Did Israel's Lost Tribes end up in Afghanistan?

Reuters ^ | 03 FEB 2002 | Tom Heneghan

[CommiesOut]

Did Israel's Lost Tribes end up in Afghanistan?

By Tom Heneghan

KABUL, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Considering all they shunned and shattered in their quest for pure Islam, Afghanistan's now vanquished Taliban seem to have overlooked the awkward legend that they were descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel.

The Pashtun tribes that produced the Taliban, one of the most zealous sects the Muslim world has ever seen, have traditionally traced their roots to the Jews who disappeared after the Babylonian Captivity in the sixth century B.C.

The legend, which seems bizarre in light of Jewish-Muslim tensions since the creation of Israel in 1947, is the cornerstone of the complex genealogies delineating the proud Pashtun tribes of Islamic Afghanistan and Pakistan.

With Afghanistan in the news since September 11, Jewish-interest media and Internet sites in Israel and the United States have begun taking a closer look at the unusual legend.

Despite their virulent anti-Semitism, the Taliban themselves apparently ignored the legend that educated Pashtuns find historically unlikely and politically uncomfortable.

"They were only interested in the narrow religious aspect of things," explained Nehmatullah Ander, director of the International Institute for Pashtu Studies in Kabul.

The Taliban barred women from work and school, blew up the huge ancient Buddha statues of Bamiyan and banned television, kite-flying and squeaky shoes as insults to Islam.

They also declared that Pashtunwali, the strict Pashtun tribal code of honour and revenge, was un-Islamic and ordered Ander's institute to stop academic research into it.

"They opposed Pashtunwali, but only because they wanted Sharia (Islamic) law to be supreme in Afghanistan," Ander said.

Abdul Shukoor Rishad, the doyen of Afghan historians with 30 books on history and literature to his name, said Taliban intellectual pursuits were limited.

"The Taliban only published two books, and there were both about theology," he said.

OUT OF BABYLON?

The 20 million or so Pashtuns, fabled guardians of the wild mountains of eastern and southern Afghanistan and Pakistan's Northwest Frontier, boast a complex tribal society organised according to genealogies reaching back to Biblical times.

Their founding legend starts in the 10th century B.C. with Afghana, a supposed grandson of Israel's King Saul and commander of King Solomon's army unmentioned in Jewish scriptures.

It then jumps four centuries ahead to ancient Babylon, where emperor Nebuchadnezzar had taken the Twelve Tribes of Israel as slaves after conquering them in the 6th century B.C.

"There was not enough room in Babylon, so he sent 10 tribes to the east," Rishad recounted. "They settled near Isfahan in Iran, in a city called Yahudia."

Pashtun legend says the Jews then moved into the central -- and non-Pashtun -- Afghan region of Hazarajat, and later spread south to Quetta, in present-day Pakistan, and east to the Indus river.

Rishad rejects this theory, which first found its way into print in about 1612 in Delhi, where a Moghul court scribe wrote Makhzan-i-Afghani (Origin of the Afghans).

"This book was hastily written by enemies of the Afghans," Rishad said, adding it ignored ancient Persian, Hindu and Greek writings, including Herodotus, where no Jewish origin is ever mentioned.

Sir Olaf Caroe, a prominent British historian of the Pashtuns, called the legend "all great fun" but concluded it was too riddled with inconsistencies to be true.

JEWISH NAMES?

That has not stopped the quest for the Lost Tribes from turning once again towards Afghanistan, one of many countries where researchers hope to track down the vanished Jews.

"The Pathans (Pashtuns) have the custom of circumcision on the eighth day. This is a known Jewish custom," wrote Rabbi Marvin Tokayer in an article on a Jewish-interest Web site called Moshiach (Messiah).

"The Sabbath is considered a day of rest and they do not labour, cook or bake," he wrote. "Pathans have the custom of Kosher, dietary laws same as Jews."

"Dozens of Pashtun names and customs sound Jewish," the Jewish Telegraphic Agency wrote. Researchers link Pashtun and Jewish tribe names such as Afridi (Ephraim), Yusufzai (Joseph), Shinwari (Shimon) and Rabbani (Reuben).

The Jewish Bulletin of Northern California recently recounted the legend that the name Kabul "stands for Cain and Abel".

This interest in the Lost Tribes legend exasperates Rishad, 80, who has fielded foreign queries about it for decades and is convinced the legend began with that Delhi court scribe.

"The names don't mean anything," he argued, adding that many Christian, Muslim and Jewish names shared common roots.

"Christians have names that were originally Jewish and they're not Jewish, are they?" he said.

Rishad is so convinced the legend has no basis in fact that he has turned down a large grant to research it further.

"There is an association in California that is searching for the Lost Tribes," he said. "When I was there in 1995, they were ready to provide me enough money for a new study.

"I turned it down because the theory is wrong. Afghans are not Jewish."

[LostTribe]

J.A.Picton

member since February 2nd, 2002

>The tribes are largely lost because of both their dispersal as well as increased interbreeding.

Ahhhmmmmmm ... howz that again???

To see what really happened to the various tribes of Israel, click on my Profile.

[DensaMensa]

Adam and Eve had two boys. They no doubt married Palestinians who's parents were there before Adam and Eve.

Seems like there's plenty of room to doubt that. The consensus of thought is they married their sisters. That does have the negative implication that it would have today. There is no reason to believe there would be genetic complications then, either.

[DensaMensa]

]That does NOT have the negative implication...

[malarski]

Of course, you are free to spin anti-zionist/semetic conspiracy theories all you want.

I get it: you do not agree with me, therefore I am a Nazi. OK.

[Registered]

I thought everyone knew they landed in Holland, Michigan.

