A Reply by Yair Davidiy to Points made by Eddie Chumney (22 September, 2014 , 27 Elul, 5774)
This article is in answer to: Ephraimite Clarification by Eddie Chumney
A Reply to Possible Misconceptions
http://hebrewnations.com/articles/eph/eddie3.html
Contents:
1. Introduction. The Complaint of Eddie Chumney.
2. Even Jews Born Jewish Cannot Be Accepted as non-Jewish in Religion. The Case of Oswald Rufeisen
3. Conversion to Judaism is not Recommended
4. Ephraimite Claims to be treated as Equals.
5. Eddie Disputes Rabbinical Authority
6. Israelite Ancestry is Not Generally Accepted.
7. Some Reasons why the Israelite Ancestry of Western Peoples is Not Acknowledged.
8. The Inner Contradiction of Christian Love for Jews.
9. Conclusion. The Purpose of Researching where the Ten Tribes are.
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1. Introduction. The Complaint of Eddie Chumney.
Our good friend, Eddie Chumney, wrote an article in effect stating that the Jews do not accept non-Jews as fellow Israelites. This, says Eddie, is not right.
By non-Jews Eddie intended especially those who share similar beliefs to himself.
Jews do not believe in the Christian Messiah. I personally hope they never will. In the End Times when Judah and Ephraim become one as predicted in Ezekiel 37 we shall all know the truth one way or the other. Until then there is work to do.
The identity of the Lost Ten Tribes must be made known as much as it can be.
At present most of Judah and most of the Ten Tribes are not aware that the Ten Tribes are located amongst Western Peoples. If they ever hear of it, their instinctive reaction is to ignore it or relegate it to the sphere of unproven and unlikely notions advocated by the uninformed.
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2. Even Jews Born Jewish Cannot Be Accepted as non-Jewish in Religion.
Even someone who is Jewish but has become a Christian may have a problem being accepted by the Jews.
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The Case of Oswald Rufeisen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oswald_Rufeisen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Extracts:
Oswald Rufeisen (1922-1998), better known as Brother (or Father) Daniel, O.C.D., was a Polish-born Jewish Christian who survived the Nazi invasion of his homeland, in the course of which he converted to Christianity, becoming a Catholic and a friar of the Discalced Carmelite Order. He moved to Israel, where he sought citizenship under the Israeli Law of Return, but was refused by the Israeli government.
Rufeisen was born to a Jewish family in Zadziele[1] near Oswiecim, Poland. During his youth, he belonged to Akiva, a religious Zionist youth movement...
To escape Nazi persecution, Rufeisen was hidden in a convent of the Sisters of the Resurrection for over a year; during this time he decided to convert to Catholicism. He helped to save hundreds of Jews in the town of Mir, Belarus from deportation to concentration camps. In 1945, after the war, he returned to Poland, converted, and became a Discalced Carmelite friar, and eventually a Catholic priest.
In the 1950s, under pressure from a wave of antisemitism by the Polish government, Rufeisen applied for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return, which provides Jews with Israeli citizenship through a streamlined process (e.g. without the requirement of several years residency). He claimed that although he was not a religious observant Jew, his Jewish ancestry and cultural identity was a significant aspect of his overall personhood, and he was still considered Jewish according to some Jewish sects (Orthodox and Conservatives), but not others (the Reform movement).
The Israeli government denied Rufeisen's request, on the grounds that he had converted to Christianity. Rufeisen appealed the case to the Supreme Court of Israel, and in 1962 the Court upheld the government's decision: any Jew converting to another religion would lose their preferential access to Israeli citizenship. (Rufeisen v Minister of the Interior, (1962) 16 PD 2428)
Nevertheless, Rufeisen was able to immigrate to Israel, acquired Israeli citizenship through naturalization, and lived the rest of his life at the Stella Maris Carmelite Monastery in Haifa.
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Note: It is interesting that in some European dialects the name Rufeisen would have been understood to mean The Red One.
[Similarly the father of Yair Davidiy was born with the surname Russell-Davis. Russell means "Little Red One".]
In Hebrew The Red One is Edmoni, an appellation applied to both King David and to Esau-Edom the arch-enemy of Israel. On whose side was Rufeisen?]
Recently with the wave of immigrants to Israel from Russia and its former satellites about 300,000 non-Jews were accepted as citizens. Most of them had some kind of family connection to Jews but technically were not Jewish. Many of the non-Jews were Christians and still are. We think the acceptance of these people may have been a mistake but time will tell.
