Tsedaqa, Ratson, and Dov Noy. 1223.Google Scholar. [79] Like the non-Latin Christian inhabitants of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, came to be tolerated and perhaps favored because they were docile and had been mentioned positively in the New Testament. 46 Philo also argues that God does in fact work on the sabbath. Ben Zvi & The Samaritans . In their own language the Samaritans call themselves Shamerim (), meaning "Guardians/Keepers/Watchers", and in Arabic (Arabic: , romanized:al-Smiriyyn). Gerizim to Shiloh and established a rival cult there. Shapira, From Our Exile to Shchem: Abraham Firkowicz Visits the Samaritans - . Shen et al. This scene sets the stage for the classic biblical meet-cute: Rebekah and Isaac's marriage broker (Genesis 24:10-27), Rachel and Jacob (Genesis 29:1-12), Zipporah and . p. 282. Josephus Book 12, Chapter 5 quotes the Samaritans as saying: We therefore beseech thee, our benefactor and saviour, to give order to Apolonius, the governor of this part of the country, and to Nicanor, the procurator of thy affairs, to give us no disturbances, nor to lay to our charge what the Jews are accused for, since we are aliens from their nation and from their customs, but let our temple which at present hath no name at all, be named the Temple of Jupiter Hellenius. For a rabbinic view, roughly contemporary with John's, that God works on the sabbath, see Strack-Billerbeck, op. [93][94], Today, Samaritans in Israel are fully integrated into society and serve in the Israel Defense Forces. on some Samaritan practices relating to marriage. Recently several marriages with Jewish women have been permitted, so long as the woman takes on the principles of the Samaritan religion. Rabbinic literature rejected Samaritans unless they renounced Mount Gerizim as the historical Israelite holy site. Explicit use of proverbial sayings is found in 4. In other words, a double meaning is probably intended. The High Priest of every generation is selected by the eldest in age from the priestly family and resides on Mount Gerizim. The minimum is held to be one year, but ultimately the period depends on the High Priest, who may withhold permission. All seven wives died. The legitimacy of the Samaritan temple was attacked by Jewish scholars including Andronicus ben Meshullam. 22, 26 and 4. Though the matriarchsSarah, Rebecca, Rachel,andLeahpray a prominent role in Samaritan liturgy, especially in any service where there is a reference to womensuch as the burial service for womenfemale biblical characters are generally famousor infamousamong the Samaritans in the role of witches or having a malign influence. Samaritan halakhic texts and compares them. 3 If we follow the notice in 4. If not, the man could divorce his wife and try to reach this end through a new wife. (. He thought of God as possessing both male and female characteristics. Yet there is a possible reason for its insertion by someone other than the evangelist, namely, it could have been added to deflect attention from the boldness of Jesus' language and to remove its figurative overtone. The story indicates that a woman could study theTorahand indeed she is said to have written a Torah scrollan unlikely circumstance in view of the Samaritan attitude toMenstruation; the menstruant woman; ritual status of the menstruant woman.niddah. The eventual result was that the new settlers worshipped both the God of the land and their own gods from the countries from which they came. According to John, but without confirmation in Samaritan sources (see de Jonge, M., Jewish Expectations about the Messiah according to the Fourth Gospel, N.T.S. The king of the Assyrians then brought people from Babylon, Kutha, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim to place in Samaria. 50 Some additional points are noteworthy in regard to this parallel. Whoever touches her bed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. [81], Two hundred Samaritans were reportedly forced to convert to Islam in the village of Immatain by Saladin, according to a tradition recalled by a Samaritan High Priest in the 20th century; however, written sources make no reference to this event. [49], The books of EzraNehemiah detail a lengthy political struggle between Nehemiah, governor of the new Persian province of Yehud Medinata, and Sanballat the Horonite, the governor of Samaria, centered around the refortification of the then-destroyed Jerusalem. Of the latter, 228 were married, 290 were single and twenty-six were divorced or widowed. Some days before the week of the wedding, the family members of the groom familygo from door to door, from family to family and invite all the Samaritans to the celebration week. 32 See Dodd, op. [82], According to the Ottoman censuses of 15251526, 25 Samaritan families lived in Gaza, and 29 families lived in Nablus. The Samaritan, engraving, c, by Ephraim Moses Lilien. 