Witnessing the Samaritan Passover Sacrifice

Everyone has heard of the Samaritans, or Shomronim as they are called here in Israel, but I was interested in taking a closer look after hearing from a friend of their Passover sacrifice.

To experience a real Passover sacrifice sounded too good to be true so I marked the date in my diary- 17^th April, 2011.

As the time approached I organized a group and a plan for the day. We would drive to Mt. Gerizim at 2pm, visit the community of Har Bracha, tour the Heartland winery there and continue to Kiriat Luza, the Samaritan town on Mt. Gerizim. There we would tvisit the ancient sites and observe the sacrifice.

We began our day by driving an hour from central Israel through the beautiful green mountains of the Shomron to Har Bracha. We thoroughly enjoyed the stop at the winery tasting the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon and new 2010 Port.  Realizing that we would be very early for the Samaritan Passover Sacrifice,  traditionally held at sunset, we drove to a viewpoint above Nablus (also known as Shechem). Shechem is a city of great historical and biblical importance for many people. For Jews, the city is important because it is:

• Where Abraham made his first stop in the Promised Land and built an altar to G-d;
• Where Jacob came after returning from the House of Lavan, buying his first piece of prop