Not Your Classic Chavaya

Hi Ma'ayanoters!

I wanted to share with you all an amazing experience I had yesterday, and because it's Torah related I thought the blog would be a good place to send it. Normally Pesach Sheni isn't a big deal, but this year, our Pesach Sheni happened to fall out on the day the Shomronim (Samaritans) have as their Pesach. Basic Shomronim info - they claim to be the true Jews descended from Efrayim and Menashe while the other claim is that they are originally non-Jews who Sancheirev put in the Shomron after Galut Aseret Hashevatim. They have almost the exact same Chamisha Chumshei Torah as us except they think that Har Gerizim is the most holy place, and they had a mikdash there. Now there are 700 Shomronim in the world, half living in Cholon and half in a town on top of Har Gerizim (right near Shechem). They speak Arabic, Hebrew and ancient Hebrew (which is very different than ours).

Anyway, the coolest thing about them is that they actually bring a Korban Pesach and they let people come watch! I went in a tour group with my family, and I expected that we would be up on a mountain watching primitive people, but actually they have a square in the middle of their village with fire pits and hooks and that's where they bring the korban. All the men wore white jumpsuits and white baseball caps or red circular hats (those might have ben the Kohanim) and the girls wore bathrobes over their regular clothes. The actual Korban area was gated off, but after the actual shechitah the guards let some people in and my family got to go extremely close. I mean, I almost touched dead sheep. We watched them skin the sheep, take out the insides which they burn on a mizbeach type thing (and even salt it!) and then put the sheep on stakes so they can cook them. It was very hot and smoky and smelly but an incredible experience.

We also talked to their Kohen Gadol (he wears green) and he told us that they have a mesorah but not our Torah Shebaal Peh, so they're sort of like Tzedukim or Karaites. They don't use any electricity on Shabbos and they count sefirah starting from a Sunday. He said he personally checked all the sheep for mumim and had to make one pasul because it had a cut on its ear.

I'm attaching some pictures which hopefully can be posted on the blog because without seeing it you can't possibly understand how incredible this was.

Also I miss all you guys and I hope you're all doing well.

Love,

Rachel Weber