דרכי כותים פעמים כעובדי כוכבים פעמים כישראל ורובן כישראל. The Samaritans in some of their ways resemble the Gentiles and in some resemble Israel, but in the majority they resemble Israel.
אין מביאין מהן לא קיני זבין ולא קיני זבות ולא קיני יולדות ולא חטאות ולא אשמות אבל מקבלין מידן We do not accept from them for offering [in the Temple] sacrificial birds brought by males with a flux,1Lev. 15, 14. or sacrificial birds brought by females with a flux,2ibid. 29. or sacrificial birds brought by women after childbirth,3ibid. XII, 6, 8. or sin-offerings or trespass-offerings, but we receive from them vows and free-will-offerings.4The 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).
אין מקנין אותם במחובר לקרקע ולא מוכרין להם רחלים לגוז ולא תבואה לקצור ולא עצים מחוברים לקרקע אלא מה שישחוט. We do not transfer to them anything attached to the soil,5Lest 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.] or sell to them sheep to shear, or crops to reap6The correct reading is probably ‘unripe produce (for cattle food) to clip’. or trees attached to the soil,7The words ‘to be cut down’ should certainly be inserted. but we sell them animals to slaughter.
אין מוכרין להם בהמה גסה ואף על פי שהיא שבורה ולא סייחים ולא עגלים. אבל מוכרין להם שבורה שאינה יכולה להתרפאות. We do not sell them large cattle even if they are mutilated, or foals or calves;8[From the fear that the owner will not allow them to rest on the Sabbath; cf. ‘A.Z. 15a (Sonc. ed., p. 75).] but we may sell them a mutilated animal which can never recover.9[Because it will not be put to work and so the fear, previously stated, does not apply.]
אין מוכרין להם כלי זיין ולא כל דבר שיש בו נזק לרבים. We do not sell them weapons of war or anything which can cause injury to the public.
אין משיאין אותם ולא נושאים מהם נשים אבל מלוין ולוין מהם ברבית. We do not give to them [Israelite women] in marriage or take wives from them,10[For the reason, cf. below II, 7, n. 13.] but we lend to them and borrow from them on interest.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.
נותנים להם לקט שכחה ופאה ויש להם שכחה ופאה והם נאמנים על הלקט ועל השכחה ועל הפאה בשעתן ועל מעשר עני *בשעתו ופירותיהן טבל כפירות עובדי כוכבים ואוסרין את העירוב כעובדי עבודת כוכבים. We give them gleanings, forgotten sheaves and the corner of the field;12Cf. Gerim I, 3, n. 7. they too observe [gleanings], forgotten sheaves and the corner of the field,13And therefore no tithe need be given for them. 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.14The tithe of produce was given to the poor in the third and sixth year of the seven-year cycle. Their produce is reckoned as ṭebel15i.e. produce from which the heave-offering and tithe have not been separated. like the produce of Gentiles, and they make the ‘erub ineffective like Gentiles.16Cf. ‘Erub. 61b (Sonc. ed., p. 433, n. 1).
בת ישראל אינה מילדת את הכותית ולא מניקה את בנה אבל הכותית מילדת בת ישראל ומניקה את בנה ברשותה. An Israelite woman should not act as midwife to a Samaritan woman or suckle her child;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’. but a Samaritan woman can act as midwife to an Israelite woman and suckle her child on her premises.
ישראל מוהל את הכותי והכותי מוהל את ישראל ר׳ יהודה אומר כותי לא ימול את ישראל שאינו מוהלו אלא לשם הר גריזים. 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.18The 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, pp. 170f.).]
מעמידין בהמה בפונדק כותי ושוכר כותי שילך אחר בהמתו. ומוסר בהמתו לרועה כותי ומוסר את בנו שילמדנו כותי אומנות ומתיחדים ומספרים עמהם בכל מקום משא״כ בעובדי כוכבים. 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[Because a Samaritan is not suspected of perverted practices with an animal. Cf. ‘A.Z. 15b (Sonc. ed., p. 78).] and he may entrust his son to a Samaritan to teach him a trade.20[We do not fear that he will influence the boy against Judaism.] We may associate with them and converse21The 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). with them in any place, which is not so with Gentiles.22Who are suspected of murderous intent.
חולץ ליבמתו ונותן גט לאשתו ונאמן הכותי להביא גט ממדינת הים לישראל. 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 geṭ23i.e. his word is taken that he witnessed the signing and sealing of the geṭ. from foreign countries to Israel.
אלו דברים שאין מוכרין להם לא נבלות ולא טריפות ולא שקצים ולא רמשים. ולא סנדל של בהמה ולא שמן שנפל לתוכו עכבר ולא שליל אע״פ שישראל אוכלים אותו כוס כוס ושליל אין מוכרין להם מפני ממכר טעות. וכשם שאין מוכרין להם כך אין לוקחין מהם שנא׳ (דברים י״ד:ב׳) כי עם קדוש אתה לה׳ אלהיך 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,24Lest they should sell them to Israelites as fit for consumption. reptiles,25Lest they should mix them with things sold to Israelites. a shoe made from the skin of an animal which died of itself,26Cf. 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. 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[The oil would thereby become unclean, and in this matter the Samaritans were scrupulous.] or [the flesh of] a koskos28‘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. 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 God29Deut. 14, 21.—since thou art holy, thou must not make another people holier than thyself.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.]
נאמן הכותי לומר אם קבר אם לא קבר ובבהמה אם בכרה או לא בכרה. נאמן הכותי על נטע רבעי ועל הערלה ועל הציונות אבל לא על הסככות ולא על הפרעות ולא על ארץ העמים ולא על בית הפרס מפני שנחשדו בהם. זה הכלל דבר שנחשדו בו אין נאמנין עליו: A Samaritan may be trusted if he says that he has buried [a miscarriage] or not buried it,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.] and, with regard to an animal, that it has brought forth its first-born32[Then the subsequent birth would not come under the law of the firstling, which was a priestly due.] or not brought forth. A Samaritan may be trusted with regard to the plantation of the fourth year and uncircumcised fruit33Cf. Lev. 19, 23f. and grave-signs,34If he says that there is no grave in a place which is not marked. but not with regard to overhanging boughs, protruding stones,35Which form a ‘tent’ for communicating ritual defilement. [Cf. Nid. Sonc. ed., p. 399, n. 2.] land of the peoples,36[i.e. countries outside the Holy Land in matters which concern ritual purity.] or a beth peras,37[Cf. Jast. p. 1233.] 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.