Japan, Australia, and the Maoris of New Zealand (1 January, 2015, 10 Tevet, 5775)
Connectivity says that every proof must apply to every chosen body and every chosen body must have ALL the proofs somehow valid to itself.
The principle of Connectivity was foreshadowed in the Family Connection requirement of Ephraim Criteria.
Ephraimite Criteria
http://www.britam.org/criteria.html
Family Connection: The identified group should have proven "ethnic" links to at least one of the other identified groups so that the proofs of one may be applied to the other.
Applications of Connectivity:
Japan
Japan fulfills some of the criteria and a few of the Biblical verses used to identify the Ten Tribes may apply to her. Japan however lacks Connectivity.
Let us view the situation of the Japanese in the light of Ephraimite Criteria.
1. Blessings: Economic and Physical Blessings as promised to Israel in Scripture.
Japan relatively speaking has been blessed.
Japan does not fulfill the blessings as applied to Joseph BUT it does fulfill them if it were to be considered a minor tribe.
2. Indications of Scripture: Biblical Evidence predicting whereto the Lost Ten Tribes would go, what type of religion and government they would have, etc.
Some of the Israelite Tribes were to be led by Kings [Genesis 17:6, 16, 35:11]. Monarchy was one sign of Israelite descent.
Japan is a monarchy. Most Israelite nations are monarchies. They comprise more than half of the monarchies in the world today.
Japan is at the end of the earth as measured from Israel (Isaiah 24:16, 26:15, 41:8-9 43:6 49:6).
Japan is comprised of islands (Isaiah 24:15, 49:6 60:9, Jeremiah 31: 9-10).
Japan is in the north (Jeremiah 3:18, 31: 6-10)
The Ten Tribes were to be Located to the Northwest of the Land of Israel: (Isaiah 49:12). Japan however is to the northeast.
The Land of Sinim (which we identify with Australia and New Zealand) is to the southeast and in Isaiah (49:12) is juxtaposed to the north and west.
[Isaiah 49:12]
"BEHOLD, THESE SHALL COME FROM FAR: AND, LO, THESE FROM THE NORTH AND FROM THE WEST; AND THESE FROM THE LAND OF , SINIM".
We did not find a verse that unequivocally places the Ten Tribes in the east.
Zechariah 8:7 speaks of my people being saved from the west and east and being brought to Jerusalem . This indicates Judah.
Psalm 107 recalls exiles returning from the east but this could refer to Jews of Judah or to Australia.
Psalm 107
1 O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures for ever.
2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,
those he redeemed from trouble
3 and gathered in from the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.*
Remember, Judah was to be scattered all over the earth whereas the Ten Tribes were to be in one general area, or (according to the Midrash) a few main ones, Isaiah 11:12 Abarbanel, Malbim).
Isaiah 43:
5 Do not fear, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you;
6 I will say to the north, 'Give them up',
and to the south, 'Do not withhold;
bring my sons from far away
and my daughters from the end of the earth'
These references to the exiles from the east could refer to Australia or (as is more likely) it could mean Jews.
Isaiah in continuation speaks of monotheism , being a witness, not having strange gods (11:11-13) and of revenge on Babylon. All this indicates Judah.
Isaiah 11:
14 Thus says the LORD,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
For your sake I will send to Babylon
and break down all the bars,
and the shouting of the Chaldeans will be turned to lamentation.*
Judah: Affinity with the Jews. Japan has a love-hate ambivalent attitude towards the Jews. The Jews are both admired and demonized. The negative aspecxts seem to be the dominant with Japan subsidizing the Palestinian Nazi-type enemies of Israel.
Originality: Innovation and Intellect: A minimal degree of national Intellectual Wisdom and Honesty, cf. Deuteronomy 4:6.
Japan has this BUT an input from Edom could also account for it.
Bravery: Proven Military Prowess in the past at least and at present in potential, see Deuteronomy 33:29.
So too, the japanese are brave.
Empathy: The Doing of Social Justice.
Abraham was blessed to become a great and mighty nation that his descendants might do "justice and judgement." see Genesis 18:19.
