Abstract
Samaritans, as a group within the ranges of ancient ‘Judaisms’, are often mentioned in Talmud and Midrash. As comparable social–religious entities, they are regarded ambivalently by the rabbis. First, they were viewed as Jews, but from the end of the Tannaitic times, and especially after the Bar Kokhba revolt, they were perceived as non-Jews, not reliable about different fields of Halakhic concern. Rabbinic writings reflect on this change in attitude and describe a long ongoing conflict and a growing anti-Samaritan attitude. This article analyzes several dialogues between rabbis and Samaritans transmitted in the Midrash on the book of Genesis, Bereshit Rabbah. In four larger sections, the famous Rabbi Me’ir is depicted as the counterpart of certain Samaritans. The analyses of these discussions try to show how rabbinic texts avoid any direct exegetical dispute over particular verses of the Torah, but point to other hermeneutical levels of discourse and the rejection of Samaritan claims. These texts thus reflect a remarkable understanding of some Samaritan convictions, and they demonstrate how rabbis denounced Samaritanism and refuted their counterparts. The Rabbi Me’ir dialogues thus are an impressive literary witness to the final stages of the parting of ways of these diverging religious streams.
Highlights
Faculty of Protestant Theology, Johannes Gutenberg‐University Mainz, 55122 Mainz, Germany; Abstract: Samaritans, as a group within the ranges of ancient ‘Judaisms’, are often mentioned in Talmud and Midrash
Bis and Samaritans transmitted in the Midrash on the book of Genesis, Bereshit Rabbah
An Aramaic passage from Midrash Bereshit Rabbah, which is possibly taken from a different source than the Hebrew sections dealt with above, describes how Rabbi Me’ir addresses a Samaritan rather than the other way around
Summary
If one looks at the relevant texts in which Samaritans are mentioned, it soon becomes clear that they are not given much attention in the classical Amoraic Midrashim either. Ence to Samaritans , and the outcome of the analyses of the so‐called homiletic midrashim, which more recent research calls anthology midrashim , is not much more telling either: in Pesiqta de‐Rav Kahana, Samaritans are mentioned in four places in Pesiqta Rabbati, on the other hand, there is only one occurrence. It can be assumed that they are the most likely to reveal the attitude of the author or editor towards the Samaritans and how he judged them halakhically Among these singular texts, a distinction can be made between those texts that relate to the Tannaitic period, mention a Rabbi from the Tannaitic period, or due to their context, can be regarded as a Tannaitic tradition, and those from a later pe‐. I would like to restrict myself to a special group of texts, even if the findings in other works and in the rest of the rabbinical literature must always be taken into account
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