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Rabbis convert India's 'lost tribe of Israel'
Worldnetdaily.com ^ | 9/27/2005 | Aaron Klein

Posted on 09/27/2005 9:46:08 AM PDT by SirLinksalot

Rabbis convert 'lost tribe of Israel'

Recognize 200 members of group believing it descended from Joseph

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Posted: September 26, 2005 11:03 p.m. Eastern

By Aaron Klein © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

An official delegation of Israeli rabbis arrived in India last week and began converting to Judaism members of a group that believes it is one of the ten "lost tribes" of Israel, jump starting a process many hope will bring the tribe's remaining 7,000 members to the Jewish state.

The Bnei Menashe say they are the descendants of Manasseh, one of biblical patriarch Joseph's two sons, and a grandson of Jacob. They live in the two Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur, to which they claim to have been exiled from Israel over 2,700 years ago by the Assyrian empire, and have been trying the past fifty years to return to Israel.

"The rabbinic delegation is a historic turning point," Michael Freund, chairman of Shavei Israel, the Israeli group that arranged the tour, told WND. "It is comforting to see the words of the prophets are coming true before our very eyes with the journey home to Zion of this lost tribe."

Six rabbis were sent by Israel's Sephardic Chief Rabbi, Shlomo Amar, in conjunction with Shavei to begin converting the Bnei Menashe. The rabbis met with hundreds of tribal members, testing their knowledge of Judaism and assessing their conviction, converting two hundred individuals – over 90 percent of those who were interviewed. The candidates rejected were told to continue to study Jewish tradition for reassessment upon the rabbis' next trip.

"The rabbis were incredibly impressed with the Bnei Menashe," said Freund. "They saw for themselves that the group is very serious, and should be integrated into the Jewish nation."

Now officially Jewish, the 200 converts can apply for Israeli citizenship under the country's "Law of Return" law, which guarantees sanctuary to Jews from around the world. The Bnei Menashe are set to receive financial and other aide from Freund's group.

Over the last decade, Shalvei Israel, working with other organizations, brought about 800 Bnei Menashe members to Israel. Many settled in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.

More than 60 lived in Gaza's former Gush Katif slate of Jewish towns, but were expelled with last month's evacuation of the area and are now searching for housing along with other Gaza refugees.

"That these expelled Bnei Menashe are still sticking together with other Gaza refugees shows how deeply they were integrated here in Israel. They see themselves as a part of the Israeli community," said Freund.

Rabbi Amar formally recognized the group as Jews last March. Their return to Israel had been halted in 2003 when then-Israeli Interior Minister Avraham Poraz froze their immigration, prompting Freund to turn to the chief rabbinate so Bnei Menashe members in India can be converted and can return as legally recognized Jews, circumventing the Interior Ministry.

According to Bnei Menashe oral tradition, the tribe was exiled from Israel and pushed to the east, eventually settling in the border regions of China and India, where most remain today.

In the 1950s, a man named Tchelah, the chief of an Indian village, said he had a vision, which he shared with his people, that his community was the lost tribe of Menashe. Most in his town had customs similar to Jewish tradition, but they couldn't explain why. They were told by Tchelach to return at once to Israel and embrace the Jewish faith.

Several thousand Bnei Menashe set out on foot to Israel, but were quickly halted by Indian authorities. Undeterred, many in the village started learning Jewish tradition, and began practicing Orthodox Judaism.

Tchelah's son, Shimon Kolney, was among the Jews brought to Israel by Freund that settled in Gaza.

"The latest events with the chief rabbinate helps so much," said Freund. "In another few years, I am certain the rest of the Bnei Menashe still in India will return home to Zion."

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Aaron Klein is WorldNetDaily's Jerusalem bureau chief, whose past interview subjects have included Yasser Arafat, Ehud Barak, Shlomo Ben Ami and leaders of the Taliban.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Unclassified
KEYWORDS: archaeology; ggg; godsgravesglyphs; history; india; israel; losttribe; rabbis
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1 posted on 09/27/2005 9:46:08 AM PDT by SirLinksalot
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To: SirLinksalot

If they were one of the "Lost" (Not Lost, God knows where they are) tribes, then why do they have to convert?.....


