The Samaritans in some of their ways resemble the Gentiles and in some resemble Israel, but in the majority they resemble Israel.

We do not accept from them for offering [in the Temple] sacrificial birds brought by males with a flux,¹ or sacrificial birds brought by females with a flux,² 29. or sacrificial birds brought by women after childbirth,³ XII, 6, 8. or sin-offerings or trespass-offerings, but we receive from them vows and free-will-offerings.⁴

footnotes: ¹ Lev. 15, 14. ² ibid. ³ ibid. ⁴ The words ‘vows and free-will offerings’ have dropped out of the printed text and MS.K., but are added by H in agreement with Shek. I, 5 (Sonc. ed., p. 3).

We do not transfer to them anything attached to the soil,⁵ or sell to them sheep to shear, or crops to reap⁶ or trees attached to the soil,⁷ but we sell them animals to slaughter.

footnotes: ⁵ Lest they should transfer it to Gentiles to whom such ownership is forbidden. [In ‘A.Z. 20b (Sonc. ed., p. 107) this rule is stated in connection with Gentiles. As with several other rulings which follow it was subsequently applied to Samaritans.] ⁶ The correct reading is probably ‘unripe produce (for cattle food) to clip’. ⁷ The words ‘to be cut down’ should certainly be inserted.

We do not sell them large cattle even if they are mutilated, or foals or calves;⁸ but we may sell them a mutilated animal which can never recover.⁹

footnotes: ⁸ [From the fear that the owner will not allow them to rest on the Sabbath; cf. ‘A.Z. 15a (Sonc. ed., p. 75).] ⁹ [Because it will not be put to work and so the fear, previously stated, does not apply.]

We do not sell them weapons of war or anything which can cause injury to the public.

We do not give to them [Israelite women] in marriage or take wives from them,¹⁰ but we lend to them and borrow from them on interest.¹¹

footnotes: ¹⁰ [For the reason, cf. below II, 7, n. 13.] ¹¹ [Either the text should be emended to ‘and we do not lend to them’, etc., or the clause is a later insertion at the time of the final repudiation of the Samaritans. Cf. Kirchheim ad loc.

We give them gleanings, forgotten sheaves and the corner of the field;¹² I, 3, n. 7. they too observe [gleanings], forgotten sheaves and the corner of the field,¹³ and their word can be taken in regard to gleanings, forgotten sheaves and the corner of the field in their season and in regard to the tithe of the poor in its year.¹⁴ Their produce is reckoned as ṭebel¹⁵ like the produce of Gentiles, and they make the ‘erub ineffective like Gentiles.¹⁶

footnotes: ¹² Cf. Gerim ¹³ And therefore no tithe need be given for them. ¹⁴ The tithe of produce was given to the poor in the third and sixth year of the seven-year cycle. ¹⁵ i.e. produce from which the heave-offering and tithe have not been separated. ¹⁶ Cf. ‘Erub. 61b (Sonc. ed., p. 433, n. 1).

An Israelite woman should not act as midwife to a Samaritan woman or suckle her child;¹⁷ but a Samaritan woman can act as midwife to an Israelite woman and suckle her child on her premises.

footnotes: ¹⁷ [Based on Mishnah ‘A.Z. II, 2 (Sonc. ed., p. 129) where it speaks of ‘a heathen woman’ and the reason given is ‘because she would be delivering a child to idolatry’. Since the Tosiftha ‘A.Z. III permits it in the case of a Samaritan, the text here is probably a later adaptation and] originally read ‘may act as midwife … and suckle’.

