Who woulda thunk it? A Samaritan woman, having come to the village well to draw her water in the heat of the day - not early morning when the other women would come, meets a Jewish rabbi. He talks to her...in public even. He actually talks to her. Right out there in front of God and anybody (even though no one else is around, not in the noonday sun). This is not done. Jewish men do not talk to women in public, even their own wives. In fact, for a Jewish wife to address her husband in public without permission was grounds for divorce! But a Jewish man speaking to a mixed-breed, "racially-inferior" female???

And what was he doing here anyway? The animosity between Jews and Samaritans was such that most travelers would take the extra nine hours to go around Samaria on a journey from Judea up…