Samaritans

Samaritans

ࠔࠌࠓࠉࠌ‎ שומרונים‎ السامريون‎
Samaritans marking Passover on Mount Gerizim, near modern Nablus and ancient Shechem, 2006
Total population
~900 (2024)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Israel (Holon)	460 (2021)
State of Palestine[a] (Kiryat Luza)	380 (2021)[1]
Languages
Spoken: Israeli Hebrew and Levantine Arabic Liturgy: Samaritan Hebrew and Samaritan Aramaic
Religion
Samaritanism
Related ethnic groups
Jews and other Semitic-speaking peoples

Part of a series on
Samaritanism
Revered figures Abraahm Yesaahq Yaaqob Yoosef Mooshe Aahrron Ye'oosha
Scriptures and writings Religious scripture Samaritan Torah Historical writings Book of Joshua Tolidah Hagiographical texts The Hillukh Kitab at-Tabbah Kitab al-Kafi Al-Asatir
Practices Animal sacrifice Dietary Kashrut laws Holy days Counting of the Omer Priesthood Samaritan High Priest
Related religious groups Jews
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The Samaritans (/səˈmærɪtənz/; Samaritan Hebrew: ࠔࠠࠌࠝࠓࠩࠉࠌ‎ Šā̊merīm; Hebrew: שומרונים‎ Šōmrōnīm; Arabic: السامريون as-Sāmiriyyūn), also known as Israelite Samaritans, are an ethnoreligious group originating from the Hebrews and Israelites of the ancient Near East.^[2] They are indigenous to Samaria, a historical region of ancient Israel and Judah that comprises the northern half of today's West Bank. They are adherents of Samaritanism, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion that developed alongside Judaism.

Per their tradition, the Samaritans are descended from the Israelites who, unlike the Ten Lost Tribes of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, were not subject to the Assyrian captivity after the northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed and annexed by the Neo-Assyrian Empire around 720 BCE. Regarding the Samaritan Pentateuch as the unaltered Torah, the Samaritans view the Jews as close relatives, but claim that Judaism fundamentally alters the original Israelite religion. The most notable theological divide between Jewish and Samaritan doctrine concerns the world's holiest site, which the Jews believe is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and which Samaritans believe is Mount Gerizim near modern Nablus and ancient Shechem.^[3][4] Both Jews and Samaritans assert that the Binding of Isaac occurred at their respective holy sites, identifying them as Moriah. The Samaritans attribute their schism with the Jews to Eli, who was a High Priest of Israel around the 11th century BCE and who is accused in Samaritan belief of having established a religious shrine at Shiloh to oppose the original one at Mount Gerizim.

Once a large community, the Samaritan population shrank significantly in the wake of the Samaritan revolts, which were brutally suppressed by the Byzantine Empire in the 6th century. Their numbers were further reduced by Christianization under the Byzantines and later by Islamization following the Arab conquest of the Levant.^[5] In the 12th century, the Jewish explorer and writer Benjamin of Tudela estimated that only around 1,900 Samaritans remained in Palestine and Syria.^[6]

As of 2024,^[update] the Samaritan community numbers around 900 people, split between Israel (some 460 in Holon) and the West Bank (some 380 in Kiryat Luza).^[7] The Samaritans in Kiryat Luza speak Levantine Arabic, while those in Holon primarily speak Israeli Hebrew. For liturgy, they also use Samaritan Hebrew and Samaritan Aramaic, both of which are written in the Samaritan script. According to Samaritan tradition, the position of the community's leading Samaritan High Priest has continued without interruption over the course of the last 3600 years, beginning with the Hebrew prophet Aaron. Since 2013, the 133rd Samaritan High Priest has been Aabed-El ben Asher ben Matzliach.

For censuses, Israeli law treats Samaritans as a distinct religious community, but the Chief Rabbinate of Israel defines them as ethnically Jewish (i.e., Israelite).^[8] Rabbinic literature, however, rejected the Samaritans' Halakhic Jewishness unless the community renounced Mount Gerizim as the historical Israelite holy site.^[b] All Samaritans in both Holon and Kiryat Luza are Israeli citizens, but those in Kiryat Luza also hold Palestinian citizenship.

There are also a significant and growing number of communities, families, and individuals around the world who, despite not being part of the Samaritan community, identify with and observe the tenets and traditions of the Samaritans' ethnic religion. The largest community outside of the Levant, the "Shomrey HaTorah" of Brazil (generally known as neo-Samaritans worldwide), has approximately 3,000 members as of February 2020^[update].^[9][10]

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