M. Schreiber (Univ. Vienna): Samaritan Zionism

Each of the two global biblical religions, Judaism and Christianity, has a distinct perspective on the Holy Land. Yet they both share (1) a focus on Jerusalem as the Holy City and, for the most part, (2) a view of the Land of Israel as geographically distant from the individual believer. However, there is a third surviving Biblical tradition whose vision of the Land differs on precisely those two points. To the Samaritans, today a largely endogamous minority consisting of about 800 individuals, (1) the Holy Place is Mount Gerizim rather than Jerusalem, while (2) the Land of Israel has, during the Samaritans’ entire history, been native country rather than imagined homeland. Starting with the early twentieth century, the Samaritans have come to embrace Zionism along the lines of their exceptional relationship with the Land. This talk will explore the nature of and the agendas behind the strong bond between the Samaritans and the Israeli nation state.