"I dunno. They told me to get lost."
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Posted on 08/30/2007 9:53:38 AM PDT by NYer
TEL AVIV – One-hundred-seventy-four people from a group of thousands in India that believes it is one of the 10 "lost tribes" of Israel landed here this week, fulfilling for many a life-long dream of returning to what they consider their homeland.
Shavei Israel, a Jerusalem-based organization led by American Michael Freund, hopes to bring to the Jewish state the remaining 7,000 Indian citizens who believe they are the Bnei Menashe, the descendants of Manasseh, one of biblical patriarch Joseph's two sons and a grandson of Jacob.
The tribe lives in the two Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur, to which they claim to have been exiled from Israel more than 2,700 years ago by the Assyrian empire.
"I truly believe this is a miracle of immense historical and even biblical significance," Freund told WND as the group of 174 arrived here earlier this week.
"Just as the prophets foretold so long ago, the lost tribes of Israel are being brought back from the exile," said Freund, who previously served as deputy communications director under former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Another planeload of 57 Bnei Menashe is slated to touch down in Israel tomorrow.
The group, which has preserved ancient Jewish customs and rituals, has been trying the past 50 years to return to Israel.
Over the last decade, Freund's Shavei Israel, at times working with other organizations, brought about 1,200 Bnei Menashe members to the Jewish state. Many settled in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. About 80 lived in Gaza's slate of Jewish communities, which were evacuated by the Israeli government in 2005.
The original batches of Bnei Menashe to arrive here were brought to Israel as tourists in an agreement with Israel's Interior Ministry.
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...
ping....
There were actually 13 tribes, not 12, since Joseph split into 2 tribes: Menassah and Ephraim, and the tribe of Levi exists to this very day.
http://www.moshiach.com/features/tribes/
“This feature is based on “Nihon-Yudaya, Huuin no Kodaishi” by Rabbi Marvin Tokayer, translated from Japanese by Arimasa Kubo.
“Following his ordination, Rabbi Tokayer served as a U.S. Air Force Chaplain in Japan, and upon his discharge from the military, returned to Tokyo to serve for many years as rabbi of the Jewish Community of Japan as well as Vice President and Director of Culture, Religion and Education for the Jewish communities of the Far East.”
The link has a collection of in-depth essays about purported ‘lost tribes’ scattered from China to Ecuador.
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Don’t know about ‘Semitic’ features. The Ashkenazim of Northern Europe and the Sephardim of Southern Europe and the Middle East don’t look much alike, but both groups are Jewish.
I get a chuckle from the term “lost tribes” after all who lost them? Certainly they are not “lost” to God. He knows where each of them are at right at this very moment. And He is making ready the 12,000 of each tribe that He will call to evangelize at the end of days. Revelations 7:4-8
Yea I know about the 13th tribe of Levi as well. I just didn’t want to confuse the issue by adding that in. When the tribes are talked about it is generally the 12 tribes.
http://www.moshiach.com/features/tribes/burma.php
...According to the history which they state, they were exiled to Assyria in 722 BCE with other Tribes of Israel. Later, Assyria was conquered by Babylon (607 BCE), which later was conquered by Persia (457 BCE), which later was conquered by Greece of Alexander the Great (331 BCE), when the people of Menashe were deported from Persia to Afghanistan and other places.
There they became shepherds and idol worshipers. With the conquest of Islam, they were forced to convert to Islam. Because they speaking Hebrew they were called the Semitic speakers...
...From Afghanistan their migration continued eastward until they reached the area of the Tibetan-Chinese border. From there they continued into China following the Wei River until they reach the central China. They settled there at about 231 BCE.
But the Chinese were cruel to them and enslaved them. Some of them escaped and lived in caves in the mountainous areas called Shinlung, which became another name for the tribe of Menashe. They are also called the cave people or the mountain people...
Later they were banished from their cave area and went west through Thailand and eventually reached the area in Myanmar.
There they wandered along the river until they reached Mandaley. From there they reached the Chin Mountains. In the 18th century a part of them migrated to Manipur and Mizoram which are in northeastern India. Generally, they maintained the tradition about their wandering and they realized that they were not Chinese even though they spoke the local language.
They call them themselves Lusi which means the Ten Tribe (”Lu” means tribes, and “si” means ten)...
...In 1854 with the arrival of the first American missionary, V. Petigrore of the Baptist Mission, the church was established. In 1910 more missionaries came and they established churches in their area of northern India. As a result, the tribal priest lost his stature and the community was subjected to Christian influences and pressure. With the spread of Christianity along the land, they were again subject to great pressures and many of their religious articles were then thrown away or burned by the British and American missionaries between 1854-1910.
Recently a return to Judaism began. Several thousand people of Menashe decided to observe the laws of the Torah and returned to Judaism. They have synagogues in Manipur, Assam, and Mizoram. There are also those who emigrated to Israel. Thousands long for returning to Israel...
Oh I don't know about that. My brother looks alot like Ben Stiller. (hey, at least he doesn't look like Jerry)
If anything they should look Egyptian, shouldn’t they, since Manasseh’s mother had such a background?
Ever heard the phrase, “Lion of the Tribe of Judah?"
I don’t know. People all over the world have been “mixing” right from the time procreation began. During the days where DNA tests were hard to come by, a lie would be good enough to claim the descendents “pure”.
The 12 Apostles is a Christian thing and absolutely nothing to do with Judaism.
Ever heard the phrase, “Lion of the Tribe of Judah?”
Yes, I have. 8-)
Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob. Jacob’s name was changed to Israel by God. Jacob had 12 sons, each of their names represent a tribe of Israel (more or less).
Thanks for the summary of their extensive wanderings and sufferings. I see why they have to be re-instructed (”converted”) now.
Amos 9:9 For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.
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