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."

[RightWhale]

Adam and Eve had two boys

But where? Some believe Eden was in Afghanistan. So where did Adam and Eve go when they got the boot?

[LostTribe]

>>It identifies as Celts the Galatians who the Apostle Paul visited and recorded in his Book of Galatians.

In Matthew 10: 5-6 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.

Discussion of these verses makes some very traditional theologians nervous on several counts. Worse, it could obsolete their lecture notes.

(1) It can be interpreted that (at that time and under that specific command at least) Jesus instructed the 12 apostles to go only to specific Israelites (non-gentiles).

(2) The Lost Sheep of the House of Israel were those specific Israelites.

(3) Since the name House of Israel was reserved very specifically for the Northern Kingdom, this command does not include Jews. (Other later commands do.)

(4) This means they were to go first to the "Lost Sheep" AKA "The Lost Tribes" of the Northern Kingdom, which comprise The House of Israel.

(5) Inasmuch as the Galatians of old have now been identified as what we call Celts today, one could conclude that while the Northern Kingdom became the Lost Tribes while in Assyria, they were never lost, but subsequently became known as Celts.

Not an unreasonable stretch IMHO, but one which causes great gastric acidity in some quarters. Quite worthy of ongoing research and discussion, IMHO.

-Regards

[LostTribe]

Jesus also said, in Matthew 15:24

"...I was not sent except to the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel."

...but while that helps define His mission (as distinct from that of the Apostles) and it again affirms the existance at that time of the supposedly long defunct House of Israel, it opens up addition theological cans of worms which would certainly require redoing lots of stale lecture notes.

(These subjects are not for the intellectually timid) ...ggg...

[Mare Tranquilitatus]

(These subjects are not for the intellectually timid) ...ggg...

I would guess not {{ggg}}. Thanks for all the references. There is a lot there to think about.

[DensaMensa]

Well not all Apiru [ED: Hebrews] were Jewish people..

That's true, and only a tiny fraction of all Semites became Israelites.

[maestro]

Did Israel's Lost Tribes end up in the Bronx?
;-)

[DensaMensa]

>Bump... Also "Hapiru".

"About the 10th century BC ... the name Hebrew came into existance. It designated peoples ... who later became ... the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites and Israelites".

...this is about the same time the Phoenician alphabet ... came into use. The Phoenicians ... generally were tall men with red hair and blue eyes, not Mediterranean people... Phoenician means "red-headed men".

[headsonpikes]

Afghanistan???

I don't think so...no Winnipeg goldeye there! ;^)

[SunkenCiv]

See Quest For The Lost Tribes dir by Simcha Jacobovici. Just adding this to the GGG homepage, not sending a general distribution.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[SunkenCiv]

http://www.freerepublic.com/~loliput/
"This account has been banned or suspended."

[SunkenCiv]

http://www.freerepublic.com/~losttribe/
"This account has been banned or suspended."

[SunkenCiv]

Just updating the GGG information, not sending a general distribution.

Jacobovici is in the news due to his Exodus documentary. There's a touching anecdote in his "Quest for the Lost Tribes" that is pertinent here -- when he's warned about mentioning that he's Jewish to the rickety caretaker of one of the Ashoka pillars which was carved with an inscription in Aramaic. When the old man asks how he can read the writing, he says, "I'm a Jew." The old man grabbed him, embraced him, and said, "then you are my brother."

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)