Originally Posted by Grapesoda

for me it's that Hebrew, Phonetician and Canaanite are the same language... fucking wow!


and this.... this is like someone told me a family of Romans, related to Cesar, are living in a cave just outside Rome...

Samaritans

One of the biggest problems facing the community today is the issue of continuity. With such a small population, divided into only four families (Cohen, Tsedakah, Danafi, and Marhiv, with the Matar family dying out in 1968) and a general refusal to accept converts, there has been a history of genetic disorders within the group due to the small gene pool. To counter this, the Samaritan community has recently agreed that men from the community marry non-Samaritan (primarily, Israeli Jewish) women, provided that the women agree to follow Samaritan religious practices. There is a six-month trial period before officially joining the Samaritan community to see whether this is a commitment that the woman would like to take. This often poses a problem for the women, who are typically less than eager to adopt the strict interpretation of biblical (Levitical) laws regarding menstruation, by which they must live in a separate dwelling during their periods and after childbirth. There have been a few instances of intermarriage. In addition, all marriages within the Samaritan community are first approved by a geneticist at Tel HaShomer Hospital, in order to prevent the spread of genetic disorders. In meetings arranged by "international marriage agencies", a small number of Ukrainian women have recently been allowed to marry into the community in an effort to expand the gene pool.