41.5 reports how men from Shechem, Shiloh and Samaria made a pilgrimage to it at the time of the murder of the Judean governor, Gedaliah. Since that case, the priests decided on the following procedure. Jesus affirms the Jewish position, saying "You [that is, the Samaritans] worship what you do not know," although he also says, "a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem."[114]. However, his attempt to make Jerusalem the sanctuary of Samaria as well as of Judah probably met with some success, for Jer. Also called the "Festival of Mazzot"; the "Festival of Spring"; Pesah.Passover she cannot eat of the sacrifice. Brother and sister marriage is forbidden, as is marriage with a niece or nephew. cit. [7][b] The Samaritans in Kiryat Luza speak Levantine Arabic, while those in Holon primarily speak Israeli Hebrew. For example, there is a desire to shorten the period ofniddahafter birth. "the written Torah." For the latter, see l'Opposition contre le Temple de Jrusalem, motif commun de la thologie Johannique et du monde ambiant, N.T.S. Samaritans also have stringent laws surrounding ritual purity, including customs by which some women feel humiliated. Olsson, who fails to recognize that there is a down-to-earth figurative use of water in regard to women, expressly denies that there might be more than a general concern with a marital theme in the entire episode (p. 172 n. 58). See Olsson, op. From now on the couple separation would be depended on an official divorce, which called Sefer Kritot (Divorce agreement) whichneeds to be given by the husband to his wife: When a man takes a wife, and marries her, then it shall be if she find no favor in his eyes, because he has found some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a bill of divorce, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house(Deuteronomy 24:1). The grooms family serves the guests with praised refreshment, which include specially drinks. vessels together with Samaritans, p. 375. Daube, D., The New Testament and Rabbi ic Judaism (London, 1956), p. 119Google Scholar, argues that the reason for John's being called the Baptist or Baptiz r was because he applied Jewish proselyte baptism to his fellow-Jews. During this eveningthe chapter is read which tells the story of the marriage between Isaac and Rebekah. 24, 25, also, The Old Testament in the Fourth Gospel, J.T.S. She must also wash all the clothes that she has worn during menstruation and rinse everything that she has used or touched, after wrapping the items in plastic. Kitab al-Tarikh of Abul Fath. The interpretation of Jeremiah as a prophet like Moses would make him a most appropriate prophet to turn to in any attempt to connect Samaritan tradition with Jewish. [38] Yitzakh Magen argues that the version of Chronicles is perhaps closer to the historical truth and that the Assyrian settlement was unsuccessful, a notable Israelite population remained in Samaria, part of which, following the conquest of Judah, fled south and settled there as refugees. Jesus and the Woman at the Well by Edward Burne-Jones. [k], The Israeli biblical scholar Shemaryahu Talmon has supported the Samaritan tradition that they are mainly descended from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh who remained in Israel after the Assyrian conquest. While Israel's rabbinic authorities came to consider Samaritanism to be a sect of Judaism,[8] the Chief Rabbinate of Israel requires Samaritans to undergo a formal conversion to Judaism in order to be officially recognized as Halakhic Jews. Gathering disciples and binding them by an oath of loyalty, he sacrificed on the stone altar, without using salt, a rite which made the then High Priest Ozzi rebuke and disown him. Accounts of Samaritan origins in respectively 2 Kings 17:6,24 and Chronicles, together with statements in both Ezra and Nehemiah differ in important degrees, suppressing or highlighting narrative details according to the various intentions of their authors.[m]. 12 It is remarkable, for example, that in examining the Old Testament background of the expression 'living water' they concentrate on the symbols, Wisdom, Torah, Spirit, and ignore the figurative use of water in regard to women (for which, see below). The grooms family serves the guests with praised refreshment, which include specially drinks. So Brown, op. A very good account of her experiences with Samaritan women in the nineteenth There is no womens section in the Samaritan synagogue. They elected a Justa (or Justasa/Justasus) as their king and moved to Caesarea, where a noteworthy Samaritan community lived. Among Samaritan folktales preserved in their chronicles are stories of women, all of whom seem to be involved with priestly families. 5338. 