The Mishna at the very bottom of yesterday's daf TY Shekalim 3 excludes idolaters and Cutheans (aka today’s Samaritans) from donating the half shekel and anything that is donated for the upkeep of the Temple. "If an idolater and a Cuthean gave a shekel, we do not accept it from them, nor do we accept from their hands the bird-pair offerings of zavim and zavot or women have given birth, or chatat and asham offerings. This is the rule: Anything that is not vowed or donated to the altar, we accept from their hands; anything that is not vowed or donated to the altar, but only for the upkeep of the temple, we do not accept from their hands. And so it is explicitly stated by the prophet Ezra, as it says, 'It is not for you and us to build a house for God; rather, we (alone) will build together for God.' (Ezra 4:3 ) This verse teaches that idolaters and Cutheans may not participate in the building and upkeep of the holy Temple." (Art Scroll translation)
Who are the Samaritans? In the year 720 BCE Shalmanesser conquered the northern kingdom Israel. As was the custom to prevent rebellion, the conquering nation exiled the indigenous people and supplanted them with a different of conquered people. That reduced nationalistic feelings towards the land and the possibility of a rebellion. This is how the 10 northern tribes became lost. Not all the Israelites were exiled. Those who remained intermarried with the newly arrived peoples. The result of this intermarriage created a group of people who adopted some of the old Israelite religion and some of the new pagan religion. Ezra rejected their Jewish bona fides.
That's not how the sages understood what happened. "The Cutheans were a pagan group imported by the Assyrian Emperor Shalmanesser from their native Cutha, and from other areas, to populate the section of Eretz Yisrael left desolate by the exile of the 10 tribes (see II Kings 17:24 ff.) They converted to Judaism out of fear of Divine punishment, and later times reverted to idolatry. The Mishnah rules that with regard to the half shekel tax, Cutheans share the law of idolaters." (TY Shekalim, 3b4, note 49, Art Scroll)
Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi also known as Rebbi and Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel disagree about the Jewish status of the Cutheans on today's daf TY Shekalim 4. "Rabbi Ba said: You should interpret the Mishnah in accordance with the one who said that a Cuthean is legally regarded as an idolater. For (the Tannaim) disagree regarding this matter in a baraita: A Cuthean is legally regarded as an idolater. These are the words of Rebbi. Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel says: A Cuthean is regarded as a Jew in all matters." (Art Scroll translation)
Their status revolves around the issue of the sincerity of their conversion. Rebbi holds that they only converted out of fear of Divine punishment and later returned to their old pagan ways. They were never sincere converts (which is a prerequisite of conversion); consequently, they are regarded as idolaters. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel believed that they were sincere converts, and it was only later that they reverted to their pagan ways. Based on the principle that a Jew is always a Jew, the Cutheans are just backsliding Jews and are treated as full-fledged Jews.
What is their status today?. They accept the Torah and the book of Joshua (even though their interpretations are different than ours). Because their calendar runs a bit differently than ours, when I was a rabbinical student studying in Israel, I was able to go to Mount Gerizim and see them prepare the korban Pesakh. Nevertheless, we do not accept them as Jews, but as a different people. The Palestinians called them the "old or original" Jews. That is why I call the Samaritans the in-between people.
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