The Question of Immigration to Israel for Ephraimites?
Sandy wrote:
Why does Brit Am consider the question about Israel's immigration laws concerning the 12 tribes Impertinent?
Brit-Am/Hebrew Nations Reply:
Shalom,
You are referring to our reply to your previous letter,
 Brit-Am Now no.1908: Ten Tribes Studies. Covenant People
#3. Reply to Query About Coming to Israel.
We were irritated by the fact that our message concerning the Lost Ten Tribes being amongst Western Peoples is sometimes greeted with implied demands on us or on the Jewish People in Israel.
We come with an important message that we feel should be treated seriously.
We go to great trouble and expense to spread our message. We feel they who agree with us should realize that we need sympathy and help in doing what we do.
Sometimes we do receive help. At other times we get messages such as your own that in some cases turn out to be a thin veneer for the expression of anti-Jewish sentiment.
Alternately they are genuine queries (as yours no doubt was) that seem to have misread the message altogether.
This happens all the time so on occasion we may sound irritated.
In the previous answer we referred to the article,
The Two House Doctrine and Ephraimites
This article explains our position quite clearly. The article compares the State of Israel to a house whose lawful owners were illegally ejected and it was taken over by squatters (i.e. Arabs).
After a while the owners managed to get part of the house back. Then along came outsiders (some of whom had once been hostile) who claimed to be part of the family and wanted a share in what the owners had regained. The owners would naturally need some evidence of kinship before any other considerations arise.
We receive queries about coming to Israeli quite often.
On average I would say we answer such queries or ones along the same lines about once every three weeks.
After about 13 years on the net and ca. 11 years with the www.britam.org site that makes for a lot of answers
most of which are still available in the on-line archives of that site.
Something appears to be wrong with how we are getting this message across.
The word
im-per-ti-nent
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/impertinent
is explained to mean,
1. intrusive or presumptuous...
2. ...irrelevant...
3. ...inappropriate..
4. ...trivia...
impertinent (adj.)
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=impertinent
late 14c., "unconnected, unrelated, not to the point," from O.Fr. impertinent (14c.) ...
When we called the initial query impertinent we meant that it was inappropriate and presumptuous.
Such an epithet may not have been appropriate to you personally but it would be to those of our readers who still ask such questions even though we have answered them repeatedly hundreds of times.
If I offended you. I apologize. I work at this full time, often under different pressures, and may myself on occasion react inappropriately.
Anyway, let us take this occasion to explore the subject a little more.
The Promised Land of Israel stretches from the Nile to the Euphrates. It includes Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Sinai, and areas of Turkey, Iraq, Egypt, Saudia, and Kuwait.
Members of the Ten Tribes are welcome to settle in or conquer any of those areas. None of them however seem to even be thinking in that direction. The Present State of Israel is a small portion of the Promised Land. It pertains to Judah. Judah according to Prophecy is preparing the way for the rest of Israel (Hosea 6:11, Isaiah 56:8 ).
The question is NOT whether the Jews should recognize the other Ten Tribes.
The question is whether the Ten Tribes should recognize themselves.
First we need to get this matter sorted out.
Brit-Am says the Lost Ten Tribes are amongst Western Peoples. We do not say that everyone from these areas is descended from Israel. A portion are according to Brit-Am BUT not according to others.
The claims of Brit-Am need to receive more publicity. They also need to be expanded on and refined even more. For this reason, Brit-Am needs to be supported.
One cannot fail to help Brit-Am yet still expect to see results.
Whom do you suggest the Immigration Laws of Israel recognize?
Should Everyone who declares themselves to be an Israelite be accepted as such?
Based on what?
Do not misunderstand us. There is proof. See the Biblical and secular evidence on the Brit-Am web-sites.
This proof however is not generally known and is not sufficiently referred to even by those who believe themselves to be Israelites.
It also applies only to an uncertain proportion amongst specific populations. Individuals cannot rely on it. It may be enough, combined with other things, for someone to become convinced that they indeed may well be of Hebrew descent. This is not enough however for others to think the same.
