hard, the Jews were banished from the city of Salzburg. For the following three centuries Jews were forbidden to settle in Salzburg. They were not even allowed to stay in the city for more than one hour during the day, and were prohibited to remain in the city overnight. It was not until the beginning of the 19th cent. that Jews again settled in Salzburg, and they did not obtain equal rights there until 1867, when Austria was granted a new, liberal constitution. The first member of the new Jewish settlement was the court antiquarian A. Pollak, who was given the title of imperial councillor (Kaiserlicher Rat). In 1911 an actual Jewish community was established in Salzburg. Its first official rabbi was Adolf Altmann. In 1938, however, the entire Jewish community, comprising about 400 persons, was expelled by the Nazis and the synagogue demolished. Among the outstanding Jews of Salzburg were Stefan Zweig and Max Reinhardt. The latter, in collaboration with the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal, who was of Jewish descent, and with the conductor Bruno Walter, established the Salzburger Festspiele, annual festivals of music and art which, started in the early 1920's, attracted to Salzburg music-lovers from all parts of the world until the Nazi accession to power. See also AUSTRIA. Lit.: Wolf, G., "Zur Geschichte der Juden in Salzburg," Monatsschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums (1876); Altmann, Adolf, Geschichte der Juden in Stadt und Land Salzburg (2 vols.; vol. 1, 1913; vol. 2, 1923-25 and 1928-29); Scherer, J. E., Die Rechtsverhältnisse der Juden in den deutsch-österreichischen Ländern (1901) 543 et seq. SAMAEL ("venom of God"), name given to the angel of death, also to the angel of evil. He is regarded as the prince of the demons and the destroyer of man. In various legends he appears as the tempter; thus he strove to dissuade Isaac from willingly sacrificing himself (Midrash Gen. 66:4), and is the accuser of Israel (Midrash Ex. 18:5). He is the celestial patron of the sinful empire of Rome; he descended from heaven to seduce Adam and Eve (Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer 13), and caused the martyrdom of Isaiah. He is thus a character very similar to Satan, with whom he was identified, and by whom he was later replaced in Jewish angelology. In other passages he is simply the angel of death, represented as bearing a sword with a drop of poison, which he casts into the mouth of the dying person to bring about the end (A.Z. 3b). His constant opponent is Michael, the defender of Lit.: See under ANGEL OF DEATH; ANGELS. SAMARIA, important Palestinian city and capital of the Northern Kingdom. Built by Omri, king of Israel, about 875 B.C.E., it was officially named BethOmri, "House of Omri," but retained its earlier local name, Shomeron, Grecized as Samaria. Excavations conducted there by Harvard University in 1908 to 1910 (with a generous gift of $60,000 from Jacob H. Schiff), and in 1931 to 1935 (when the Hebrew University collaborated in the work) brought to light extensive remains of the Israelite city, particularly wellconstructed fortifications and palace foundations, as well as some eighty short Hebrew inscriptions and many beautifully carved pieces of ivory inlay. In the first months of 721 B.C.E. Samaria was captured and destroyed by the Assyrian king Sargon, who tells in his inscriptions that he deported 27,290 persons from it for resettlement elsewhere in the Assyrian Empire. Samaria then became successively capital of an Assyrian, Babylonian and Persian province, several of whose governors are known from contemporary inscriptions. In the second half of the 5th cent. B.C.E. Sanballat I was Persian governor of Samaria. Although he was already well-known from his conflict with Nehemiah, the fact that he was himself Jewish remained unknown until the discovery of the Elephantine Papyri demonstrated that he was followed by his two sons, Delaiah and Shelemiah, both of whom bore good Jewish names. After Alexander's conquest Samaria became a center of Greek culture, until its destruction by the Hasmonean prince John Hyrcanus, about 129 B.C.E. It was rebuilt by Herod the Great a century later under the name Sebaste, given in honor of the Roman emperor Augustus. The name given by Herod to the city has continued in use unchanged until the present day. At the end of the 2nd cent. C.E. the city was