2 posted on 09/27/2005 9:49:45 AM PDT by Red Badger (In life, you don't get what you deserve. You get what you settle for...........)
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To: SirLinksalot

Also covered at

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1486127/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1436777/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1377539/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1374681/posts


3 posted on 09/27/2005 9:51:35 AM PDT by hlmencken3 ("...politics is a religion substitute for liberals and they can't stand the competition")
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To: SirLinksalot

http://www.lcg.org/cgi-bin/tw/booklets/tw-bk.cgi?category=Booklets1&item=1104094367


4 posted on 09/27/2005 9:53:13 AM PDT by Red Badger (In life, you don't get what you deserve. You get what you settle for...........)
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To: Red Badger

because there is no paper trail proving they are Jewish. The conversion is a formality.


5 posted on 09/27/2005 10:03:48 AM PDT by Uncle Joe Cannon
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To: SirLinksalot

India's Christians maintain that they date back to the beginning, that their church was started by Thomas, who was martyred in India.


6 posted on 09/27/2005 10:23:16 AM PDT by marron
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To: Red Badger
In the 1860s, Japan reopened itself to contact with the West and permitted Christan missionaries to enter the country. During the 240 years that Japan had been closed (following the Shimabara Rebellion), it had been illegal to practice any form of Christianity openly. Punishment ranged from imprisonment to death. Yet the returning missionaries found a "native" church had survived underground despite the constant threat of punishment if discovered. They also found that, being cut off from properly trained clergy, a great many unorthodox practices and beliefs had gradually been adopted. These had to be expunged.

I imagine that, after some 2700 years of relative isolation, there are a lot of beliefs and practices among this "lost" group that do not conform with Orthodox Judaism's beliefs and practices. The "conversion" experience probably involves pointing out errors in current belief and practice, confirmation of others, and education on aspects of Judaism that are not currently part of their religious practice.
7 posted on 09/27/2005 10:30:24 AM PDT by Captain Rhino ("If you will just abandon logic, these things will make a lot more sense to you!")
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To: marron

The Ten Lost Tribes aka The House of Israel will be united with the House of Judah to finish up God's final plan of the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel.


8 posted on 09/27/2005 10:35:47 AM PDT by ladyL
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To: ladyL

This 10 lost tribes thing has been peddled by among others, Herbert W. Armstrong of the Worldwide Church of God as British-Israelism ( the Brits are mostly descendants of the 10 lost tribes ).

Adter Armstrong's death, control passed to a new Pastor General, Joseph W. Tkatch. His son, Joseph W Tkatch Jr, in turn, succeeded his father in 1995.

The Tkatchs instituted a program to abandon many of the non-orthodox beliefs and practices of this church.

They brought the denomination into alignment with other conservative Christian churches.

Church membership dropped from its peak of about 150,000 members in 1986. In the US, its membership slid from 1986 to 1996 from about 89,000 to 49,000, largely because of this shift.

I don't think they teach British-Israelism any longer.


9 posted on 09/27/2005 11:02:11 AM PDT by SirLinksalot
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To: SirLinksalot

It would be interesting if they could get DNA evidence to confirm the relationship...but they should be more closely related to the Samaritans than to Jews, since Manasseh was one of the ten tribes of the northern kingdom, whereas Jews are mainly descended from the people of the kingdom of Judah. At least that's how I've always understood it...I could be wrong.


10 posted on 09/27/2005 11:02:22 AM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: SirLinksalot

There's still a fair bit of support for it among the white-supremacists.


11 posted on 09/27/2005 11:24:13 AM PDT by English Nationalist
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To: Red Badger

My car keys aren't lost, since God knows where they are?

Andrew


12 posted on 09/27/2005 11:26:05 AM PDT by Andy Ross (A Scot in Trondheim)
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To: Andy Ross

They're not lost. They KNOW where they are............


13 posted on 09/27/2005 11:40:04 AM PDT by Red Badger (In life, you don't get what you deserve. You get what you settle for...........)
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To: Verginius Rufus
DNA: Genes support a tribe´s belief that it migrated 2,500 years ago from the Holy Land.

