritan claim that Mount Gerizim is the rightful place to revere God . For example , the Samaritan Pentateuch contains a different version of the Ten Commandments , the foundational laws handed down by God to Moses on Mount Sinai .
In theSamaritan adaptation of the Ten Commandments(Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 ) , the first two commandments are combine and there ’s a newfangled and detailed 10th commandment making it clean-cut that God overlook Moses and the Israelites to build their altar on Mount Gerizim when they have the res publica of Canaan .
Cohen points out that the Samaritan Pentateuch is also written in an ancient form of Hebrew , what assimilator call " Paleo - Hebrew , " whichdates from the 10th century B.C.E.and await significantly different from the Hebrew letters found in received Judaic texts .
Modern Judaism and Jewish tradition were largely developed during the rabbinical full point that follow the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. Over the centuries , the Samaritans developed their own rendition of God ’s precept , passed down through a uninterrupted line of high priests . The results are variations in the path that Samaritans and Jews observe the same commandments .
On Shabbat , for example , Cohen says that Samaritans and Jews retell different prayers and that Samaritans bow down on the ground when they pray .
" We consider it ’s how our ancestors did it for 3,000 years , " says Cohen . " We also have seven hours of supplicant on Shabbat overspread across the day . We wake up from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. every single Shabbat of our lives . "
And the way that Samaritans and Jews keep kosher is also different . A Judaic person who maintain cosher typically will not only nullify forbidden foods like porc , shellfish and eat milk and meat in the same meal , but they will only eat on nutrient that are labeled kosher .
For Samaritans , says Cohen , " It does n’t have to have ' kosher ' written on it . If the Torah say it ’s OK to corrode , we consume . We can only eat meat from inside the community , though , from a Samaritan butcher . If we ’re eat out of doors of the community , we do n’t eat meat . "
On Passover, Samaritans Still Sacrifice Sheep
Passover , the holiday born of the Torah ’s teaching to remember and recount how God brought the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt , is observe by both Jews and Samaritans . But Samaritans do something unfeignedly unique on Passover — they do a ritual animate being forfeit on Mount Gerizim .
" As far as I ’m aware , the Samaritans are the only westerly religious group that still practices animal ritual killing , " says Gile . " The ceremony can be very moving . "
Cohen order that animal sacrifices are only do during Passover and are part of a communal Passover feast . The twenty-four hours before the forfeiture , every Samaritan household make its ownmatzah , the same " unleavened bread " that the Israelites ate as they rushed to get away the pharaoh ’s ire .
" you may smell thematzotthroughout the neighborhood , I bonk it , " says Cohen , using the plural form of matzah . " All through the village , you’re able to hear the singing and smell thematzotcooking . It ’s a really gay feeling . "
On the night of the Passover sacrifice , fires are alight in a twelve mystifying pits . Each extended family provides one or two sheep for the sacrifice . After a special supplicant by the eminent non-Christian priest , the sheep are carefully slaughtered accord to Torah specifications ( no broken clappers ) , placed on expectoration and behind - roasted for three minute over the glowing coals .
" The olfactory property is amazing , " says Cohen . " We wipe out the meat from the sheep with unleavened staff of life and bitter herb at midnight . It ’s exactly like how the Torah tells us . We ’re felicitous , we ’re chanting prayers , and it ’s really beautiful . "
During holiday like Passover , Samaritans clothe in whitened robes and red chapeau that resemble a Turkish tarboosh . On most days , Samaritans dress just like everyone else .
Samaritans as ‘Bridge of Peace’ in Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
The Samaritan community in the Holy Land once numbered around 1.5 million people , but centuries ofpersecution and force conversionby Muslim and Christian invaders come down the biotic community to less than 150 the great unwashed by 1919 . Cohen say that when an American scholar encountered this small group of Samaritans a century ago , he compared it to find a living wooly mammoth , something think to be retentive extinct .
Cohen say that Samaritans have a unique linear perspective on the Palestinian - Israeli conflict as neither Jew nor Arab , but something in between .
" Those of us living on Mount Gerizim have three recommendation : Israeli , Palestinian and Jordanian , " says Cohen . " We address Hebrew and Arabic and have friend from both side . We can travel pretty much anywhere in the Holy Land and we can see both nations ' struggles and success . "
Cohen say that he and his fellow Samaritans , a multitude who were almost pass over out a one C ago , seek to be a " bridge of peace of mind " between their warring neighbor . Cohen even make a podcast with a couple of friend calledOpen Peaceto help find common ground and show that " coexistence is possible . "