officially raised to the rank of a Roman colony. The ruins of the Roman city are both extensive and architecturally impressive. From Samaria the Jewish sect of the Samaritans received its name-probably from the fact that the nucleus of this sect was composed of descendants of colonists from the eastern provinces of the Assyrian Empire, who were settled there by Sargon and his successors. The most important contingent of these colonists came from the Babylonian city of Cuthah, whence came the Jewish term Kuthim (Cutheans), contemptuously applied to the Samaritans. In Tal mudic literature the province of Samaria is generally called "the land of the Kuthim." WILLIAM F. ALBRIGHT. Lit.: Reisner, Fisher and Lyon, Harvard Excavations at Samaria (2 vols., 1924); Crowfoot and Sukenik, Early Ivories from Samaria (1938); Haefeli, Geschichte der Landschaft Samaria von 722 vor Christus bis 67 nach Christus (1922); Crowfoot's reports in the Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement (1931-36); Sukenik, E. L., "Die neuen Ausgrabungen in Samaria," Archäologischer Anzeiger (1933), cols. 86-115. SAMARITANS, a schismatic sect claiming to be a remnant of the House of Israel and surviving as a small community at Nablus, site of the ancient Shechem, in Samaria, Palestine. 1. Origin. In the Old Testament (II Kings 17:29) the term "Samaritans" means simply "inhabitants of Samaria," and bears no reference to any distinctive group or faction. It is not improbable, however, that it was the ethnic heterogeneity of these people that originally inspired their break with the Jews and the creation of a separate sect. In 722 B.C.E., when the Kingdom of Israel fell, some 30,000 of them were deported by the Assyrian king Sargon, their place being taken by colonists introduced from the Mesopotamian cities of Babylon and Cuthah and from other foreign centers (II Kings 17:24). The population thus became mixed, and was therefore regarded by the Jews as a mongrel stock. Accordingly, when, in 539, Cyrus sanctioned the rebuilding of the Temple at Jerusalem, the proffered cooperation of the Samaritans was brusquely rejected, being viewed as a potential threat to the religious revival and political rejuvenation of Judah which were alike envisaged. This virtual exclusion from the renascent community of Israel may well have sown the seeds for a later schism. At any rate, within a century the Samaritans had their own rival temple on Mount Gerizim, and had established themselves as a distinctive sect. When exactly this temple was built is uncertain. According to Josephus, Manasseh, a member of the priestly house, contracted an opportune marriage with Nikaso, daughter of a certain Sanballat, a native of Cuthah who had been sent by the Persian emperor as governor of Samaria. The Jews, incensed at this, gave him the choice of renouncing his priestly rights or divorcing his wife. The unfortunate bridegroom thereupon appealed to his father-in-law, who promised to make him future high priest and governor of Samaria, and to build a temple for him on Mount Gerizim, as soon as the emperor's permission could be obtained. When, however, the latter was defeated by Alexander at Issus, Sanballat switched his allegiance to the conqueror and procured from him the necessary permit. The temple was then built. The account is unreliable because it confuses dates. It is known from other sources that Sanballat was a contemporary of Nehemiah (who actually alludes to the scandal, Neh. 13:28-29), not of Alexander, who lived a century later. The story, however, need not be entirely false. It may well be that the Samaritan temple was indeed built in the time of Alexander, but that Josephus, Jewish priest that he was, sought to decry the Samaritan priesthood by deriving it, naively and anachronistically, from Manasseh's apostatic marriage. Quite different is the Samaritans' own account of their origin. Disclaiming any association of their name with Samaria, they call themselves the shamerim, or "observant," asserting that they are the descendants of those Israelites who remained loyal to the faith when Eli seduced the mass of their brethren into constructing an apostatic shrine at Shiloh, instead of on Gerizim, the true "chosen place" of God. This account is, of course, nothing but an ex post facto concoction. 