The people still sing songs about the


Passover and the crossing of the Red Sea, keep the Sabbath, wear tallits (prayer shawls), circumcise male children on the eighth day, and offer animal sacrifices. Many of the Bnei Menashe converted


to Christianity in the late 1800s due to missionary efforts in the region. But oth- ers kept to their tradition, and when the Nation of Israel was reborn in 1948, they began to seek official recognition as Jews. Unfortunately,


many Jewish leaders


refused to accept their claim because of their “conversions.” DNA tests on the Menashe have not been conclusive. Most of the tests have not been submitted for scientific review, leaving their claims (both pro and con) subject to considerable doubt. The con- troversy continues, both in Israel and among the Menashe, over the truth of the claim that this is a “lost tribe.” During 2005 and 2006, the Jewish religious leaders recognized a number of Menashe, and several hundred immigrat- ed to Israel. But pressure from the Indian government and uncertainty following the Israeli pullout from Gaza (where most of the Menashe had settled) halted the process.


Bene Israel India is also home to the Bene Israel, a group whose Jewish DNA is not in question. In fact, markers in DNA sam- ples from the Bene Israel are consistent with descendants of a small group of hereditary Israelite priests or Cohanim— those descended from Moses’ brother Aaron.


They now number less than eight thousand (most of them emigrated to Israel in the 1950s), but once, more than thirty thousand Jewish People lived in and around Mumbai (formerly Bombay). Different stories are given as to how


they arrived in India. The most common is that they are descendants of traders who were shipwrecked. They observed the Sabbath and circumcised their boys, but did not keep the festival of Hanuk- kah, leading many to speculate that their arrival in India actually pre-dated the destruction of the second Temple. Some associate them with either the tribe of Zebulun or Asher because of their tradition of working as oil pressers and merchants. Others think they are Jews


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who fled persecution from various Arab governments.


The Future Gathering As the different possible descendants


of the Lost Tribes of Israel are identified by science and modern research, the prophecy found in Jeremiah 23:3-8 is clearly at work in our world today—the re-gathering of the scattered sheep of the House of Israel to the Land of Promise. Since the rebirth of Israel as a nation in 1948, millions of Jews from around the world have returned to their ancient homeland. The ancient prophecy that God gave through His prophet Jeremiah is being fulfilled before our very eyes. Clearly, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and other


Old Testament prophets foresaw a time when the Jewish People would be gath- ered from the nations where they had been scattered and return to the Land promised to Abraham and his descen- dants. Today, this prophecy is being ful- filled at an extraordinary rate. I see this aliyah, or return of Jews to their biblical homeland, as an important sign that our Messiah’s coming is approaching.


Of course, the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel aren’t really lost. God knows where they are, and He is bringing them together, along with the dispersed of Judah, who have also been outcasts since the Temple was destroyed in A.D. 70.


Israel and World Redemption God has preserved the Jewish People not only because of His love for and faithfulness to Abraham, but because Israel plays a vital role in world redemp- tion. This includes both the first coming and return of His promised Redeemer, the Messiah.


Dozens of Bible passages clearly


reveal the pivotal role of the Jewish Peo- ple in the Last Days of planet earth. Note the words of Yeshua himself: “O Jerusa- lem, Jerusalem, you who kill the proph- ets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your chil- dren together, as a hen gathers her chicks


CONTINUED ON PAGE 23 JULY/AUGUST 2010 Jewish Voice Today | 19


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