Monday, May 04, 2015

Samaritan Passover 2015

Members of the Samaritan sect in Israel skewer sheep for the traditional Passover ceremony in West Bank city of Nablus (Khaleda Rahman, The Daily Mail)
  • Passover is a commemoration of when the children of Israel were freed from slavery and led out of Egypt by Moses
  • Some Jews practiced animal sacrifice for Passover in ancient times, but today it is only done by the Samaritans
  • They were descended from the ancient Israelite tribes, but broke away from mainstream Judaism 2,800 years ago
  • Because of a less than strict adherence to Judaism and part-pagan ancestry, they were despised by ordinary Jews
With lots of photos. On the last bullet point, it depends on what you mean by a "less than strict adherence to Judaism." I think the Samaritans would say that that they held a strict adherance to Samaritanism. But yes, until recently, there was considerable hostility between Samaritans and Jews. Past posts on the Samaritan Passover, which comes a little after the Jewish Passover, are here and here and links.