Jewish? Africans knew it all along

Excerpt

The researchers found that Lemba men carried a DNA signature on their Y chromosome that is believed unique to the relatively small number of Jews known as the Cohanim, who trace their ancestry to the priests of the ancient Jewish Temple and, ultimately, to Aaron, brother of Moses.
14 posted on 09/27/2005 12:02:56 PM PDT by texas_mrs
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To: Verginius Rufus
Try again
15 posted on 09/27/2005 12:05:25 PM PDT by texas_mrs
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To: Verginius Rufus

DNA is not precise enough to differentiate between Hebrew tribes that far back, or even between any other closely related groups then.

There's quite a lot of DNA evidence connecting today's Jews to each other and to other Middle Eastern people, and none connecting peoples of the British Isles to either.

The best the British-Israel folks can come up with is that the original Middle Easterners were all displaced to the northwest and all those people there now (as well as today's Jews) came from elsewhere.

I can post links if you're really interested.


16 posted on 09/27/2005 1:38:58 PM PDT by hlmencken3 ("...politics is a religion substitute for liberals and they can't stand the competition")
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To: hlmencken3
There are still Samaritans alive today who could provide evidence for DNA testing.

The Lemba people would be Levites by ancestry, and Levi was a son of Leah, whereas Manasseh was a grandson of Rachel. Presumably Leah and Rachel were full sisters (at least there doesn't seem to be any indication that they had different mothers) but that would only be important if they were examining the mitochondrial DNA.

Has DNA testing been done on the Falashas of Ethiopia? Not everyone believes that they are really Jewish by ancestry and that would be a possible way to resolve the question.

I didn't raise the issue of the British-Israelites and have no interest in that topic.

17 posted on 09/27/2005 2:09:18 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: Verginius Rufus

http://www.khazaria.com/genetics/abstracts.html

Samaritans are descended from Israelite men and Assyrian women.

Those Lembas who possess the Cohen Modal Haplotype have Middle Eastern ancestry, possibly Jewish Cohen. The Buba clan is especially Middle Eastern in its paternal DNA.

Many Spanish-speaking Latinos of the American Southwest are descended from Anusim (Spanish Jews who were forced to convert to Catholicism).

The Mizo people of northeastern India, the self-styled "B'nei Menashe", have no proven genetic connection to the Israelites.


18 posted on 09/27/2005 3:17:42 PM PDT by hlmencken3 ("...politics is a religion substitute for liberals and they can't stand the competition")
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To: SirLinksalot
After being a careful student of the Bible for the past twenty years and walking in the light the Father has revealed I have learned many things.

1. The enemy, Satan, is the father of religion. He loves religion which keeps man from relationship with the Father.

2. Into each "fringe" group outside of mainline Protestantism Satan buried truths that he has known since the garden. The Mormons, WWCG, British Israelism etc. all have the truth of the ten lost tribes. Therefore mainline denominations stayed far and aways from these truths of the House of Israel and the House of Judah being restored by the Messiah as the end time plan of YHVH.

Keep seeking truth and not man's doctrines or traditions and it will all make sense.

P.S. There are hundreds of thousands of lost tribe members who do not belong to any "church" who have an understanding of these truths.
19 posted on 09/27/2005 6:30:14 PM PDT by ladyL
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To: Andy Ross; Red Badger
Jesus was just teasing when he said:
Mt 15:24 -
But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

And he was sending his disciples on a wild goose chase when he charged them thus:
Mt 10:6 -
But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

He/they knew where the house of Judah was, Jesus was a
"Jew"(Judahite) and the disciples were all of the tribe of Benjamin (in whose territory Jerusalem was); the only other Judahite/Jew was Judas.

On the other hand the house of Israel (who were NOT Jews) had been divorced by God (Jer 3:8 - And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.) and dispersed but would become as the sands of the sea, a company of nations.

The tribe of Judah was given the "scepter" or the right to rule but the birthright blessings accrued through all the previous generations went to Joseph(Gen.49:22-26)in double portion form via his sons Ephraim and Manasseh (note also that on these two was conferred the name Israel). (Gen. 48)

Mathew 21;43 Jesus speaking to the tribe of Judah said "Therefore say I unto you the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof".

Hardly any wonder why for centuries past the Jews were taught to spit when the name Jesus or Christ was mentioned.
20 posted on 09/27/2005 10:59:17 PM PDT by Spirited
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