Follow the analogy in:
The Two House Doctrine and Ephraimites
Say you inherited a plot of land which was in fact a small portion of what you should have received. You had to fight and suffer to take possession of this inheritance. In fact you virtually had to buy it back from squatters and others for a higher price than it would normally have fetched on the market. Once you had managed to get a tenuous hold on this plot of land and had built it up (all the while fighting off squatters and enemies and paying through the nose for the right to breathe) along comes someone who claims to be a long lost half-brother. He wants a share too. OK, there may be something to talk about and there may not? Perhaps he should try his luck first with the rest of the property?
Before any talk is going to be done though, you should rightfully expect some evidence that this brother is who he says he is. You might not be too stringent but you would want to see something, would you not?
That is our answer concerning the basic principles. Again we apologize for our use of language which may indeed have sounded what we accused you of being.
Nevertheless there is something to it.
Consider the following:
The Christian Message said that believers in the Christian Messiah are grafted into the spiritual body of Israel. They were to take their place alongside the Israelites meaning in Christian parlance the Jews. Later explanations of this doctrine went further and said that the Christians had replaced the Jews as the Chosen People. This was known as Replacement Theology. These were the Old Christians. Nowadays, we have New Christians. They say the old guys were all virtually pagans and did not understand the message. The new guys, according to themselves, have the truth. The Jews should see this. Some of the New Cs have a variety of the Two House Doctrine. They say there are Jews and there are Israelites meaning in effect their own type of Christians. These are the Two Houses. I saw an American Christian in Jerusalem walking around with a big picture of the Crucifixion on his T-Shirt saying J.. made me Kosher. This smacks of anti-Jewish sentiment, as if the Jews are denying the rights of what, if they were Jewish, would be idol-worshippers.
See:
WHY CHRISTIANS SHOULD NOT MISSIONIZE JEWS
Christian Conversionist Intentions and Brit-Am.
Some advocates of the Ten House Doctrine have also adopted their own versions of Lost Ten Tribes belief.
In practice however for them being descended from Ephraim i.e. from the Ten Tribes, means being another kind of Jew only with less commandments and different beliefs.
When Brit-Am says that the Lost Ten Tribes are today to be found concentrated amongst Western Peoples we do not mean that they are Jews.
We mean that a portion (not all) of them are descended from the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel. They are separate from Judah (Isaiah 11:12-13 49:21), and not known to
Judah (Isaiah 49:13-14, 21. Hosea 1:7).
In the End Times they will return as a group and be reunited with Judah in one kingdom. The two halves shall not longer be separate nations (Ezekiel 37:22). Nevertheless each tribe shall dwell in its separate territory (Ezekiel ch.47).
This will all happen in the Messianic Era. In the meanwhile both Judah and Joseph have their own SEPARATE TASKS TO FULFILL.
See:
The Blessings and Tasks of Joseph
One cannot expect to take the Brit-Am Message and use it as an excuse to go traipsing off to the Airport looking forward to the Israeli immigration authorities greeting one with open arms.
It does not work like that, anywhere else.
The Jews should know who the Lost Ten Tribes are. The Ten Tribes should know who they themselves are.
The Sages (Talmud, see Rashi on Beracot 46) said that somehow who wishes to pray to the Almighty for help should first praise God and then make the request.
They said it is analogous to a human king. If one would demand to see the King and then when the king appeared started shouting at him what one wanted it might not go over well.
The King would want to know who you are and also in reaction to your importunity might react by checking your inadequacies in other areas.
First introduce yourself. Let the other side take you in. Then proceed from there.
Brit-Am is trying to make the knowledge available. We are preparing the way for a formal introduction.
They who sincerely believe they are descended from Israel should support Brit-Am.
See Also:
 Seven Reasons
Why Descendants of the Ten Tribes are not Accepted into Israel at Present.
For more artilces of this nature see Ephraimites