1 The Fourth Gospel and Jewish Worship (Oxford, 1960), pp. Anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. Samaritans refer to themselves as Benai Yisrael ("Children of Israel"), which is a term used by all Jewish denominations as a name for the Jewish people as a whole. Samaritan tradition claims the group descends from the northern Israelite tribes who were not deported by the Neo-Assyrian Empire after the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel. After the birth of a male child, she is impure for forty days, with the addition of the day of the circumcision. Samareis () may refer to inhabitants of the region of Samaria, or of the city of that name, though some texts use it to refer specifically to Samaritans. Of the 12 Samaritan males used in the analysis, 10 (83%) had Y chromosomes belonging to haplogroup J, which includes three of the four Samaritan families. [89] The majority of them lived in Nablus,[89] 12 resided in Tulkarm, 12 in Jaffa, and 6 in As-Salt, Transjordan. The Hellenistic Period. 43 The similar invitation of the disciple, Philip, to Nathanael in I. Detailed pedigrees of the last 13 generations show that the Samaritans comprise four lineages: Recently several genetic studies on the Samaritan population were made using haplogroup comparisons as well as wide-genome genetic studies. When a man cant find his marriage partner among the community, he is allowed to marry a womanfrom the Jewish people only, who will accept the Samaritan tradition, and become part of the community. Halakhic decisions written by rabbinic authories in response to questions posed to them. The Torah mentions the place where God chooses to establish his name (Deuteronomy 12:5),[113] and Judaism takes this to refer to Jerusalem. Samaritans also have stringent laws surrounding ritual purity, including customs by which some women feel humiliated. 33 The recognition of this unique, single process underlies Gen. Rabba 14. 9. pp. 7 It is difficult to determine what precisely the relationship is here between the water and the Spirit, and how they are conceived symbolically. With the help of the Ghassanids, Emperor Justinian I crushed the revolt; tens of thousands of Samaritans died or were enslaved. After the birth of a daughter, she is impure for eighty days. 188215.Google Scholar. 2089.Google Scholar. 19), but the indication is that the northern sanctuaries continued to function much as they had done in the time of Amos and Hosea. 1000 GBP, and eventually came out of their hiding places. 31 Compare the rabbinic notion that the patriarchs were contemplated before the creation of the world. There have been a few instances of intermarriage. The priests are the interpreters of the law and the keepers of tradition; scholars are secondary to the priesthood. This correlates with expectations from the fact that the Samaritans retained endogamous and biblical patrilineal marriage customs, and that they remained a genetically isolated population. The Samaritan faith, which had previously enjoyed the status of religio licita, was virtually outlawed thereafter by the Christian Byzantine Empire; from a population once at least in the hundreds of thousands, the Samaritan community dwindled to tens of thousands. At every social event theniddahwomen sit together in a special corner and they take no active part. 21 Olsson's analysis (op. In the last decades, there weremany successfulcases of mixed marriage couples among the community. [36] Jeremiah likewise speaks of people from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria who brought offerings of frankincense and grain to the House of YHWH. The woman's response to Jesus' request is couched in a form (use of the -clause) that is paralleled in Nicodemus' response to Jesus in 3. 2 Some MSS have the plural reading, others the singular, which as the lectio difficilior is to be preferred. The Israeli army maintains a presence in the area. Bid also compares the Rabbinic 156. Samaritan Passover Sacrifice 2020 , The Renewal of the Passover ceremony square. cit. pp. Ninety years ago, because of a demographic situation, where there were more men than women of marriageable age, the priests of the community, allowed a change in policy, and confirmed the first case of marriage of a Samaritan man to a non Samaritan woman a Jewish woman, a new immigrant from Russia. Would-be reformers among the Samaritans consider that it is the Nablus community, which has not come to terms with western modernity, which holds Samaritan women back. Samaritan tradition claims the group descends from the northern Israelite tribes who were not deported by the Neo-Assyrian Empire after the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel. There is a six-month trial period before officially joining the Samaritan community to see whether this is a commitment that the woman would like to take. At the end of the period ofniddahthe woman purifies herself at home by immersion in a bath of warm water. Hence, no one else can perform this task without being defiled. 