Thousands of years after they first appeared in history, the Samaritans continue to practice the biblical rites including animal sacrifice. The Tower’s photographer captures their unique Passover experience.
The Samaritans are among the most ancient and unique communities in the Land of Israel. Though their origins are still obscure and controversial, they are unquestionably an ancient offshoot of Judaism that was already an entirely separate community by the time of the Second Temple—over 2,000 years ago. The Samaritans themselves trace their origins to the Babylonian exile, holding that they are descended from the tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel who were not expelled, unlike many of those from the southern kingdom of Judah. When the Babylonian exiles returned and rebuilt the Jerusalem Temple, the Samaritans took a different path, creating their own scriptures, temple, diaspora, dialects of Hebrew and Aramaic, and holy sites.
There are only around 700 Samaritans alive today, composed of four family lineages and living in two separate communities: One in the Israeli city of Holon, and the other in the West Bank (or Samaria, where their name comes from). Although they are considered Jews under Israel’s Law of Return and can claim citizenship and equal rights in Israel, they consider themselves a separate group while still being part of the larger “children of Israel.” Accordingly, their rituals and interpretations of biblical tradition are very different from those of Judaism, and often hew closer to a literal reading of biblical law.
As a result, some see the Samaritans as a window into Judaism’s ancient past, a vision of what Jewish life may have been like thousands of years before the exile, the rabbinical tradition, and the modern State of Israel. Perhaps the most famous and fascinating example of this is the Samaritan Passover. Usually celebrated in May, the festival is utterly unlike the Jewish practice of Seder dinners and cleansing hametz. Every year, the Samaritans gather on Mount Gerizim in the West Bank, which they believe is the holiest place on Earth, and enact a ritual sacrifice in which lambs are slaughtered, cooked, and eaten. This is close to the ritual prescribed in the Torah and may be very similar to that practiced by the ancient Israelites. This unique celebration of the Exodus is, for Jews, a passage back to the time of their ancestors; and, for others, a living remnant of the biblical past.
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Banner Photo: Aviram Valdman / The Tower
- Ancient Rituals in the Land of the Bible / Aviram Valdman
Samaritans prepare to slaughter lambs as a Passover offering. The long pit dug in the center will collect the blood spilled from the sacrificial animals. Photo: Aviram Valdman / The Tower
Despite their adherence to biblical tradition, Samaritans have found decidedly modern ways of transporting animals to sacrifice. Photo: Aviram Valdman / The Tower
The Passover sacrifice brings the entire Samaritan community together, including many children. After centuries on the edge of extinction, the Samaritans are now growing in numbers once again. Photo: Aviram Valdman / The Tower
The festival is attended by many curious outsiders, and has become a media event among both Israelis and Palestinians. Photo: Aviram Valdman / The Tower
Samaritan elders wearing the traditional red fez, believed to date from the days of Ottoman rule. Photo: Aviram Valdman / The Tower
The Samaritan biblical canon is extremely small. Referred to as the Samaritan Pentateuch, it contains only the first five books of the Jewish Bible. It differs in some important respects from the Jewish Masoretic text, and is written in a script directly derived from Paleo-Hebrew, which is quite unlike the modern Hebrew alphabet. Photo: Aviram Valdman / The Tower
The slaughter of the offerings is a gory affair, reminding onlookers that modern slaughterhouses and supermarkets conceal from us the harsh realities of survival in the ancient world. Photo: Aviram Valdman / The Tower
After being slaughtered and skinned, the sacrificial lambs are impaled on stakes, ready to be lowered into the fire pits. Afterwards, they are eaten at festive dinners. Photo: Aviram Valdman / The Tower
The fire pits into which the sacrifices will be lowered. Photo: Aviram Valdman / The Tower
After being slaughtered and skinned, the sacrificial lambs are impaled on stakes, ready to be lowered into the fire pits. Afterwards, they are eaten at festive dinners. Photo: Aviram Valdman / The Tower
The ceremony has become a popular tourist attraction, with visitors from as far away as Asia attending. Photo: Aviram Valdman / The Tower
The Samaritans believe that their community is the result of a rift between Israelites and Judeans dating back to the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. The most famous reference to them is the New Testament parable of the Good Samaritan. Photo: Aviram Valdman / The Tower
Like the Jewish seder, children are an important part of the ceremony, at which the entire community is traditionally present. Photo: Aviram Valdman / The Tower
The Samaritans are not mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible, but they are unquestionably an ancient people. They are referred to in the New Testament, and the 1st century CE Jewish historian Josephus mentions them in his writings, meaning they were already a distinct community at least 2,000 years ago. Photo: Aviram Valdman / The Tower
Participants in the sacrifice dress in white garments when they enact the ritual. Photo: Aviram Valdman / The Tower
The ceremony is based on the 12th chapter of the book of Exodus, in which God commands the Israelites, “Each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household…. Roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs…. When your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.” Photo: Aviram Valdman / The Tower
The sacrifices are cooked far into the night. Photo: Aviram Valdman / The Tower
After being lowered into the pit, the sacrifices are covered in wet soil to facilitate the cooking process. Photo: Aviram Valdman / The Tower
Both women and men are present at the ceremony, but only the men enact the ritual itself. Photo: Aviram Valdman / The Tower
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