Ten Lost Tribes Challenge - India: Dreams of reunification

Over the past several weeks, in preparation for my trip to India with a group of tourists from Shai Bar Ilan tours and Eretz Ahuvati, I have been researching not only the Bnei Menashe of North East India, but also the Jewish history that I never really learned as a child. I kind of always knew that once, many years ago, there were 12 Jewish tribes, and that they fought amongst themselves, split up into two kingdoms, and ten were conquered in war, sent into exile and were lost to the world.

The two Jewish tribes that were left in Israel were expelled into the Diaspora after the Roman conquest. Ever since then the Jews, that is, the descendants of the two remaining tribes of Judah and Binyamin, were always wondering what became of their lost brethren. In their Diaspora, the Jews always felt persecuted, vulnerable and lonely. The thought that there were ten tribes of Israelites out there in the world somewhere was always comforting to them in their darkest hours. But alas, the hope that their long lost Hebrew brothers would ride in like cavalry through the mist to deliver them from marauders and murderers never materialized.

After swimming in all this information for a few weeks, I had this amazing dream:

Dima

I was at a party with many people, some I knew and some I didn't
At a table in the corner, with his back to me, sat a very big guy with a huge, wide back
As I passed the table towards the kitchen I turned to him and we shook hands
"Hello", we said to each other and turned away again, him to his conversation and me to find food and drink
But very soon I found myself back at his table, staring at the back of his head
This time he stood up, turned around and we looked at each other and we both realized that we knew each other
It was such a happy reunion
It was Dima, my army buddy from ages ago, my comrade in arms
"Dima!" I shouted excitedly
Realizing it was me, Dima, huge as a bear, picked me up and gave me the Russian bear hug he was famous for
We embraced, or more accurately, I embraced him and he crushed me as he swung us around again and again
We had fought together in the Israeli army
We had spoken Hebrew
And we had lost contact with each other for many years
And now we had found each other
I noticed the solid silver SS emblem on the silver chain he wore around his neck as he swung me around
How could he have strayed so far away from Judaism? I thought to myself, the furthest you could possibly get
As he put me down I asked him, still so happy to see him: "Where have you been all this time?"
He looked at me and said "We looked for you in all the clubs"
Then, turning to his right with his whole body, putting his hand over his brow like someone looking into the distance, he showed me how he looked for me through the crowds
Turning to his right again, looking this way
And again, looking that way
Until he faced me again
"The politics in our camp made it impossible to find you," he said.

As I woke up I knew what the dream meant. I learned about the story of the lost tribes. Here is the basic story:

2,700 years ago in the land of the Jewish people, everything was going along swimmingly. Enemies were conquered and vanquished, the land settled, and Solomon the wise king built a grand temple. The king's fame and respect grew so much that it started going to his head, so much to his head that he started going a little meshugas [Yiddish for nutty].

He thought he was so great that he married 700 wives. Then he got even more meshugas, because 700 wives is not enough for one man, and he married 300 more. But this time he wanted to spice things up a little, and he wanted something a little different from the Jewish women in the land that he knew so well. So he picked 300 shiksas [Yiddish for non-Jewish woman] belonging to the tribes and nations surrounding his kingdom. Soon Solomon was cavorting with his new wives, and doing all the things that they did in their cultures and religions. Nobody really knew what Solomon was thinking and why he thought he needed 1,000 wives. What's for sure is that when you have 1,000 wives, you can't really spend too much time attending to matters of state. Having one wife can drive a man meshugane, imagine what having 1,000 could do to you!

In any case, the laws of God forbade Jews to marry non-Jews, and so God was insulted that the King of his chosen people acted in such a terrible way. HE thought Solomon was not setting a good example for the rest of HIS people. God was so irate at Solomon's behavior that he decided to punish him. But, at the same time, he loved the meshugane guy, and HE didn't want to see Solomon suffer.

So HE decided to leave Solomon alone, but take away the kingdom from Solomon's son, Rehavam. Rehavam inherited Solomon's kingdom, made of 12 Israelite tribes spanning what is today Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Judea and Samaria. But God fanned the flames of rivalry between all the tribes, and the nation split into two: the land of Judah in the south and the land of Israel in the north. When Rehavam wanted the northern tribes to pay him the same taxes that they paid Solomon, they got angry, chose a new king, and established their own nation. Rehavam, realizing he had not read his subjects correctly, tried to appease their anger. He sent over one of his most trusted advisors to calm them down and reach a deal, but the ten tribes were in no mood to reconcile, and they stoned Rehavam's messenger to death. The lines of the two camps were now clearly drawn.

The Kingdom of Judah, with its capital in Jerusalem, consisted of the tribes of Judah, Simeon, Benjamin, and parts of Levi. The Kingdom of Israel contained the tribes of Reuven, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zevulun, Menashe, Ephraim, and the remainder of Levi.

The Kingdom of Israel was conquered in the 720s BC, by the Assyrians, who, after conquering the land, destroyed Samaria, its capital, and deported most of the occupants into exile, with the southernmost tribe - Benjamin - managing to survive by joining the Kingdom of Judah.

Assyrian policy was for the deportees to be scattered, and assimilated into the Assyrian empire, and, as a result of this policy, the deported tribes lost their cultural identity, becoming traditionally known as the Ten Lost Tribes. One theory is that Solomon, in his far-seeing wisdom, split the Levi tribe, made up of holy men and priests, into two: one part to stay with Judah and Binyamin and to serve in the Temple, and one part he sent to the ten tribes, to minister to them, to travel with them into exile so as to make sure that they kept God's commandments. If the Jews kept the most important laws of Gods in their exiles throughout the world, they would eventually be found by the remaining tribes, or make their own way back to Israel. Also, another theory goes, God, through Solomon, sent the Levites with the ten tribes into exile so that the tribes could bring HIS laws and customs to the tribes and nations of the world.

The drama of the lost tribes plays out over vast distances and spans of time.Sitting and listening to the experts talk about this story, I got to thinking: Why did God split up the Jewish nation? Why did HE split them up in this specific way, and sent ten of them into exile? Why didn't HE send two, say Judah and Binyamin, into exile? What was the purpose behind the ten lost tribes? Was it that the Jews should always be looking for each other? Was it to bring God's laws and Judaism into the world through the wanderings of the exiles? I hope to talk to people about these and other questions on the trip, but I'm not expecting answers.

Contemporary experts and researchers into the story of the lost tribes believe it is not just a myth, but a puzzle, and it's only now, in modern times, when information from all over the world can travel in milliseconds and can be shared, that the puzzle is starting to be solved. The dream to reunite with all the ten tribes has been a constant in Jewish thought throughout the ages. Even David Ben Gurion, the founder of the reconstituted nation of the Jews, decided on the name Israel and not Judea in the hope that they day would come when the Ten Lost Tribes return and the land of Israel will be reunited.

Amir Mizroch is the News Editor at The Jerusalem Post, a writer and an award-winning blogger. For all of Amir's blogs and articles, visit his personal blog Forecast Highs.

PREVIOUS ENTRIES:

• Meeting the lost tribe of Menashe - Nov 16, 2008
• Government approves aliya of 150 Bnei Menashe - Nov. 12, 2008