Most people know the Samaritans from a single parable in the Gospel of Luke. Fewer know that they still exist - roughly 900 people today, living in two places: Kiryat Luza on Mount Gerizim above Nablus, and a neighborhood in Holon, just south of Tel Aviv.
The Samaritans see themselves as descendants of the northern Israelite tribes, mainly Ephraim and Manasseh, who never went into exile. Their faith rests on the Five Books of Moses alone, written in an old Hebrew script that predates the square letters used in Jewish Torah scrolls. Their holy place is not Jerusalem but Mount Gerizim, which they believe is the mountain God chose. The split between Samaritans and Jews goes back well over two thousand years, and the ruins of their temple precinct on the summit were destroyed by the Hasmonean ruler John Hyrcanus in the second century BCE.
Their most striking ritual is the Passover sacrifice. Every spring, on the night before the holiday, the community gathers on Mount Gerizim, slaughters lambs at sunset, roasts them in pits and eats them in haste, exactly as described in Exodus. It is the only place in the world where the biblical Passover offering is still carried out.
Being so few, the community has faced real survival challenges, and in recent decades it has opened carefully to marriages with women from outside, some from Ukraine and Russia, who convert and join. Many Samaritans speak both Hebrew and Arabic and hold Israeli citizenship, living between two worlds in a very literal way.
In Holon, the Samaritan quarter is quiet and residential, but visitors with an interest can see the synagogue and learn the story from community members. It makes a fascinating add-on to a Tel-Aviv and Jaffa day. Ask us and we will see what can be arranged for your dates.