Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Samaritan Passover

One of the Israel blogs I like to read did a profile of the Samaritan Passover. The Samaritans are a mixed breed of Jews and Gentiles (specifically Babylonians) that formed their own version of Judaism during Alexander the Great's conquest (331 BCE).

Anyway, they are apparently allowed to celebrate a Passover sacrifice that allows for the formal sacrifice of sheep (unlike the Jews). This apparently is a big deal with a lot of Jews and other outsiders coming to observe the event. The write up with pictures (a couple are a little graphic) is located here. From a cultural and religious point of view, its quite fascinating. You can also see how the desire is growing stronger among Jews in Israel to rebuild the Temple and resume a similar practice.

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