Hurricane Irene could hit U.S. as a monster
CBS News
Gaddafi, the ghost
Independent online (SA)
Why Palestinians and Palestinian Statehood May Cease to Exist if Perry Becomes President
WorldNews.com
Enemy of the People: Privatized Medicines and Healthcare?
WorldNews.com
England riots: 1,400 suspects have appeared in court
BBC News
The Samaritans ( Shomronim, as-Sāmariyyūn) are an ethnoreligious group of the Levant. Religiously, they are the adherents to Samaritanism, an Abrahamic religion closely related to Judaism. Based on the Samaritan Torah, Samaritans claim their worship is the true religion of the ancient Israelites prior to the Babylonian Exile, preserved by those who remained in the Land of Israel, as opposed to Judaism, which they assert is a related but altered and amended religion brought back by those returning from exile.
Ancestrally, they claim descent from a group of Israelite inhabitants from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (the two sons of Joseph) as well as some descendents from the priestly tribe of Levi, who have connections to ancient Samaria from the period of their entry into the land of Canaan, while some suggest that it was from the beginning of the Babylonian Exile up to the Samaritan Kingdom of Baba Rabba. The Samaritans, however, derive their name not from this geographical designation, but rather from the Hebrew term Shamerim שַמֶרִים, "Keepers [of the Law]".
In the Talmud, a central post-exilic religious text of Judaism, their claim of ancestral origin is disputed, and in those texts they are called Cutheans (, Kuthim), allegedly from the ancient city of Cuthah (Kutha), geographically located in what is today Iraq. Modern genetics has suggested some truth to both the claims of the Samaritans and Jewish accounts in the Talmud.
Although historically they were a large community — up to more than a million in late Roman times, then gradually reduced to several tens of thousands up to a few centuries ago — their unprecedented demographic shrinkage has been a result of various historical events, including most notably the bloody repression of the Third Samaritan Revolt (529 AD) against the Byzantine Christian rulers and the mass conversion to Islam in the Early Muslim period of Palestine. According to their tally, as of November 1, 2007, there were 712 Samaritans live exclusively in two localities, one in Kiryat Luza on Mount Gerizim near the city of Nablus in the West Bank, and the other in the Israel city of Holon. Hebrew, and later Aramaic, were languages in use by the Jewish and Samaritan inhabitants of Judea prior to the Roman exile, and beyond.
The Samaritans have insisted that they are direct descendants of the Northern Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, who survived the destruction of the Northern kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in 722 BC. The inscription of Sargon II records the deportation of a relatively small proportion of the Israelites (27,290, according to the annals), so it is quite possible that a sizable population remained that could identify themselves as Israelites, the term that the Samaritans prefer for themselves.
Samaritan historiography would place the basic schism from the remaining part of Israel after the tribes of Israel conquered and returned to the land of Canaan, led by Joshua. After Joshua's death, Eli the priest left the tabernacle which Moses erected in the desert and established on Mount Gerizim, and built another one under his own rule in the hills of Shiloh (; ). Thus, he established both an illegitimate priesthood and an illegitimate place of worship.
Abu l-Fath, who in the 14th century AD 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 AD using earlier chronicles as sources states:
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 Khabur 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:
Zertal dates the Assyrian onslaught at 721 BC to 647 BC 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 BC. 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-Israelites 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:
From the perspective of the Deuteronomistic Historians, writing in Judah, the northern Israel was a sinful kingdom and was divinely punished for its idolatry and iniquity by being destroyed by the Assyrians in 720 BC. Ironically, the Chronicler is very generous to the south Judah and considers it God's will to recover the chosen people that they were destroyed by Babylon and exiled to Babylon.
The tensions continued in the postexilic period. According to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, Ezra-Nehemiah is hostile toward its northern neighbors and considers the northern Israel except for the "true Israel". While the Chronicles is more inclusive than Ezra-Nehemiah since for the Chronicler the ideal is of one Israel with twelve tribes, the Chronicler emphasises on Judah and ignores the northern Israel.
Unlike the Chronicler, the Samaritan claimed that they were the true Israel who were descendants of the "lost" tribes taken into Assyrian captivity. They had their own temple on Mount Gerizim and claimed that it was the original sanctuary. Moreover, they even claimed that their version of the Pentateuch was the original and that the Jews had a falsified text produced by Ezra during the Babylonian exile.
Both Jewish and Samaritan religious leaders taught that it was wrong to have any contact with the opposite group, and neither was to enter each other's territories or even to speak to one another. During the New Testament period, although the tensions went unrecognized by Roman authorities, Josephus reports numerous violent confrontations between Jews and Samaritans throughout the first half of the first century.
According to the Jewish version of events, when the Judean exile ended in 538 BC 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 Messiah" (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 BC), later by Zerubbabel and Jeshua, and later still by Haggai and Zechariah (520–515 BC). Work was completed in 515 BC.''