2. History. If their origin is thus obscure, the later history of the Samaritans is better known. During the Hellenistic and Roman periods their city was repeatedly destroyed and they themselves were grievously oppressed. A revolt against Alexander led to the sack of Shechem and the destruction of the temple, to be followed later by a further invasion under Demetrius Poliorcetes (296-295 B.C.E.). Under Ptolemy I, many Samaritans were deported to Egypt, and there are records of at least one important disputation between them and the Jews before Ptolemy Philometer. They suffered severely under Antiochus IV Epiphanes, being obliged to introduce the cult of Zeus Xenios (Il Macc. 6:2) or Hellenios (Zonaras 4:19) on Mount Gerizim. In 129 B.C.E. their territory was invaded and their temple destroyed by the Hasmonean monarch John Hyrcanus, while twenty years later their capital was razed by his sons Antigonus and Aristobulus. Rebuilt, about 56 B.C.E., by Gabinius, a governor of Syria, it became a favorite resort of Herod, to whom it was awarded after the battle of Actium (31 B.C.E.). That monarch greatly beautified it and renamed it Sebaste (the August), after Augustus. During the reign of Vespasian (79-81), the Samaritans attempted a revolt against Rome, but the rising was quelled by the mass slaughter of 11,600 persons under the captain Cerealis. The old city was devastated, and a new one erected with the name Neapolis (New City), whence the mod ern Nablus. Hadrian (117-38), too, greatly afflicted the tribe, ordering the burning of most of its literature. Final disaster overtook the Samaritans under the Christian dispensation of Justinian (527-65). A revolt which broke out in 529 was brutally quelled by the massacre of some 20,000 men. Subsequent risings were likewise put down, and a series of repressive measures culminated in an edict of Justin II, in 572, depriving the Samaritans of all privileges and virtually outlawing them. With the Moslem conquest of Palestine in 634, Nablus fell under Arab rule, and during the war between Hadi and Harun-al-Rashid (786) the Samaritans were all but starved out. Under the fanatical Abbasides they likewise suffered severely, in common with all who refused Islam, but peace was eventually imposed by Abdallah ibn Tahir, general of Caliph Maimun (813-33). In succeeding centuries, however, Nablus was frequently overrun by Moslem zealots. The Fatimids were, on the whole, well-disposed toward the Samaritans, although occasional excesses occurred. Little more is heard of the sect until the time of the Crusades. According to William of Tyre, Nablus was occupied by Tancred in 1099 at the request of its citizens, and it was one of the few cities which composed Godfrey of Bouillon's actual kingdom. Sacked by the Saracens in 1184 and 1187, it was recaptured by the Christians in 1242. Two years later, however, it fell to the invading Charesmians, and in 1259 was in turn seized by the Mongols. The latter, however, were themselves expelled by the Mamluks until these were driven out by the Muslims. Under Turkish rule the Samaritans declined steadily. In 1541 the leading dignitaries of their once flourishing community of Damascus were repatriated to Shechem, and in 1624 the demise of the Aaronid line of priests led to the eventual collapse of many ancient congregations in the neighborhood of Shechem and in other parts. Under Mohammed IV (1648-87) the property of the Samaritans was confiscated and many were forcibly converted to Islam, but a century later their leader Ibrahim ibn Yakub managed to acquire a plot of land on Gerizim for sacred purposes. The Turks, however, repeatedly prevented access to it, until the good offices of the British government, to whom the Samaritans appealed in 1854, relieved the situation. The Samaritans were first brought to the notice of Europeans in 1616 when they were visited by the famous scholar Pietro della Valle, who acquired a copy of their Pentateuch. They subsequently entered into correspondence with many generations of scholars, including Scaliger, de Sacy, and Huntingdon in the 17th cent., and Petermann, Kautzsch and Kahle in more recent times. An unbroken exchange of letters was maintained for forty years between the Samaritans and the late Moses Gaster (1856-1939), and representatives of the Samaritans visited London in 1903 and 1913. At the census of 1931 the community numbered 182 persons (ninety-three men and eighty-nine women). The high priest in 1943 was Mazliah ben Phinehas (b. 1870), elected on December 2, 1932. The secretary of the community in that year was Amram, son of the former high priest Isaac, and its two most noted contemporary scholars were Abisha (Naji) ben Phinehas, brother of the high priest, and Ab Hasda (Abu-'l-Hasan), son of the later high priest Jacob ben Aaron. The majority of the Samaritans are engaged in petty trading, but they are desperately poor, the average individual income rarely exceeding fifty dollars a year. The priestly household ekes out a living by the exaction of tithes and by selling copies of ancient manuscripts. In December, 1941, a schism in the tribe was reported. 