Good Samaritans

Somehow, for all these years I had missed the detail that there are still Samaritans out there. I came across that information when reading up for yesterday's Sunday School class. I was aware of at least one other unusual group of adherants to Israelite religion (the Ethiopian Falasha), but now here is another. They are not very numerous--only about 150 in 1900, and about 600 in 2000. They are a very conservative bunch. They don't usually marry outsiders. They only accept (their version of) the Penteteuch. They follow the Torah very strictly. Unlike rabbinical Judaism, they also have their own priesthood and offer animal sacrifices at Gerizim.

Samaritan priests at Gerizim (above) c. 1900. The Samaritan Torah (below).