THE SAMARITANS, who have just celebrated Passover, are the subject of an article, "Samaritans cling to unique heritage," in the Dallas Morning News. Excerpt:

Despite the Samaritans' marking of Passover, the Sabbath and other rituals and observances similar to Judaism, Samaritans are not Jews but a distinct people. They are best known from the New Testament parable Jesus told of the Good Samaritan who came to the aid of a mugged and wounded traveler.

In contrast to Jews, who follow both the Written Law of the Torah and the Oral Law, the Samaritans adhere only to the Five Books of Moses.

Like Orthodox Jews, the Samaritans strictly observe the laws of circumcision, family purity and kosher diet. They write in ancient Hebrew script, the language of their Torah, and pray in the ancient Hebrew dialect spoken by Jews through the first millennium A.D.

"Jews and Samaritans are both sons of the Israelites," said Israel Tzedaka, one of the Samaritans' elders, during the Samaritan Passover feast, which occurred a month after the Jewish holiday.

Mr. Tzedaka lives in the Israeli town of Holon, as do roughly half the world's Samaritans. During holidays and family occasions, the Israel-based Samaritans travel to Kiryat Luza, where the community's other half resides on Mount Gerizim, in Palestinian territory just southwest of Nablus.

"We trace our roots to the 12 tribes of the Kingdom of Israel," Mr. Tzedaka said, seated in the living room of his friend and kinsman Yaffet Ben Asher Cohen, who lives on the mountain.