3. Religion. Samaritan religion is based on the Pentateuch, no other portion of the Bible being recognized. It is summarized, in Moslem fashion, in five articles of faith, declaring belief in (1) God, (2) Moses, (3) the Torah, (4) the sanctity of Mount Gerizim, and (5) future reward and punishment. God is one and unique, without associate or demiurge. Hypostases, however, are recognized in the form of the divine Glory which gave the Law, and the Word of God which created the world. An earlier belief in angels has now degenerated into pure folklore, while evil spirits are denied on the basis of Num. 23:23 ("For there is no enchantment with Jacob, neither is there any divination with Israel"). Moses is a being sui generis, the incarnation of primordial light and of the divine image (tzelem) transmitted by a series of patriarchal saints (zakkaim) going back to Adam. He is the Paraclete who will intercede for the penitent on the Day of Judgment, and is often identified with the future Messiah. The Law is an emanation of God, the Two Tables being a fragment of the divine essence. Not only the Decalogue but the whole Pentateuch was written by God. In ritual, the Law is divided into sections read in an annual cycle. In the exposition of it the Samaritans often agree with the Karaites. They insist, for instance, that every third year a third of the fruits and crops must be eaten in Jerusalem (cf. Deut. 14:23), and that the fat tail of a sheep belongs to the priest alone (Lev. 3:9). Similarly, like the Karaites, they refer the law of levirate marriage in Deut. 25:5 to a kinsman rather than to a blood brother. Like the Jews, the Samaritans recognize 613 Pentateuchal precepts (248 positive, 365 negative). Gerizim is God's abode on earth, the Mount of Blessing, and is identified with several incidents in Scripture. The patriarchs are said to be buried upon it, and regular pilgrimages are made to their graves. It was the scene also of Jacob's dream, Noah's altar, and the would-be sacrifice of Isaac, and is believed to be the navel of the earth. An addition to the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy ordains its sanctity. Belief in the Last Day is based on Deut. 32:35, which the Samaritans read "on the day of vengeance and recompense," instead of "Mine is vengeance, and recompense," as in the Jewish recension. Idolators will be cast into fire, but the pious will be granted admission to the paradisal Garden of Eden. The Samaritans believe in a Messiah, called Taheb or Shaheb (Restorer), who will be made manifest by certain signs, and who will restore the Divine Presence to the midst of men. It is their belief that the history of the world can be divided into two periods of Rahuta (favor) and Fanuta Isaac ben Amram, erstwhile high priest of the Samaritans, standing beside their famous Pentateuch. (See color frontispiece of volume 2) (divine aversion), the latter commencing with the apostasy of Eli. The sacred year is determined by a special calendar (Hushban Qushta), fixed twice annually by the priests. The principle of 'ibbur, or transference, is rejected. Passover is dated by a combination of the solar and lunar months, falling on the 14th day of that lunar month whose new moon falls in April (Abib). The festival, however, is distinguished from that of the Unleavened Bread (Matzoth) which immediately follows. Pentecost is always on a Sunday, being calculated from the day following the Sabbath of Matzoth. Each of the three seasonal festivals is celebrated by a pilgrimage to Mount Gerizim, and the paschal sacrifice is still slaughtered there. Sabbath is observed rigorously, no one leaving his house, except for the synagogue. In addition to the Biblical festivals, the Samaritans celebrate two feasts called Zimmuth, or conjunction, sixty days before Passover and Sukkoth respectively. Phylacteries are not worn, Deut. 6:8 being interpreted symbolically. The Tallith (prayer-shawl) is donned only by the priests when the sacred scroll is exhibited. It has no fringes. Boys marry at fifteen or sixteen, girls at twelve. Alliances are arranged by parents or guardians, but the bride must agree. Divorce is granted by the high priest. Burial rites are performed by friends, and the whole Law is read at a funeral. 