16, xx. [103] The current high priest is Aabed-El ben Asher ben Matzliach who assumed the office on 19 April 2013. This includes: The person who uses the AED The owner of the location where the AED is located Any medical professional who oversaw the installation of the AED Anyone who provided training for proper AED use Protection for those providing disaster relief A building dating to the second century BCE, the Delos Synagogue, is commonly identified as a Samaritan synagogue, which would make it the oldest known Jewish or Samaritan synagogue. See Bengel, J. A wifes barrenness is not grounds for divorce, but the husband is permitted (in this circumstance alone) to take a second wife without impinging on the rights of the first wife. The womanmust live among the community for a time before her marriage,in order to learn and to know the Samaritan life. The Talmud accounts for a people called "Cuthim" on a number of occasions, mentioning their arrival by the hands of the Assyrians. [78] Christians bearing crosses successfully pleaded for a calm transition. During her menstrual cycle a woman is unclean for seven days and pure at the end of the seventh day. Modern scholars are sceptical, however, emending the latter, without textual support, to read loins. Jer. 11, which Mark has in the similar temple incident, with Zech. See Leg. On Tuesday evening the whole community , men and women,gather together for the wedding. [86], After the end of the British Mandate of Palestine and the subsequent establishment of the State of Israel, some of the Samaritans who were living in Jaffa emigrated to Samaria and lived in Nablus. In 1990 there were 544 people, of whom 244 were female and 300 males. However, the Samaritan text speaks of the place where God has chosen to establish his name, and Samaritans identify it as Mount Gerizim, making it the focus of their spiritual values. If after this time, she agrees to accept the Samaritan tradition as her own, then the couple can marry, with the consent of the High Priest. 12) a proverbial reference to the maintenance of all the members of this particular family. The situation of the Samaritan community improved significantly during the British Mandate of Palestine. However, they were prohibited from offering Passover sacrifices on Mount Gerizim until 1849.[86][88]. Appealing to the King of France did not help. [45] During the earlier Assyrian invasions, the Transjordan did experience significant deportations, with entire tribes vanishing; the tribes of Reuben, Gad, Dan, and Naphtali are never again mentioned. Some scholars have claimed there's no evidence to support the settlement of foreigners in the area,[45] however, others disagree. Feature Flags: { I. Haifa: 1965. As a result, they had decreased from nearly a million and a half in late Roman (Byzantine) times to 146 people by the end of the Ottoman period. Have an update or correction? It says: Until the middle of the 20th century it was customary to believe that the Samaritans originated from a mixture of the people living in Samaria and other peoples at the time of the conquest of Samaria by Assyria (722721 BCE). 41) which hears Jesus' words for themselves and whose relationship with the woman is not deemed necessary. These findings date to the Abassid period, and are in accordance with the Islamization process as described in the historical sources. Ninety years ago, because of a demographic situation, where there were more men than women of marriageable age, the priests of the community, allowed a change in policy, and confirmed the first case of marriage of a Samaritan man to a non Samaritan woman a Jewish woman, a new immigrant from Russia. The Samaritanhalakhahof marriage and divorce is based on theTorah. Since then, there are some other couples, of Samaritan men with Ukrainian girls, who have accepted the Samaritan tradition, and have lived a time among the community. 7. Marriage and the Samaritan Woman - Volume 26 Issue 3. Samaritans (/smrtnz/; Samaritan Hebrew: , romanized: merm, transl. Equally interesting is the fact that in Rabbinic sources Jeremiah was identified with the prophet in Deut. "A.B The Samaritan News" - No. Times: An Experimental Study. In The Quest for Context and Meaning, edited 3.The Wedding Ceremony The official ceremony when the Ketuba (marriage contract) that contains all of the marriage agreements and rules from the Torah, is read by one of the priests. Even the metaphorical use of water in regard to Wisdom owes much to its related and prior use in regard to women. [76], The numerous instances of Samaritans converting to Islam that are mentioned in the Chronicle of Abu l-Fath are all connected to economic difficulties that led to widespread poverty among the Samaritan population, anarchy that left Samaritans defenseless against Muslim attackers, and attempts by those people and others to force conversion on the Samaritans. He wishes to come to her so that our joy may be complete (. Bloomington and London: 1976, 311319. Help us elevate the voices of Jewish women. 