Editing Jewish schisms (section)

==Samaritans==
{{Main|Samaritans}}
The Samaritans are an [[ethnoreligious group]] of the [[Levant]] originating from the [[Israelites]] (or [[Hebrews]]) of the [[Ancient Near East]].

Ancestrally, Samaritans claim descent from the [[Tribe of Ephraim]] and [[Tribe of Manasseh]] (two sons of [[Joseph (Genesis)|Joseph]]) as well as from the [[Levite]]s,<ref name=tsu>[http://www.thesamaritanupdate.com/ The Samaritan Update] Retrieved 1 January 2017.</ref> who have links to ancient [[Samaria]] from the period of their entry into [[Canaan]], while some [[Orthodox Jews]] suggest that it was from the beginning of the [[Babylonian captivity]] up to the Samaritan polity under the rule of [[Baba Rabba]]. According to Samaritan tradition, the split between them and the [[Judean]]-led Southern Israelites began during the biblical time of the priest [[Eli (biblical figure)|Eli]] when the Southern Israelites split off from the central Israelite tradition, as they perceive it.<ref name="books.google.co.uk">{{cite book|last=Fried|first=Lisbeth S.|title=Ezra and the Law in History and Tradition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tQHQBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT148|year=2014|publisher=Univ of South Carolina Press|isbn=978-1-61117-410-6}}</ref>

They consider themselves to be ''B'nei Yisrael'' ('Children of Israel'), a term used universally by Jewish denominations for the Jewish people as a whole, but do not call themselves ''Yehudim''. The word ''Yehudim'' comes from the [[Hebrew]] word ''Yehudi'' which means from the [[Tribe of Judah]].