Meeting our ancient cousins: What the Samaritans can teach about Jewish continuity

Attending the Samaritan Shavuot ceremony on Mount Gerizim offered a profound encounter with a community that shares deep historical roots with Judaism, yet follows a distinct religious path. The author, an Orthodox Jew, described the experience as fascinating, uplifting, and unsettling.

The Samaritans, a small community of about 800 people living in Holon and near Nablus, trace their lineage to ancient Israelites. They possess a version of the Torah with minor differences from the mainstream Jewish text. Their primary divergence from Judaism lies in their belief that Mount Gerizim, not Jerusalem, is the divinely appointed site, and they do not accept the Oral Law or rabbinic traditions.

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As I stood among them, watching ancient rituals performed with immense sincerity, hearing Hebrew prayers and seeing Torah scrolls carried with reverence, I could not help feeling that I was encountering not strangers, but long-lost cousins.

Witnessing ancient rituals, hearing Hebrew prayers, and seeing Torah scrolls handled with reverence, the author felt a connection to "long-lost cousins." The Samaritan Torah, with its slight variations, is seen as fundamentally the same as the Jewish Torah. Key figures like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses are considered ancestors by both communities. However, their paths diverged historically, with Samaritans adhering to a more literal interpretation of the written text, while Judaism developed a tradition of interpretation and transmission.

The author noted how visiting biblical landscapes, such as ancient Nablus and Mount Gerizim, brought the narratives to life, transforming them from page descriptions into tangible realities. This experience underscored the blessings of living in Israel, where one can walk through the very settings of national history. It led to a contemplation of how to uphold one's own tradition while respecting the sincerity and historical depth of another's beliefs, echoing insights from Rabbi Yehuda Halevi's nearly thousand-year-old work, the Kuzari, which posited that Judaism's foundation is not solely text but also historical experience.

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How do we affirm our own tradition while acknowledging the sincerity and antiquity of another?