The Japanese have not spread justice, on the contrary. They have bred oppression. Their own soicial system to western eyes is not just but they like it.
Israelite Self-Identification
Israelite Identification, means that in some way a significant (more often in quality rather than in numbers) portion of the peoples concerned at some stage or other to a degree are known to have identified themselves as Hebraic.
There are a few Japanese who identify with the Jews and MAYBE also with the Ancient Hebrews though I doubt it.
Family Connection: The identified group should have proven "ethnic" links to at least one of the other identified groups so that the proofs of one may be applied to the other.
Tribal Affiliation: The Exiled Israelites were destined to settle in groups retaining much of their original Tribal cohesion or later through some kind of "homing" instinct members of the same Tribe tended to converge together.
On these two last points everything falls down.
The Japanese DID NOT embody most of the blessings pertaining to the Ten Tribes.
They were not in the west. Even though they lived in Israel they were not known as seafarers, they were not in many oceans, they did not possess the gates of their enemies on a consistent basis, they were not THE world power, they were not in the LAND OF SINIM (Australia and New Zealand); they were not a light to the nations and a blessing to others, they were not represented by a lion and unicorn, they were not in the west, etc.
See: Biblical Proofs
http://www.britam.org/Proof/ProofsIntro.html
It may be argued that some of the smaller nations we identify as having many from the Ten Tribes amongst such as Norway, Denmark, etc, also did not fulfill all of the said indications.
In reply we say that these other peoples identified as Israelites belonged to the same general ethnic group and that what applies to the one is pertinent to the other.
Japan therefore lacks several of the needed qualifications to be classified as part of the Ten Tribes.
Japan also lacks the needed Connectivity to be able to apply the situation of others in its own case.
Australia.
We identify Australia and New Zealand as the Land of Sinim. Isaiah 49:12 says the Ten Tribes will return from the Land of Sinim as well as from areas to the north and west of Israel.
How do we know that the intention is to the present day inhabitants of Australia and not the original inhabitants i.e. the Australian Aborigines? There were those who identified the aborigines with the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel.
I have seen quite a few references to this possibility, e.g.
See: The Shevatim by Koshe Polter
https://books.google.co.il/books?id=8RnWhJxpEP4C&pg=PA18&lpg=PA18&dq=australia+aborigines+as+lost+ten+tribes&source=bl&ots=3stZdAJDUg&sig=8QqVkBmqJc68C0fgFF0N_NmsQlc&hl=iw&sa=X&ei=m0ylVIqfDI7XapSOgcgG&ved=0CFcQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=australia%20aborigines%20as%20lost%20ten%20tribes&f=false
Nevertheless an actual article on the subject has not yet come my way.
On the other hand, what about the Maoris of New Zealand?
Here we find quite a few proponents of this possibility.
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Maori tribes to reinforce Jewish people?
Dozens of indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand discover Judaism, study Kabbalah; one even converts to Judaism
by
Itamar Eichner
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3561097,00.html
The Maoris are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand. They came to New Zealand from eastern Polynesia thousands of years ago. The Maori language is a Polynesian language related to the one spoken in Tahiti, Hawaii and other islands east of Samoa in the southern Pacific Ocean. The word "maori" means "normal" in the Maori language.
At the beginning of the 19th century, at the conclusion of their war against the European settlers, there were some 100,000 Maoris. At the end of the 19th century, their number dropped to 40,000. Today the Maori tribes consist of 600,000 people.
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MAORI - THE LOST TRIBE From the Original Whakapapa Club
http://www.maori.org.nz/papapanui/archives/viewthread.php?TOPIC_ID=2189
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Despite the above,
The Australian Aborigines and the Maoris do not fulfill most of the necessary criteria and they lack the necessary Connectivity to make up for it.
It could be argued that perhaps their Connectivity would be fulfilled if they were to be identified as part of the English-speaking peoples who have taken them over?
A similar claim may also be made for some of the Amerindians?
and Afro-Americans?
These considerations however are beyond our ken.