4. Relations with the Jews. In Jewish literature the Samaritans are called Kuthim, or men of Cuthah, a term designed to stigmatize them as non-Israelites. Laws concerning relations with them are summarized in a special tractate attached to the fourth division of the Babylonian Talmud, the material being culled from other Talmudic sources and from the Baraithas. Samaritans may not present votive or freewill offerings at Jerusalem; large cattle and immovable property may not be sold to them. Marriage with them is forbidden and, according to some authorities, a Samaritan may not circumcise a Jew. In many other respects Samaritans are regarded as non-Jews, although it must be remembered that in the age of censorship "Samaritan" was often conveniently substituted in Talmudic passages originally dealing with non-Jews and heathens. The hostility between Jews and Samaritans continued, but in the 1920's a Hebrew school for Samaritan children was established at Nablus upon Zionist initiative. This, however, was later closed. 5. Literature. The literature of the Samaritans, still largely unpublished, is bilingual. Until the Moslem conquest (632 C.E.) the common language was Samaritan, a form of Western Aramaic, but after that date Arabic became the vernacular. Apart from a few annalistic chronicles, the extant writings of the Samaritans are exclusively religious, consisting of liturgies, commentaries on the Pentateuch, ritual compendia, homilies and apologetic treatises. BIBLE. The earliest monument of Samaritan literature, apparently as old as the sect itself, is a special recension of the Hebrew Pentateuch, agreeing generally with the Jewish (Masoretic) text, but artfully manipulated to accord with Samaritan doctrines. An ancient scroll of this Pentateuch, fancifully ascribed to Abisha, the great-grandson of Aaron, is the most prized possession of the Nablus community, and is ceremonially exhibited at certain sacred seasons. There are two important translations of the Pentateuch. The first is the Samaritan Targum, a composite work the final form of which dates probably from the 4th cent. C.E. Its characteristics are its slavish literalness and its strange correspondence with the contemporary Jewish version of Onkelos, suggesting to some scholars that it was deliberately revised therefrom. The other translation is an Arabic version which has likewise passed through several hands. Especially associated with its composition are the two scholars Abu Said and Abu'-l-Barakat of the 11th and 12th centuries respectively. A Samaritan recension of Joshua, interpolated with apocryphal matter, was discovered in 1902, but its authenticity, stoutly championed by Moses Gaster, hast been questioned. Of Biblical commentaries, the oldest is the Arabic work of Abu Said, composed in 1053, and of especial interest because it quotes from later books of the Bible, otherwise unknown to the Samaritans, and from the Mishnah. Scarcely less important is the voluminous exposition written by Muslim ben Murjan in the 17th cent. and revised, some hundred years later, by Ibrahim ibn Yakub. There are also several lesser treatises on particular passages of the Scriptures. MIDRASH. The twin fountainheads of Samaritan Midrash are the Memar Markah (Disquisition of Markah) and the Sefer El-Asatir (Book of Legends), both written in the Samaritan dialect. The former dates from the 4th cent. C.E.. and is the work of the poet and theologian Markah (Mark), the earliest known Samaritan author. It is in actuality a series of somewhat Gnostic and Cabalistic dissertations on the Pentateuch, devoting especial attention to the miracles of the Exodus and the career of Moses. The latter, traditionally attributed to Moses, presents a connected legendary narrative from Adam to the death of the Lawgiver, concluding with a prophecy allegedly delivered by him in his last hours. The present recension of the book is clearly post-Islamic, but the work itself is