35, 37. Samaritan Legends. [35] Temple repairs at the time of Josiah were financed by money from all "the remnant of Israel" in Samaria, including from Manasseh, Ephraim, and Benjamin. The percentage of miscarriages or still-born children is ten percent higher than in the western world and the number of deaths before the age of two is five percent higher. 9, 54. After the reading, the grooms father and all his family serve the men refreshments. Gerizim'. Other Samaritan tradition books include the Memar Marqah (The teachings of Marqah), the Samaritan liturgy known as "the Defter", and Samaritan law codes and biblical commentaries. During the Hellenistic period, Samaria was largely divided between a Hellenizing faction based in Samaria (Sebastia) and a pious faction in Shechem and surrounding rural areas, led by the High Priest. Thus, the theory ofMarriage between a widow whose husband died childless (the yevamah) and the brother of the deceased (the yavam or levir).Levirate marriage differs from that pertaining among Rabbinic Jews, though at one stage their rituals may have been identical (Massekhet Kuttim 14). During this period, she attends Sabbaths and festivities and learns the way of life, acquiring knowledge on which she is tested. The status of Samaritan women today seems to be dominated by four factors: the dearth of women in the community, the desire of the community to avoid diluting its traditions, genetic problems deriving from inbreeding, and the rules pertaining to ritual purity. Guardians/Keepers [of the Torah]; Hebrew: , romanized:mrnm; Arabic: , romanized:as-Smiriyyn) are an ethnoreligious group who originate from the ancient Israelites. That which derives from contemporary Halakhic decisions written by rabbinic authories in response to questions posed to them.responsa[jwa_encyclopedia_glossary] is colored by the status and gender of the respondents and the degree to which they wish to reform the [jwa_encyclopedia_glossary:317]halakhic situation that governs male-female relationships. My observation about the need for the discourse in 3. [105] He further claimed that these families had written records testifying to their Samaritan ancestry, which were maintained by their priests and elders. The British police got involved and stopped any potential fatalities. It is commonly taught in Samaritan tradition that there are 13 references to Mount Gerizim in the Torah to prove their claim of holiness in contrast to Judaism, which relies solely on the later Jewish prophets and writings to back their claims of the holiness of Jerusalem.[108][109][110]. On this Sabbath, all the men of the community gathered after the Morning Prayers (which ends on a regular Sabbath at 6:00 am) at the father of the grooms home, or at the communal club, to read the Torah chapter of the week. Institution: G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection, U.S. Library of Congress. See Brown, op. When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening. [] The books of, "The laymen also possess their traditional claims. The link (absent in the biblical text) may owe something to the figurative use of water in regard to a woman as a wife: his supplying water requires the reciprocating provision of a well of living water for himself. [87] The Samaritans themselves describe the Ottoman period as the worst period in their modern history, as many Samaritan families were forced to convert to Islam during that time. p. 180. Samaria was rebuilt and embellished by Herod (whose wife Mariamne was a Samaritan) and was named by him Sebaste ( see Samaria ). They then return to Jerusalem, preaching the Gospel "in many villages of the Samaritans". This law makes saving lives the priority during a drug overdose, not criminal prosecutions of illegal drug users. For example, because of the shortage of women in the community, the priest can declare a betrothal or a marriage void, even against the will of the female partner, if the husband is overseas and incommunicado. For their religion, see, Samaritan origins of Palestinian Muslims in Nablus, "Today there are precisely 705 Samaritans, according to the sect's own tally. 8 Black, M., An Aramaic Approach to the Gospels and Acts (3rd ed.Oxford, 1967), p. 147Google Scholar, indicates the Semitic nature of the saying in 3. Where the Torah has been supplemented or reinterpreted by oral law, the Samaritans may differ in their practice; they may also differ in their interpretation of the Torah text, particularly regarding marriage. In the nineteenth century they were put under Jewish protection by Rabbi AbrahamHayyim Gagin, who described the Samaritans to the Ottoman Turks as a branch of Israelites who believe in the sanctity of theTorah she-bi-khetav: Lit. pp. [88], During the 1840s, the ulama of Nablus began asserting that the Samaritans may not be considered "People of the Book" and therefore have the same status as pagans and must convert to Islam or die. In this connection it is interesting to observe that the Deuteronomic influence on the book