The term "Cuthim" applied by Jews to the Samaritans had clear pejorative connotations, implying that they were interlopers brought in from Kutha in Mesopotamia and rejecting their claim to be descended from the ancient Tribes of Israel. This claim, however, that the northern tribes of Israel were all exiled by the Assyrians and therefore those who occupied the land were of a non-Israelite origin is rejected by the Bible, 2 Chronicles 30:1-31:6, which states that not all of the people from the northern kingdom were exiled by the Assyrians and some still remained even after the Assyrian conquest of the land in the 8th century BC.
Also,
According to Samaritans, it was on Mount Gerizim that Abraham was commanded by God to offer Isaac, his son, as a sacrifice . In both narratives, God then causes the sacrifice to be interrupted, explaining that this was the ultimate test of Abraham's obedience, as a result of which all the world would receive blessing.
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.
The legitimacy of the Samaritan temple was attacked by Jewish scholars including Andronicus ben Meshullam.
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 was on the throne of the Seleucid Empire from 175 to 163 BC. 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 Christ, 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 BC):
Josephus Book 12, Chapter 5 quotes the Samaritans as saying:
In 167 BC 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 Jews 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 BC, having existed about 200 years. Only a few stone remnants of it exist today.
Samaritans fared badly under the Roman Empire, when Samaria was a part of the Roman-ruled province of Judea.
Samaritans appear briefly in the Christian gospels, most notable in the parable of the Good Samaritan. In this parable, told to Jews, a Samaritan helps a wounded Jew even though Jews and Samaritans despised each other.
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 AD. 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 BC, 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.
Modern historians believe that the order of the facts preserved by Samaritan sources should be inverted, as the persecution of Zeno was a consequence of the rebellion rather than its cause, and should have happened after 484, around 489. Zeno rebuilt the church of St. Procopius in Neapolis (Sichem) and the Samaritans were banned from Mount Gerizim, on whose top a signalling tower was built to alert in case of civil unrest.
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. 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.
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, as dhimmi, 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.
Over the centuries of Byzantine, Arab and Turkish rule, the Samaritans suffered many hardships which included forced conversion to Christianity, forced conversion to Islam, harsh religious decrees, massacre and persecution.
Also because of the pressure they suffered during the Islamic periods, large numbers of Samaritans converted to Islam until there were only five families left in all the Middle East.
While the majority of the Samaritan population in Damascus was killed or converted during the reign of the Ottoman Pasha Mardam Beq in the early 17th century, the remainder of the Samaritan communities from Damascus and the other cities where they had a presence moved to Shechem, due to its close proximity to Mount Gerizim.
The Shechem community endured because most of the surviving diaspora returned, and they have maintained a tiny presence there to this day. 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. The Samaritans themselves describe the Ottoman period as the worst period in their modern history, as many Samaritan families changed their religion during that time. Even today, certain Nabulsi family names such as Muslimani, Yaish, Sayeh, and Shakshir among others, are associated with Samaritan ancestry.
Of the 12 Samaritan males used in the analysis, 10 (83%) had Y chromosones belonging 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 classification 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.
In a 2004 article on the genetic ancestry of the Samaritans, Shen, et al. concluded from a sample comparing Samaritans to several Jewish populations, all currently living in Israel — representing Ethiopian Jews, Ashkenazi Jews, Iraqi Jews, Libyan Jews, Moroccan Jews, and Yemenite Jews, as well as Druze and non-Druze Palestinian Arabs — that the 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 BC to 712 BC. The authors speculated that when the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel, resulting in the exile of many of the Israelites, a subgroup of the Israelites that remained in the Land of Israel "married Assyrian and female exiles relocated from other conquered lands, which was a typical Assyrian policy to obliterate national identities." There are also four Samaritan families residing in Binyamina, Giv'at Ada, Matan and Ashdod.
After the end of the British Mandate of Palestine and the subsequent establishment of the State of Israel, some of the Samaritans who were living in Jaffa emigrated to the West Bank and lived in Nablus. But by the late fifties, around 100 Samaritans left the West Bank for Israel under an agreement with the Jordanian authorities. 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. However, Al-Kahen Wasef al-Samery, a Samaritan leader, declared in 1960 that Israel is an enemy for them as it is an enemy for the Arabs. The Samaritans in Nablus often try to show the differences between them and the Jews, more so than those who live in Holon. Samaritans have stated that the military authorities do not treat them as a minority. On the contrary, they felt that they were treated like West Bank Arabs. Prior to 1948, the Samaritans were divided politically into two factions. The first was led by Sadaqa al-Kahen, who supported the Palestinian Arab leader Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, while the second faction was led by Wasef al-kahen, who supported another Palestinian Arab leader, Ragheb Nashashibi.
The Gospel of Mark contains no mention of Samaritans.
Jewish view:
Independent views:
Books and other information:
Books and other information (continued):
Photographic links:
Category:Semitic peoples Category:Ancient Levant Category:Ancient peoples Category:Ethnic groups in the Middle East Category:Jewish denominations Category:Abrahamic religions Category:Monotheistic religions
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
