Moses (as claimed founder)

Moses occupies the central place in Samaritan self-understanding as the lawgiver and the originator of the covenantal Torah that the community preserves. In Samaritan liturgy and tradition Moses is the primary prophetic figure: he receives the divine law, instructs the people, and designates Mount Gerizim as the proper sanctuary in the Samaritan reading of Torah. Samaritans read the Pentateuch devotionally as the direct record of Moses’ instruction and see their ritual calendar, sacrificial rules, and legal norms as deriving from Mosaic legislation.

From the standpoint of religious studies, Moses is a shared figure across Israelite and broader Abrahamic faiths; Samaritans place him at the heart of their tradition in precisely the way that other Israelite-derived religions also claim him, but with distinctive emphases. Where rabbinic Judaism subsequently developed a broad corpus of interpretive literature (the Prophets, Writings, and rabbinic halakhic tradition), Samaritan theology keeps the Mosaic corpus as the canonical center. Consequently, Moses is not only a historical or legendary founder in Samaritan memory but also the living source of legal authority. Ritual actions, liturgical recitations, and the hermeneutical grid that shapes Samaritan life trace back to Moses and the laws attributed to him in the Samaritan Pentateuch.

Scholars treat the figure of Moses primarily as a primary actor in textual traditions and in the study of ancient Israelite memory. Historicizing questions—about whether a single historical person corresponds to the figure called Moses, or about the development of Mosaic traditions across different communities—are subject to scholarly debate and are treated separately from the Samaritan devotional claim. For Samaritans, however, such academic distinctions do not diminish Moses’ authoritative role: he is simultaneously a foundational lawgiver and a continuing presence in liturgy and communal self-understanding.

The presence of Moses in Samaritan ritual is concrete: recitations of laws, pilgrimage practices, and ritual timings are understood as implementations of Mosaic instructions. The Samaritan Pentateuch’s readings that emphasize Mount Gerizim as the chosen place of worship are attributed by adherents to Moses’ own designations. Thus, Moses functions for Samaritans both as archetypal founder and as living legal authority whose text and spirit organize daily and festival praxis.