Samaritanism

The Samaritans call themselves Israelites. Scholars place the origin of the community in Samaria, its distinct identity taking shape in Persian and Hellenistic times. Their only scripture is the Samaritan Torah, and they reject the later Jewish canon and rabbinic tradition. Their holy mountain is Gerizim, not the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. A hereditary high priest leads the worship there, and the Passover sacrifice is offered each year.

By the 14th century the community was small. The high priestly line of Eleazar died out in 1624, passing the office to the descendants of Ithamar, and by 1786 only about a hundred Samaritans remained.