Samaritans Observe Shavuot

Samaritan High Priest Elazar ben Tsedaka ben Yitzhaq raises the Torah scroll as members of the sect pray at dawn on the festival of Shavuot (weeks), which marks the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai seven weeks after the exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt; these Samaritans are on Mount Gerizim on 15 June 2008, above the city of Nablus.

Shavuot is the marking of the conclusion of the Counting of Omar (a verbal counting of forty-nine days between Pasch [Passover] and Shavuot).

The Samaritan religion is an historical form of Judaism, with the belief in one God and the Torah, including the first five books of Moses, among others.

The whole community numbers about 710 people, half at Mount Gerizim and the others in Holon near Tel Aviv.