The Ultimate Family Tree: Back to Adam

High Priest Elazar ben Tsedaka ben Yitzhaq

Just a few weeks ago, on 3 February 2010, a very significant event occurred: Elazar ben Tsedaka ben Yitzhaq died in the Palestinian West Bank town of Nablus (Shechem). Why is this important? Elazar was one of just a few people on earth who can trace their ancestry in an unbroken chain all the way back to Adam. The Adam. The Garden-of-Eden Adam; the eating-of-forbidden-fruit Adam. Elazar was the Samaritan High Priest. We have all heard the term "a good Samaritan," but how many of us really know what a Samaritan is? Here is the short version:

Upon the death of King Solomon of Israel in 931 BCE, two of his sons split the realm into the northern Kingdom of Israel (10 tribes) and the southern Kingdom of Judah (2 tribes). These two entities continued until 722 BCE, when Israel was conquered by the Assyrians, who slaughtered much of the population or forced them into slavery or exile, and these Israelites were lost to history (thus, the "Ten Lost Tribes of Israel"). The Assyrians then brought into the area settlers from other parts of its empire, and these new arrivals mingled with the few remnants of Israel in the region.

The Kingdom of Judah continued alone for another 125 years, at which time the Babylonian Empire attacked and began to exile most of the population to Babylon (thus, the "Babylonian Captivity"). In 587 BCE, Judah finally fell, and the Babylonians destroyed Solomon's Temple. Babylon was in turn conquered by the Persians under Cyrus the Great almost 50 years later. Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to Israel/Judah in 538 BCE, and they began to rebuild the Temple.

This is where the Samaritans come in. When the Jews returned to Israel from Babylon, they found that over the previous two centuries, the remnant Israelites from the conquered northern kingdom and the settlers from the Babylonian Empire had "evolved" into the Samaritans. The Samaritans, however, claimed that they had remained the true Jews and that the returning exiled Jews were the ones who had changed. Therefore, even though both groups were monotheistic people of the Torah, there was great animosity between them.

Over the next two millennia, the fortunes of the Samaritans greatly declined. Through mass killings and forced conversions by invaders and rulers, both Christian and Muslim, it is estimated today that there are only about 700 Samaritans left throughout the world.

As with the high priests in Jerusalem over 2,000 years ago, the high priests of the Samaritans kept meticulous genealogical records to maintain an unbroken connection between the first High Priest Aaron, who, according to the Hebrew Scriptures, was appointed by God. Aaron was the brother of Moses. The Moses. Elazar ben Tsedaka ben Yitzhaq was the 131st descendant in a direct line from Aaron, although the succession was not always father to son. The Hebrew Scriptures provide a precise accounting of the 26 generations between Adam and Aaron. Therefore, the Samaritan high priest can count Adam as one of his ancestors, and not just in a metaphorical sense. That's 157 generations from the "beginning".

The new head priest is Elazar's cousin, Aharon Ben-Av Hisda Cohen.

Below is a photo of the animatronic version of Adam and Eve at the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, thus proving all of this stuff.

Adam & Eve (based on eye-witness reports)