כ״ב בכסלו ה׳תשע״ט (November 30, 2018)

Hullin 3a-b: Would You Buy Kosher Meat From This Man?

As we learned on yesterday’s daf the Mishna discusses those who are qualified to perform sheḥita and serve as ritual slaughterers. Abaye suggests that the Mishna should be understood to include Kutim in this category.



During the following years there were continued tensions between the two communities, and Yoḥanan Hyrcanus led his troops into battle against the Samaritans and destroyed the temple that they had built on Har Gerizim. Nevertheless, there were also periods of cooperation, such as the period of the Bar Kokheva rebellion. As is clear in our Gemara, the attitude of the Sages towards them differed, although after a period of time a final conclusion was reached and they were ruled to be treated as non-Jews, due to their continued involvement with different types of idol worship.

It is important to note that the Gemara in Massekhet Yevamot concludes that while a bet din should not accept potential converts whose reason for converting is anything other than a sincere desire to join the Jewish People, nevertheless, if such a person does undergo a full conversion process they are considered Jewish according to halakha. It is possible that the Kutim did not fall into that category because they continued with their idolatrous practices even at the moment of their conversion. Nevertheless, today the community of Samaritans living in Israel are no longer idol worshipers, and there has been some level of acceptance of them into the larger Jewish community.