Despite the above in Jewish Religious Law someone whose forefathers changed their religion three or four generations back (and neither they nor their descendants came back to Judaism) has a problem concerning their status. Even religious Jews are often not aware of this.
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3. Conversion to Judaism is not Recommended
Brit-Am/Hebrew Nations spreads knowledge of Hebrew Ancestry. We do not encourage those so identified to become Jewish. Nor do we urge Jews to accept them as religious equals or potential citizens in the State of Israel. This is not our field. We do not want to be involved in these matters one way or the other. At all events, we do not advocate that non-Jews convert. Even if they want to convert experience shows that many of them are not really suited to do so. Those who are suited still usually go through a traumatic transition. We are not built for these matters. Nor do we believe that it is necessary.
Eddie quoted a Midrash saying that many Israelites did not put blood on the doorpost when coming out of Egypt. I am not familiar with this source and would need a reference in order to relate to it. Eddie said, being a physical descendent of Abraham, Isaac or Jacob was not THE qualification to be redeemed out of Egypt. This is another matter. Non-Israelites were always accepted but they had to conform to the religious requirements of the Law of Moses as clarified by Moses and the Sages appointed by him. In fact, it was a non-Israelite, Jethro, who advised Moses to appoint such Sages (Exodus 18:17-26).
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4. Ephraimite Claims to be treated as Equals.
We now understand Eddie to be saying something like:
Ephraimites as individuals may physically be descended from Israelites. Belief that the Ten Tribes are in the west is valid and of value. Even those of non-Israelites descent who share Ephraimite beliefs should also be regarded as Israelites since the rest of the Ephraimites accept them and this is part of Ephraimite belief.
Eddie implies that Judah should accept this.
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5. Eddie Disputes Rabbinical Authority
Eddie says,
"Rabbinic Judaism did NOT exist when the children of Israel were living in Egypt. "
We disagree. We have articles showing that the basis of the Oral Traditions was INBUILT into the Torah from the beginning.
See:
Judaism
http://www.britam.org/ContentsSubject.html#Judaism
Jews (Judah)
http://hebrewnations.com/articles/jew/
Eddie seems to be implying that the Jewish religious authorities have no right to decide who is Jewish and who is not.
Or rather he is saying that Ephraimites as Israelites should, before the Law in Israel, be treated as equal to the Jews and that the Rabbinical Authorities have no right to determine their status.
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6. Israelite Ancestry is Not Generally Accepted.
Eddie said:
# Ephraim wants to BELIEVE the claims that INDIVIDUAL Ephraimites are living among Western peoples and ACT upon it (do something PRACTICAL like following Torah and living with Judah in the land of Israel) BUT Judah wants you to BELIEVE the claim of historical physical migration and other things yet NOT act upon it. Believe and NOT doing (acting upon it) is AGAINST what the Torah teaches as Abraham believed AND acted upon what he believed.
# While there is AMPLE EVIDENCE (as we discussed when I interviewed you) that Ephraim IS living among Western people including the USA and ARE practicing Christianity then BECAUSE they believe that Yeshua is the Messiah then the ACCEPTANCE of brotherhood is REJECTED by Judah. So, THIS is the ISSUE and Judah DEMANDS that this be an issue. However, Biblical "Christianity" IS to follow the Torah as Yeshua taught His disciples and a believer in Him should do so (I John 2:6). In fact, Yeshua's "great commission" in Matthew 28:18-20 is to teach TORAH to the ENTIRE WORLD. In fact, teaching TORAH to the ENTIRE WORLD is something that Judah REJECTS doing (as they say Torah should just be taught to Jews) even though this WILL be fulfilled in the Messianic Era (Isaiah 2:3).
We believe the Lost Ten Tribes are amongst Western peoples. And so does Eddie. Most of Judah and most of Joseph however do not. We may well feel that there is ample evidence but others have not heard of it and if they have, then they disagree.
Yair Davidiy and Eddie Chumney and others are quite capable of taking the relevant verses and arguing that they show the Ten Tribes to be amongst Western Peoples.
See:
Biblical Proof. Proof from Scripture that the Ten Tribes are in the West.
http://hebrewnations.com/articles/biblicalproof/
Just because we may be able to effectively (at least in our own eyes) argue the case does not make it axiomatic. We may consider the case proven but unfortunately others do not. The others are the ones who determine matters.
