The Samaritans live in Nablus, on Jerzime Mountain, the blessing mountain as it is called, form a denomination that has its roots and culture in the history of the Palestinian people for thousands of years.
Our heritage, culture, civilization and our land are closely related to each other and it is really hard to separate any of them from each other. Our Canaan ancestors built our culture we are proud of till mow.
The Samaritans are real Palestinians who have been living in this land for thousands of years and their denomination has its own culture, civilization and its own language. It also has its ancient heritage and ancient religion.
Many Palestinians know little about them though they live so close to
each other. This denomination has existed since the days of Prophet
Moses. A misleading thought was among the Palestinians about them; it
was that they are part of the Jews. In fact, they are not. They are
completely different. The Judaism is something and they are something
else.
Currently the Samaritans are not more than 569 persons, male and
females who live in two areas, Jerzime Mountain in Nablus or the
blessing mountain as they like to call it; the second area is Holon
city. They descended from two tribes Lawi tribe and Joseph tribe.
Jerzim Mountain is the holy place that the Samaritans believe that it
is their holy temple which was built long time ago and it is their
place to visit and pray in. Besides it is the mountain where our father
Abraham offered his son Ishaq as a sacrifice to God.
The ancient history of the Samaritans:
They are the people who have remained alive since the kingdom of Israel in the north; they continued thriving until king Salmon died. As a result of maltreatment they received from the rulers of the area, this denomination has split up, and the kingdom was divided into two parts. The first one extended from Safad in the north to Singel in Ramalla in the mid-south and its people settled in Nablus which was taken as their capital. The second part settled in Jerusalem which was taken as their capital, its borders lay from Singel in Ramalla to Elat in the south. The Jews lived in it, who belong to Judar the eldest son of his tribe.
Their number exceeded one million and two thousand people in the years 400 or 500 AD they were living in several places in the holy land that extended from south of Syria to the north of the Egypt. They descended from the Adventists-Lawi Adventist, equivalent to Atef in Arabic. People of Nablus called them Samaritans. Some others say that their names came from the Hebrew name Shamer – which means the conservatives of the Bible of our Master Prophet Moses. The Samaritans speak Hebrew, the old language used in the first millennium AD. They are keeping the Hebrew letters used by Moses Bible.
They got the ancient do*****ent ever known by the humanity which is the form of a Bible written on pieces of paper 13 years after the death of Moses, which means it was written before 3634 years ago. It is well preserved and it is not displayed or shown to any body unless there is an important occasion. It is an international treasure and heritage. The old Bible formed the Old Testament comprises the five books , copied by the priests so that their children can learn the old Hebrew language before going to school with the help of their parents and their friends. They also practice it at home intensively to help them master it.
Regarding the Arabic language, the Samaritans speak it fluently as they learn it in the Palestinian schools together with the Palestinian people and it becomes really hard to distinguish between a Samaritan and a Palestinian when speaking our language.
The modern history of the Samaritans:
In 1917 the number of the Samaritans reduced and declined till reached 146 people because of the depression, harassment and the massacres committed against them during the First World War. In the beginning of the 1930s of the last century, a positive development in all aspects of their life gradually began. These people did not lose any of their unity or bright history that maintains their culture, civilization and their doctrine. The individuals of the Samaritans integrated in the public posts and many of them do good business in Nablus and Holon.
The Samaritans doctrines:
They believe that their religion is one of the oldest religions in the world as the Jews disengaged and formed their own religion following some wars and inner fighting in the period of Babilon invasion. They also believe that the key are the true and saitctel people who keep this religion.
The basic elements of the Samaritans religion:
The Samaritans religion is based on the following five elements:
· The unity of God and the only God Who has no partners but Him.
· One prophet Moses the son of Umran.
· One holy book which is the old Bible comprising the five books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
· One holy place which Jerzime mountain in Nablus.
· The eternal joy which is the day of reward and punishment.
The Festivals:
The Samaritans festivals are based on the text of the Holy Bible they are as follows:
· The Easter during which the Samaritans denomination presents the sacrifices on Jerzeem Mountain.
· Al –Fitr festival during which the Samaritans are prohibited from eating and drinking food and wine except little food to indicate their expulsion from Egypt.
· The harvest of the seven weeks during which the Bible descended on the ground to Prophet Moses.
· The Hebrew New Year which marks the seven Hebrew months, it indicates the beginning of the year.
· The fasting great day which is the tenth day of the seventh month during which they hindered themselves from eating and prayers can be noticed at that day.
· Shadowing Festival that comes on the 15th day of the seventh month. This indicates the shadowing of the sons of Israel when they left Egypt. They were shadowed by the delicious fruits.
· The eight day which indicates the finalizing of the old Bible that comes at the end of the shadowing festival.
· All their festival are religious ones and not national ones all the Samaritans are committed to doctrine of fasting whether they are old or even infants.
· They called the seven day of the Easter the harvest day as they thank God for the good harvest.
The Samaritans and their diet
They are so keen of the importance of the food. They are generous and know how to welcome their guests in a kind way. They usually eat meat in their houses slaughtered by their priests.
The Samaritans and marriage They follow their own traditions and habits and they show much obligation towards them. Couples choose themselves and in most marriages they are relatives. They also follow the Islamic way of marriage ceremonies but not the basic beliefs.
Divorce is almost impossible except in exceptional cases such as illness and woman infertility.
A Samaritan is not allowed to get married to his sister in law if his wife dies and the Samaritan rule can be applied to a female who can't get married to her brother in law if her husband dies. If it happens that a girl agrees to be wedded to one of them, then she has to live with them for at least a year to get used to living with them.
The Samaritans families:
The Samaritans denomination is divided into five families:
The priest's family that belongs to Haron, Moses brother, who usually carry on the religious mass. The head priest is elected simply beause he is the oldest amongst them.
· Altife family which came from Syria.
· Sirawi family which also came from Syria.
· Sadaqa family which is originally from Nablus city.
· Mifrig family and it came from sarafend near Ramla-Palestine.
· Some people say that the last four families descended from Joseph sons.
Judaism and the Samaritans:
Many people think that the Samaritans are Jews while in fact they are different in the following respects:
Jews claimed that Jerusalem is their holy place.
he Jews believe in the Old Testament, all of it while the Samaritans believe only in the first five books of the Old Testament.
Jews believe in many prophets, while the Samaritans believe in one Prophet, Moses.
The Samaritans speak the old Hebrew language which consists of 22 letters only and their Bible was written with this language.
Samaritans usually knee when they pray without determining how many times they do that or how many Samaritans should pray together. The Jews usually pray together with not less than 10 people at a time. The Samaritans prayers males and females must be pure and clean when performing their prayers.
To conclude, I believe that nobody can ever write the full story of the Samaritans and their history in Palestine.
I hope when reading this article; it will offer our readers a hint of the life of the Samaritans, the people who have been striving to survive.
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