The Samaritan Who Claimed Descent from Joseph

Midrash Aggadah Gaster, Exempla of the Rabbis, No. 180

Curated by The Jewish Mythology Team · Published January 14, 2025

The Samaritans of late antiquity insisted they were descendants of Joseph through the northern tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. It was a matter of pride. Rabbi Meir disagreed.

Meir confronted a particular Samaritan with a genealogical puzzle. "You are not from Joseph," he said. "You are descended from Issachar — whose father named one of his sons Shomron." The town of Shomron, which gave the Samaritans their name, was on Issachar's territory, not Joseph's. Meir's argument was a wedge: pull the Samaritans away from their glorious ancestor Joseph and down to a smaller tribal origin.

The Samaritan Epitropos — their official overseer — heard of the exchange and returned a wry reply, preserved in Gaster's Exempla #180.

"He removed us from Joseph," the Epitropos said, "and did not bring us to Issachar."

The sentence lands like a closing door. Meir's demolition had stripped the Samaritans of their claim without giving them anywhere to go. It was a critique without a replacement. The Samaritan conceded nothing and only named the emptiness.

Genealogy among Second Temple sects could be warfare by other means. Meir removed them from Joseph. The Samaritan left with a shrug that was also a rebuke: Who, then, are we now?

Themes

Rabbis Patriarchs Wisdom

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