So, What About Samaritans?

[Jumala]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritan
The Samaritans are a Semitic people closely related to Judean/Israelite peoples; ethnically, geographically, religiously and historically their fate has been bound up with that of the various proto-Judaic and Judeo-Christian cults. They've always been kind of separated; some have suggested that many Jewish laws regarding ritual and dietary habits was to distinguish them from Samaritans whose beliefs were otherwise indistinguishable from those of Jews, especially since a real Jewish Orthodoxy post-dates that of Christianity's.

Religious beliefs

   

There is one God, YHWH the same God recognized by the Hebrew prophets.
    The Torah was given by God to Moses.
    Mount Gerizim, not Jerusalem, is the one true sanctuary chosen by Israel's God.
    Many Samaritans believe that at the end of days, the dead will be resurrected by Taheb, a restorer (possibly a prophet, some say Moses).
    Paradise (heaven).
    The priests are the interpreters of the law and the keepers of tradition; scholars are secondary to the priesthood.
    The authority of post-Torah sections of the Tanakh, and classical Jewish rabbinical works (the Talmud, comprising the Mishnah and the Gemara) is rejected.
    They have a significantly different version of the Ten Commandments (for example, their 10th commandment is about the sanctity of Mount Gerizim).

The Samaritans retained the Ancient Hebrew script, the high priesthood, animal sacrifices, the eating of lambs at Passover, and the celebration of Aviv in spring as the New Year. Yom Teruah (the biblical name for Rosh Hashanah), at the beginning of Tishrei, is not considered a new year as it is in Judaism. Their main Torah text differs from the Masoretic Text, as well. Some differences are doctrinal: for example, their Torah explicitly states that Mount Gerizim is "the place that God has chosen" for the Temple, as opposed to the Jewish Torah that refers to "the place that God will choose". Other differences are minor and seem more or less accidental.

[Whitney]

Please hold off on posting religious topics till you get out of the 50 post window...posting them in the laid back lounge just creates more work for the mods.

Thanks