probably far older, many of its constituent elements being traceable to the 2nd cent. B.C.E. Two Arabic paraphrases of the work are extant. The one (anonymous) dates from the 10th cent., and was composed probably in Egypt, since it contains an otherwise inexplicable diatribe against Maimonides, the leading contemporary Jewish philosopher, who was then living in the country. The other, known as Pitron (Explanation), was composed in the late 19th cent. by Shalmah, son of the high priest Amram (b. 1863). Based largely on the Memar Markah and the Sefer ElAsatir is a corpus of poetic legends about Moses known collectively as the Molad Mosheh (Nativity Cycle), recited annually on his birthday and on other special occasions. The nucleus of the collection is a versified Midrash composed in the 14th cent. by Abdallah ben Shalmah. Elaborated, in 1537, in an Arabic prose version by Ismail ibn Rumaih, and further developed in the 19th cent. by Phinchas ben Isaac, the corpus presents the most complete extant account of Samaritan doctrines about the Lawgiver. It is today embellished by several later hymns and laudations, including a poem by the present high priest, Mazliah ben Phinchas. HALACHAH. In the field of Halachah, the most important works are the Kafi (Compendium) and the Tabah (Potpourri). The former, written in 1042 by Joseph ben Solomon of Askar (a village near Nablus), is a digest of ritual usage, covering such diverse topics as the priests and their tithes, purification and ablutions, prayers, dietary laws, leprosy, ritual impurity, pilgrimages, marriage and divorce, slavery, usury, trade and commerce, and the Sabbath. The Tabah, of the same general content, was composed in the early 12th cent. by Abu-'l-Hasan (or Ab Hasda, or Yefet) al-Zuri. It includes, however, several chapters on matters of dogma, rather than ritual, and indulges especially in polemics against the Jews. Both works are today preserved in Arabic, but there are indications that their original language may have been Samaritan. Likewise of Halachic interest is the Kitab al Hilaf (Treatise on the Differences between Samaritans and Jews), composed about 1150 by Munajja ben Zadaka Abu-l-Farraj. The author engages in dispute with Saadia Gaon. Important also is the Dalil (Guide; in Samaritan, Hilluk), a manual of usage and dogma, compiled from carlier sources in 1886 to 1888. It is variously attributed to Jacob ben Aaron and Phinehas ben Isaac, and its especial interest lies in its exhaustive discussion of the resurrection of the dead. Among lesser works are a treatise on forbidden marriages by Abu-l-Barakat and a collection of traditional responsa (Sefer Hahalatah) on matrimonial law in general. THEOLOGY. The most important general works of theology are the Sirr al-Qalb (Secrets of the Heart), written in 1532 by Abraham Kabazi of Damascus, and the Malif (Instructor), a formal catechism drawn up by Phinchas ben Isaac at the end of the 19th cent. The latter, which is incomplete, covers the entire field of Samaritan legend and ritual and dogma. Among lesser treatises on specific subjects, two of especial significance are the Kitab al Mi'ad (Treatise on the Last Day), by Abu-'l-Hasan al-Zuri (1070), and the Ten Proofs of the Second Kingdom, by Ghazzal al Duwaik (d. 1787). CHRONICLES. The historical literature of the Samaritans consists of the Taulida, the Book of Joshua, the Shalsheleth (Chain of the High Priests), the Chronicle of Abu-'l-Fath, and a few subsidiary records. The Taulida is a perpetual chronicle commenced by Eleazar ben Amram in 1149 and continued by successive priests to the present day. Based upon it and upon other sources now lost is the Book of Joshua, written originally in Samaritan, probably in the 11th cent., but now extant only in the 13th cent. Arabic version of Abdallah ben Shalmah. This is a composite work presenting a legendary history from Balaam to Constantine. The title is really a misnomer, applying only to the first section, which may once have existed independently. The Shalsheleth, really a summary of the Taulida, is a chronological catalogue of high priests from Adam to the present day, together with brief references to contemporary events, including the appearance and crucifixion of Jesus. The Chronicle of Abu'l-Fath, composed in Egypt in 1355, is the first attempt among the Samaritans at a narrative rather than an annalistic record. It draws largely from the |