[rmlew]

JA Picton Wrote:
The Romans were also famous for accepting up from slavery all sorts of folk to citizenship.

They were also known for killing saves, using them as concubines, and mutilating them.

They did attempt to deJudaizing Judea, but that is not the same as ethic cleansing.
What would you call killing and dispersing a people, destroying all of thier cultural institutions, and trying to rease their history on the land?
Actually, I agree it was worse.

On the whole, Romans were marvelously adept at incorporating all sorts of folks into their realm.
Judea was part of Roman Empire since about 30 BCE. That did not mean that the Romans were tolerant. They institutied a policy of colonializtion that led to the revolts.

Statistics would no doubt be questionable and difficult with all of those parameters. In addition, however often Romans expelled folk, they also took in large numbers of folk.
The idspersal of Jews from Judea, was generally to other parts of the Empire, much of it to the Persian border and north into the Rhine Valley.

These people did not have social security numbers, so any one who wanted to return to Palestine without Judaism either practiced in secret or not a all could readily have done so.
You most of history, it was easy to tell who was a Jew. Check for circumcision.

The tribes are largely lost because of both their dispersal as well as increased interbreeding.
The term "Lost Tribes" reffer to those tribes that Split from the United Israelite Kingdom after Solomon's death and centered around Ephraim. These tribes were dispersed by the Assyrians around 700 BCE.
There are some remanents who remained in Israel and intermarried with Assyrians who settled there. These peoples practice a form of Judaism derived from that of the Northern Kingdom, completely seperate from standard Judaism. These people are known as Shmoronim or Samaritans.

The Romans were remarkably tolerant of anyone who didn't take up arms against them, just as it is no surprise to find Josephus with the Roman Army or the apostles traveling throughout the Roman world preaching their form of religion derived from Judaic roots.

Tell that to the Jews of Alexandria slauhgtered in 132CE.

[CommiesOut]

Those were the Tulip Tribes, much younger than the Celts.
You're trying to disrupt our Pashtoon thread, aren't you?

[LostTribe]

Hello Ron.

> after Solomon's death and centered around Ephraim. These tribes were dispersed by the Assyrians around 700 BCE.

Right. Actually, transported to northern Iraq. They subsequently dispersed themselves.

> There are some remanents who remained in Israel and intermarried with Assyrians who settled there.

Yes. There were always stragglers. Likewise, there were some from the Southern Kingdom taken captive by the Assyrians and moved NorthEastward into the Northern Kingdoms captivity and subsequent diaspora.

> These peoples practice a form of Judaism derived from that of the Northern Kingdom,

Oops. The Northern Kingdom was never Jewish, thus did not practise any form of Judaism. Israelitish maybe, but not Jewish. Their primary religion became disobedience, and their punishment was becoming "Lost" for a prescribed period of time.

Regards ... LT

[RedBloodedAmerican]

ROFLMBOPIMP!!!!!!!

[rmlew]

Oops. The Northern Kingdom was never Jewish, thus did not practise any form of Judaism. Israelitish maybe, but not Jewish. Their primary religion became disobedience, and their punishment was becoming "Lost" for a prescribed period of time.

If by Jewish you mean a Judean or of the tribe of Judah or Benjamin, you are correct. However, Judaism is the common term for those who practice the faith of Israelites as set forth in the Bible. Strictly speaking the Ten tribes were supposed to follow the Laws of Moses with an alternate temple in Shechem (modern Nablus). They did not and because they decided to act like Gentiles they were dispersed and lost to the gentiles.

[LostTribe]

>If by Jewish you mean a Judean or of the tribe of Judah or Benjamin, you are correct.

Yes, I am using the standard Biblical definition of Jewish as being a member of the Southern Kingdom.

> However, Judaism is the common term for those who practice the faith of Israelites as set forth in the Bible.

Not where I come from. That has no Biblical basis.

>Strictly speaking the Ten tribes were supposed to follow the Laws of Moses ....

The Lost Tribes punishment was for heathen behaviour, and they got theirs. The Jews (Southern Kingdom) also worshipped Baal and abandoned God and got theirs several generations later.

>they were dispersed

They were NOT dispersed, they were taken captive and moved. There is quite a difference.

When the Assyrians fell to the Babylonians ~620 BC, the Northern Kingdom in exile "took counsel among themselves" and decided not to return to their place of origin, but flee northward and westward. (A wise move, since the Southern Kingdom fell not long after.) Their numbers were so great it took a year and a half for them to pass through the headwaters of the Euphrates river and the Sarmartian gate in the Caucasus Mountains.

>...and lost to the gentiles...

No, they were not "lost to" anyone. Only their identity was lost as part of their punishment while in Assyrian captivity. If you check my Profile below you see the story. If you want the ENTIRE story, check out the book on the Assyrian tablets. It's all there, and in spades.

[LostTribe]

Sarmartian = Sarmatian

[College Repub]

Article on the Gene Scott Cult
Here

[College Repub]

The stuff in Lost Tribe's profile (at least the audio links and some of the text) comes from the teachings of Gene Scott...

[DensaMensa]

Look out for this whiney "College Repub" kid. He is really an adolescent liberal Democrat pretending to be a Republican.

Unable to bring intelligent content to a discussion, he throws rocks and whines like a spoiled brat, then complains to the moderator about being persecuted. Wants other peoples threads pulled. Watch his threads and watch him wet his pants.

[College Repub]

Not quite. Regan is my hero and I have always voted GOP. But losttribes always refers people to his profile containing the teachings of Gene Scott. Many have labled his organization to be nothing more than a Christian Identity cult teaching false made up interpretations and rewritig history. I was just pointing this out since LostTribes represents this information as undisputed fact here on FR.

[College Repub]

Reagan..not Regan...