of Jeremiah would have meant that Jeremiah was interpreted as a prophet like Moses. Bid, I. R. M. Principles There were 100 in 1786 and 141 in 1919,[1] then 150 in 1967. On the whole I refrain in this article from taking up literary critical problems, instead concentrating on the final form of the material for the purpose of elucidating the idea of marriage and its role. For the Samaritans in particular, the passing of the al-Hakim Edict by the Fatimid Caliphate in 1021, under which all Jews and Christians in the Southern Levant were ordered to either convert to Islam or leave, along with another notable forced conversion to Islam imposed at the hands of the rebel ibn Firsa,[5] would contribute to their rapid unprecedented decrease, and ultimately almost complete extinction as a separate religious community. [44], Contemporary scholarship confirms that deportations did take place both before and after the Assyrian conquest of the Kingdom of Israel in 722-720 BCE. During this eveningthe chapter is read which tells the story of the marriage between Isaac and Rebekah. Your total amount is : 10.00 (Currency: USD), (C) All Copyrights Reserved to The-Samaritans.net 2020. Since that case, the priests decided on the following procedure. At that time, they began to work in the public sector, like many other groups. It may well be that Samaritan women were used as chattels to cement msalliances. 38 See Dodd, op. Marriage to a wifes sister or to a husbands brother is forbidden, since Samaritans interpretLeviticus 18:16as forbidding such marriages and they interpretDeuteronomy 25:510as referring to one born of the same family though not of the same parent. Acts 9:31 says that at that time the churches had "rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria". Jewish tradition affirms the Assyrian deportations and replacement of the previous inhabitants by forced resettlement by other peoples but claims a different ethnic origin for the Samaritans. the Samaritan temple was renamed either Zeus Hellenios (willingly by the Samaritans according to Josephus) or, more likely, Zeus Xenios, (unwillingly in accord with 2 Macc. 14. Pittsburgh: [18] The emergence of a distinctive Samaritan identity, the outcome of a mutual estrangement between them and Jews, was something that developed over several centuries. If a man lies with her and her monthly flow touches him, he will be unclean for seven days; any bed he lies on will be unclean. Yom Teru'ah (the biblical name for "Rosh Hashanah"), at the beginning of Tishrei, is not considered a New Year as it is in Rabbinic Judaism. Presents translations of the text known as the hillukh and offers a commentary It might be worth pointing out that just before the woman responds to his request John inserts the notice about the disciples' having gone to fetch some food. on Dan D.Y. While they do not consider themselves Jews, the Samaritans draw their beliefs from the Torah. Marriage within the tight-knit community was so common by the mid-20th century that about seven percent of Samaritans suffered from some genetic defect. Acts 15:23 says that Paul and Barnabas were "being brought on their way by the church" and that they passed through "Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles". 29. Gerizim. Eli is also held to have created a duplicate of the Ark of the Covenant, which eventually made its way to the Judahite sanctuary in Jerusalem. A young woman and her parents agree on the marriage to a specific man from the community. Samaritans accept the. for this article. When instructing his disciples as to how they should spread the word, Jesus tells them not to visit any Gentile or Samaritan city, but instead, go to the "lost sheep of Israel". The Deuteronomistic history, written in Judah, portrayed Israel as a sinful kingdom, divinely punished for its idolatry and iniquity by being destroyed by the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 720BCE. View all Google Scholar citations 10 So Barrett, op. When the matter was exposed, she was put to death. [64] According to Procopius, Terebinthus went to Zeno to ask for revenge; the Emperor personally went to Samaria to quell the rebellion. In 1624, the last Samaritan High Priest of the line of Eleazar son of Aaron died without issue, but according to Samaritan tradition, descendants of Aaron's other son, Ithamar, remained and took over the office. 13. on Ben Zvi & The Samaritans . Niddahis regarded as a matter of public concern. Reconsideration of this passage, however, has led to more attention being paid to the Chronicles of the Samaritans themselves. He further states that 2 Chronicles 30:1[23] could be interpreted as confirming that a large fraction of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (i.e., Samaritans) remained in Israel after the Assyrian exile. The couple must promise to live within the community, while the male has also to promise to raise his family according to Samaritan ideas.