Overview

The destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E., and the Babylonian exile that followed, could have spelled the end of Israelite identity. But the return of exiles first under Zerubbabel and again under Ezra and Nehemiah a generation later resurrected Isra-elite identity and opened a new chapter in the history of IsraelThe restoration of the exiles to Judah, however, also served to create a spiritual revitalization mostly attributable to a new authority associated with Israelite sacred texts. Ezra's reforms redefined previous Israelite distinctiveness and established a Jewish identity in-separably connected to the Torah. This rebirth of sorts had consequences. Some groups were excluded in the pursuit of this new identity. The Samaritans were among the first casualties. The Samaritans represented a unique challenge to the returning exiles. In the Ezra -Nehemiah tradition, the bene hagollah or the returning exiles alone constituted the people of Israel and the only legitimate link between pre-exilic and post-exilic Israel. The Samari-tans, as we will see, had a complex identity of their own. They had ties to the northern kingdom of Israel but also had adopted foreign influences through the Assyrian policy of relocating conquered peoples to different territories in the Empire. The Assyrian policy was based on the assumption that transplanted people were less likely to rebel, given their disconnectedness to the land they were settled in. The Samaritans claimed that they were authentic representatives of Israel. Most of the returning exiles had never even lived in the land, so from the vantage point of the Samaritans, their claims to legitimacy were dubious. Nevertheless, at least initially, the Samaritans appeared willing to join forces with the exiles. Ezra and Nehemiah ended those overtures, and the schism between Jews and Samaritans only increased as time passed.In a separate work, titled, The Karaites and the Question of Jewish Identity, I mentioned that my study of Iberian Conversos led to an intriguing case where a group of Conversos fled the Iberian Peninsula and journeyed to Egypt where they rejoined the Jewish community. The community they joined, however, was the Karaite one, and not the normative rabbinic Jewish community. That episode led me to investigate Karaite theology and rabbinic responses to them. That exercise was helpful because several parallels between rabbinic responsa on anusim, i.e., Iberian Conversos and the Karaites, can be noted.There is no similar case of Conversos joining the Samaritan community. However, the Talmud is replete with references to the Samaritans and the complicated and often contradictory approach rabbis held towards them.This short work is divided into four chapters. The first chapter, titled Jewish Identity, provides context for our underlying question. What constitutes Jewish identity? Since I am writing from the perspective of traditional Judaism, I believe it is appropriate to explain what Jewish identity means from this standpoint. This chapter is extracted from the previously mentioned work, Who is a Jew? and is modified to include references to the Samaritans.The second chapter, titled The Origins of the Samaritans, discusses the beginnings of the Samaritans, as found in the Bible and rabbinic literature. The third chapter, titled The Status of the Samari-tans, discusses how Samaritans were regarded in Jew-ish law.Chapter four is titled Talmudic Perspectives on the Samaritans and discusses other areas where the status of Samaritans was conversed in the Talmud. The last section provides a summary of more recent attitudes towards the Samaritans and the ever-present question of Jewish identity.

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