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The issue of the Ten Lost Tribes
It is exceptionally rare to find a shul discussing a drosha on the Ten Lost Tribes. In fact, the last to mention them that I know of was a visiting rabbi from Durban six years ago. It is as if the Jewish community are either ignorant of their fellow-Israelites (which would be a disappointment) or simply don’t care.
Colin Jantjies
After all, it is not a topic in any weekly parsha, although they are as much part of Israel as all the other tribes. Indeed, the Ten Lost Tribes form the majority. There is no Israel without them. Thus to speak of the present “Judean” state as the nation of Israel is fallacious.
The tribes of Judah and Benjamin correctly only represent the southern Jewish state, which it is today. But what of the missing northern kingdom? Alternatively, they are known as the House of Jacob or the House of Israel.
It is a mystery why the House of Judah (Jews) never or seldom speak of their northern brethren. Talmudic literature barely mentions them. Perhaps herein lies the fault since rabbinic Judaism has all but ignored Israel’s lost tribes.
The Babylonian exile and the second Temple era were all about Jews only. The irony is that under the rabbinic period and ever since, the nation of Israel was and is spoken of as if it consists only of one group – the Jews.
This is wrong. Let me explain. First they were called Hebrews. Then later they became Israelites. All Jews are Israelites but all the other Israelites are not Jews. Thus the Ten Lost Tribes were never Jews and were never called Jews. Yet these non-Jews represent the majority in the nation of Israel.
The sons of Jacob each became tribes. So we speak of Reubenites, Simeonites, Levites, Judah, etc.
According to halachah (a rabbinic code which had replaced the Mosaic code), none of the lost tribes qualify to return home. Only Jews have this right.
This means descendants of Moses, Jeremiah and Ezekiel (Levites), Joseph (Prince of Egypt); Samson (Dan); Joshua and Deborah (Ephraim); Elijah and Gideon (Manashe); among others, are all excluded from laying claim to their ancestral land.
Amazingly these same tribes represent Western democracies like Britain (Ephraim), the USA (Manashe), Reuben (France), Denmark/Sweden (Dan), Holland (Naphtali), Canada (Zebulan), Australia, New Zealand, Finland and South Africa (before black rule).
Biblically speaking, the tribes are coming home. Only the Mosaic Law will apply, not halachah.
Cape Town