Eddie seems to be arguing under the assumption that proofs of Israelites being in the west are known to all and at some level accepted: It is only due to perverse attitudes that despite these proofs no recognition is given to Ephraimite Claims.
Now we could argue (see below) that even if the proofs of the Ten Tribes being in the west were acknowledged it would NOT mean that the practical conclusions advocated by Eddie should be accepted.
This however is a HYPOTHETICAL SITUATION.
The relevant proofs are not known and not acknowledged and other factors mitigate against their acceptance. Judah, like Joseph, does not on the whole know who the Ten Tribes are.
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7. Some Reasons why the Israelite Ancestry of Western Peoples is Not Acknowledged.
Most People are not aware of the relevant Biblical Proofs and Secular Researches.
1. Some disagree with our interpretation and explanation of the Biblical Verses.
2. Certain passages in Rabbinical Sources are misunderstood and applied against us.
3. Our secular evidence relies on an understanding of history that is not in accord with conventional academia.
4. Aspects of recent history and current affairs that we feel help prove our case are understood by others as negative.
5. DNA studies, as presently understood, indicate that Western Peoples are related to other Europeans whereas Jews have a Middle East origin.
6. Other claims identify the Lost Ten Tribes with peoples in the east, etc. These are mistaken but they have received much publicity and they have their adherents.
7. The problem of religious differences between the LTTs and Judah creates suspicion on the part of the Jews that belief in the TTs being in the west hides an anti-Jewish agenda. There are indeed anti-Semites who combine belief in the Ten Tribes being in the west with Jew-Hatred. These people are well-funded and often fanatical.
We have answers to some degree to all of the above objections except for DNA.
Apart from the DNA issue all the other points can be answered. We have done this to a PARTIAL degree. We need help (especially in the financial sense) to carry this through more thoroughly. We could do this but have not yet done so. Many Ephraimites have abandoned us. It was once said to Yair:
"You have proven from the Sages that the Tribes are in the west and put it all in a book. Now you are no longer needed."
We did put part of it (not all since we do not know it all and every day find more) in not one but several books. What we did was only a fraction of what still needs to be done. -And of what we could do. We are trying to do more and to some degree succeeding. Time will tell.
Concerning DNA we believe that this too will not be an obstacle in the future but at present it is. There is no convincing answer at present to the DNA question even for those who want to believe. We understand that it will be shown that environmental influence is also a factor (alongside heredity) in determining DNA but we need more supportive proofs. At all events the truth concerning the Ten Tribes is not generally known and not widely recognized.
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8. The Inner Contradiction of Christian Love for Jews.
OK.
We have replied to Eddie Chumney.
We have in effect told him that regardless of proof concerning who the Ten Tribes are that this is not enough and that Judah should be left alone.
It may be that Eddie and others like him are pulled irresistibly towards Judah?
Ruth 1:
16 And Ruth said,
'Do not press me to leave you
or to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go;
where you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my people,
and your God my God.
17 Where you die, I will die'
there will I be buried.
May the LORD do thus and so to me,
and more as well,
if even death parts me from you!'
Eddie is a friend of Yair Davidiy. Eddie on his visits to Israel was a guest of Yair on several occasions. We have spent much time together.
Eddie likes Jews, reads Jewish books, hangs out with religious and non-religious Jews, etc.
A portion of the life of Eddie has involved Judah.
Eddie also believes in his version of Christianity.
Perhaps, there is a contradiction here, a source of inner conflict that Eddie would like to resolve?
A Jewish acceptance of Ephraimites as full-fledged brothers based on belief and possible ancestry is not the answer.
The barrier would still remain.
Christians who believe in their religion also often want to do for Jews what they consider to be a favor and bring them to believe as they themselves do.
If however a Jew becomes Christian he ceases to be Jewish even though according to Jewish law he will be punished by Heaven as a Jew.
In the end time Judah and Joseph shall re-unite as predicted in Ezekiel 37 BUT Ezekiel 37 also implies that the re-unification shall be in the End Times. Until then the division shall remain. Ezekiel 37 also indicates that the re-unification shall involve the two bodies as entire whole units and not just as individuals coming out of them.
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9. Conclusion. The Purpose of Researching where the Ten Tribes are.
After all the above, it may be ASKED of Brit-Am/Hebrew Nations, What is the point?
Why attach so much importance to the Ten Tribes being in the west?
Why study it?
Why promote knowledge of it?
Answer:
It is what the Bible requires.