By Qais Abu Samra
RAMALLAH
Hundreds of Samaritans have been performing pilgrimage rituals by ascending Mount Gerizim near the West Bank city of Nablus since dawn Wednesday, the first day of the Jewish Sukkot holiday, an Anadolu Agency reporter has learned.
"Sukkot commemorates the exodus of the Children of Israel from Egypt when God protected them with clouds as they wandered across the Sinai Peninsula under the scorching sun," Samaritan cleric Husni al-Samari told AA.
Samaritans, who say they are the true ancestors of the ancient Israelites, believe that modern Jews have no right to the city of Jerusalem.
They also believe that Mount Gerizim is the original location of the ancient Temple of Solomon, which Zionist Jews, by contrast, claim is located under East Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The tiny Samaritan community, estimated at roughly 800, speak the ancient Hebrew in which the Torah (Old Testament) was written and not the modern Hebrew as spoken by today's Israelis.
During the Samaritan pilgrimage in the nine-day Sukkot festival (also known as the "Feast of Booths"), the head Samaritan priest carries what is said to be the oldest version of the Old Testament – dating back over 3,600 years – written on deer skin parchment.
They say it is the original version of the Torah, distinct from the version recognized by mainstream rabbinic authorities in Israel.
"We make Sukkahs [temporary tents built for use during Sukkot] out of palm and bay leaves, adorning them with lemons and other fruits," al-Samari said.
Samaritans spend the Sukkot holiday lying in the shade of the Sukkah to commemorate the ancient Israelites' exodus out of Egypt and into Palestine.
"God asked our ancestors to build booths when they arrived in the holy land of Palestine, and we've been making them ever since," said al-Samari.
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