Even if philistines fill the streets, you can no longer meet any real Philistines. But you can meet the living namesakes of another biblically based catchphrase: the Samaritans. Although immortalized by the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37), the Samaritans survive only in two small communities, in Nablus, on the West Bank, and Holon, in Israel, with a total population of less than 600. The longevity of this sect is more than matched by the purported age of their most important religious document, a Torah scroll said to have been written by Abisha, the great-grandson of Moses’ brother, […]
