Samaritanism is anAbrahamicmonotheisticethnic religion. It comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, religious, and legal traditions of it's followers and adherents, known asSamaritans orIsraelite Samaritans as they prefered to be known as, who are known for being exceptionally devout and religious, are theindigenous people ofSamaria, which is their ancestral homeland and is a historical region ofancient Israel and Judah, that comprises the northern half of the West Bank of Palestine. Currently,patriarchAabed-El ben Asher ben Matzilach has been thehigh priest of Samaritanism since he assumed office on 29 April 2013.
Samaritanism is well known for being one of the smallest religions worldwide, and there are only around 874 to 1,000 followers and adherents of the religion, known as theSamaritans, currently, most of whom live inIsrael and theWest Bank ofPalestine. Around 840 Samaritans live either in the city ofHolon (in Israel) or in the small village ofKiryat Luza (in the West Bank of Palestine) alone, meaning that virtually all followers of Samaritanism live in this city and village alone. In the past, Samaritanism was a much larger and diverse religion than it is today, reaching as far asSyria, and with a population of 1,900 followers in the12th century, but rapidly declined over time mostly due topersecution from the Islamic government in the Middle East and because many Samaritans converted toJudaism and marriedJews and had children with them, thus rapidly declining members of the religion and group.
Both the Samaritans, followers of the religion, and the Jews originate and descend together from ancientHebrews andIsraelites, but the Samaritans and Jews slowly began to seperate and split into relatively distinct ethnic groups with different religions and traditions after the Kingdom of Israel was invaded and conquered by theNeo-Assyrian Empire around 720 BCE, during theIron Age. Therefore, Samaritans and Jews are closely related ethnic groups and cousins.Mount Gerizim, a mountain located in theWest Bank ofPalestine, is considered theholiest site of Samaritanism and is where Samaritans celebratePassover here annually and built analtar here, and also one of the places where Samaritans gather for worship here. The Samaritans belive that Mount Gerizim is the location where the prophetAbraham offered to sacrifice his sonIssac, in contrast to the belief in Judaism that it was inTemple Mount inJerusalem instead.
The scripture and the holy book of Samaritanism is theSamaritan Pentatuech, which the Samaritans belive is the true, original, unchanged, and sacred form of theTorah, the first five books of theBible. While the Samaritan Pentatuech is very similar to the masoreticHebrew Bible, there are around 6,000 differences between the two scriptures, namely the Samaritan Pentatuech has only 5 books in total and accepts only the Torah, while the Hebrew Bible has 24 books in total, and while the Hebrew Bible states that the prophetMoses was giventen commandments by God for the people of Israel, the Samaritan Pentatuech states that Moses was given eleven commandments by God for the people of Israel instead. The additional eleventh commandment isYou shall set up these stones which I, the Lord, command you to on Mount Agarizem (Gerizim).