An Israelite may circumcise a Samaritan and a Samaritan can circumcise an Israelite. R. Judah said: A Samaritan may not circumcise an Israelite because he only circumcises him in the name of Mount Gerizim.¹⁸, pp. 170f.).]

footnotes: ¹⁸ The mountain sacred to the Samaritans as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem was to the Jews. [The phrase ‘seems to mean simply, “with the intention of attaching the person to the community of Gerizim” ’ (Montgomery, The Samaritans

We may stall an animal in the inn of a Samaritan, and [an Israelite] may hire a Samaritan to follow his beast. He may also entrust his cattle to a Samaritan shepherd,¹⁹ and he may entrust his son to a Samaritan to teach him a trade.²⁰ We may associate with them and converse²¹ with them in any place, which is not so with Gentiles.²²

footnotes: ¹⁹ [Because a Samaritan is not suspected of perverted practices with an animal. Cf. ‘A.Z. 15b (Sonc. ed., p. 78).] ²⁰ [We do not fear that he will influence the boy against Judaism.] ²¹ The correct reading according to Kirchheim is מסתפרין, ‘may have the hair cut by them’, instead of מספרין [in agreement with Mishnah ‘A.Z. II, 3 (Sonc. ed., p. 135). ²² Who are suspected of murderous intent.

He performs ḥaliẓah for his sister-in-law and gives a geṭ to his wife, and a Samaritan may be relied on to bring a geṭ²³. from foreign countries to Israel.

footnotes: ²³ i.e. his word is taken that he witnessed the signing and sealing of the geṭ

These are the things which we do not sell them: animals which died of themselves or have been improperly slaughtered, animals forbidden [to an Israelite] as food,²⁴ reptiles,²⁵ a shoe made from the skin of an animal which died of itself,²⁶ explains that the leather of an animal which died of itself is inferior to that of a healthy animal, and to sell shoes from this leather is false pretences. oil into which a mouse has fallen,²⁷ or [the flesh of] a koskos²⁸ or of an embryo. Although Israelites eat a koskos and an embryo we do not sell them to the Samaritans, because such a sale would be under false pretences. And just as we do not sell these to them so we do not buy these from them, as it is stated For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God²⁹—since thou art holy, thou must not make another people holier than thyself.³⁰

footnotes: ²⁴ Lest they should sell them to Israelites as fit for consumption. ²⁵ Lest they should mix them with things sold to Israelites. ²⁶ Cf. Ḥul. 94a (Sonc. ed., p. 528, n. 4): ‘The animal may have died through the bite of a serpent and the hide of the animal may thereby have become contaminated’. Rashi ad loc. ²⁷ [The oil would thereby become unclean, and in this matter the Samaritans were scrupulous.] ²⁸ ‘A כוס כוס’ is added by MS.K. and H. It is the term for an animal which has been hurriedly slaughtered because otherwise it would soon have died naturally. ²⁹ Deut. 14, 21. ³⁰ ‘Since thou art holy’, etc., is omitted in V. [Kirchheim explains that the underlying principle is that which is laid down in Pes. 50b-51a (Sonc. ed., p. 247): ‘Things which are permitted, yet others treat them as forbidden, you may not permit it in their presence’. It is there expressly applied to Samaritans.]

A Samaritan may be trusted if he says that he has buried [a miscarriage] or not buried it,³¹ and, with regard to an animal, that it has brought forth its first-born³² or not brought forth. A Samaritan may be trusted with regard to the plantation of the fourth year and uncircumcised fruit³³ and grave-signs,³⁴ but not with regard to overhanging boughs, protruding stones,³⁵ land of the peoples,³⁶ or a beth peras,³⁷ because they are suspected [of carelessness] in these matters. The general principle is that in regard to matters in which they are suspected [of carelessness] they are not trusted.

footnotes: ³¹ [Cf. Nid. 56b (Sonc. ed., p. 397). If the foetus was buried in a room, any person entering it would be rendered ritually unclean.] ³² [Then the subsequent birth would not come under the law of the firstling, which was a priestly due.] ³³ Cf. Lev. 19, 23f. ³⁴ If he says that there is no grave in a place which is not marked. ³⁵ Which form a ‘tent’ for communicating ritual defilement. [Cf. Nid. Sonc. ed., p. 399, n. 2.] ³⁶ [i.e. countries outside the Holy Land in matters which concern ritual purity.] ³⁷ [Cf. Jast. p. 1233.]