Should "Ephraimites" Keep their own version of the Torah?
The article below is EXPANDED from an answer to a Quora Query under the same title.
Are Ultra-Orthodox Jews offended when Messianic Torah followers wear tzittzit with a blue cord in the threads?
Brit-Am Reply:
"Irritated" rather than "offended" may be a more appropriate description.
Tzitzit (some times translated as "tassels") are specially knotted ritual fringes attached to the four corners of specially designed garments.
Numbers 15:37-41, Sefaria Community Translation.
HASHEM SAID TO MOSES AS FOLLOWS: SPEAK TO THE SONS OF ISRAEL AND SAY TO THEM [THAT THEY MUST] MAKE FOR THEMSELVES TZITZIT UPON THE CORNERS OF THE CLOTHES FOR GENERATIONS, AND ON THE TZITZIT GIVE A STRING OF TECHELET (BLUE COLOR). AND THEY SHALL HAVE FOR THEMSELVES TZITZIT AND THEY WILL SEE THEM AND THEY WILL REMEMBER ALL OF THE COMMANDMENTS OF HASHEM AND THEY WILL DO THEM, AND THEY WILL NOT STRAY AFTER THEIR HEARTS AND EYES SO THAT THEY SHALL NOT PURSUE AFTER THEM. SO THAT THEY WILL REMEMBER AND ADHERE TO ALL OF MY COMMANDMENTS AND WILL REMAIN HOLY TO THEIR GOD. I AM HASHEM YOUR GOD WHO TOOK YOU OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT TO BE FOR YOU A GOD. I AM HASHEM YOUR GOD.
cf.
Numbers (NLT) 15:
37 THEN THE LORD SAID TO MOSES, 38 GIVE THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS TO THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL: THROUGHOUT THE GENERATIONS TO COME YOU MUST MAKE TASSELS FOR THE HEMS OF YOUR CLOTHING AND ATTACH THEM WITH A BLUE CORD. 39 WHEN YOU SEE THE TASSELS, YOU WILL REMEMBER AND OBEY ALL THE COMMANDS OF THE LORD INSTEAD OF FOLLOWING YOUR OWN DESIRES AND DEFILING YOURSELVES, AS YOU ARE PRONE TO DO. 40 THE TASSELS WILL HELP YOU REMEMBER THAT YOU MUST OBEY ALL MY COMMANDS AND BE HOLY TO YOUR GOD. 41 I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD WHO BROUGHT YOU OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT THAT I MIGHT BE YOUR GOD. I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD!
Deuteronomy 22:12, Sefaria Community Translation.
YOU SHALL MAKE TASSELS ON THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE GARMENT WITH WHICH YOU COVER YOURSELF.
The Sages decided when and where, of what and how, the fringes should made and worn. They did this according to the authority invested in them.
Deuteronomy (NLT) 17:
8 SUPPOSE A CASE ARISES IN A LOCAL COURT THAT IS TOO HARD FOR YOU TO DECIDE FOR INSTANCE, WHETHER SOMEONE IS GUILTY OF MURDER OR ONLY OF MANSLAUGHTER, OR A DIFFICULT LAWSUIT, OR A CASE INVOLVING DIFFERENT KINDS OF ASSAULT. TAKE SUCH LEGAL CASES TO THE PLACE THE LORD YOUR GOD WILL CHOOSE, 9 AND PRESENT THEM TO THE LEVITICAL PRIESTS OR THE JUDGE ON DUTY AT THAT TIME. THEY WILL HEAR THE CASE AND DECLARE THE VERDICT. 10 YOU MUST CARRY OUT THE VERDICT THEY ANNOUNCE AND THE SENTENCE THEY PRESCRIBE AT THE PLACE THE LORD CHOOSES. YOU MUST DO EXACTLY WHAT THEY SAY. 11 AFTER THEY HAVE INTERPRETED THE LAW AND DECLARED THEIR VERDICT, THE SENTENCE THEY IMPOSE MUST BE FULLY EXECUTED; DO NOT MODIFY IT IN ANY WAY. 12 ANYONE ARROGANT ENOUGH TO REJECT THE VERDICT OF THE JUDGE OR OF THE PRIEST WHO REPRESENTS THE LORD YOUR GOD MUST DIE. IN THIS WAY YOU WILL PURGE THE EVIL FROM ISRAEL. 13 THEN EVERYONE ELSE WILL HEAR ABOUT IT AND BE AFRAID TO ACT SO ARROGANTLY.
The "blue thread" had to be made out of a special dye extracted from a sea slug. The method of producing this coloring and its exact provenance was lost. It was therefore left in abeyance and only white threads employed. Recently claims to have rediscovered the blue thread have resulted in some Jews wearing their own version.
Some Rabbinical authorities may be reserved about this but most accept it for those who want it.
Some "Messianic Torah followers" and their ilk also wear their own version of "Tsitsitt." Usually these are rough imitations of the Rabbinical Jewish Prototype.
Why do they do this?
A few may be simply attracted by the idea, see others doing it, and copy them.
Others have ideological motivations.
In principle the Ancient Hebrews received the Torah at Mount Sinai. The Torah was given to Israelites not to Gentiles.
A Gentile could become an Israelite by going through a set process and thereby being also obligated to keep the Law.
Then came Christianity. They said their Messiah was God Himself and therefore enabled them to replace Torah Authority. They could either do away with the Law or modify it as they wished.
By wearing their own brand of tsitits they may be suspected of wishing to replacing Rabbinical rulings with their own interpretations.
This brings us to those who believe they descend from the Lost Ten Tribes.
Instead of saying that they have come to replace the Jews (as some other Christians claim) they say they are of Hebrew Origin and therefore have a place alongside of Judah. This is correct according to Scripture but needs to be considered with reservations.
There are those among the "Identity groups who take the Christian Replacement Doctrine and refine it. They may also be anti-Jewish but most are not.
On the other hand,
Brit-Am/Hebrew Awareness is a Jewish and non-Jewish movement that also believes the Lost Ten Tribes are to be found among Western Peoples. Brit-Am has much to say on this matter.
The exiled Israelites from the Lost Ten Tribes were to become one of the most numerous groups of people on earth (Genesis 15:5, 22:17, 24:60, 32:12, Numbers 23:10, Deuteronomy 1:11, Isaiah 10:22, 24:16, 26:15, Hosea 1:10); to be the most powerful (Genesis 27:9, Numbers 24:7, Michah 5:7-9), to be the richest, to possess the most mineral and agricultural resources (Genesis 27:28, 49:25, Deuteronomy 33:13-16, Hosea 2:8), to live in the best places (Isaiah 41:8-9), to be in islands (Isaiah 42:4, 49:1-6 Jeremiah 31:9-10), peninsulas (Jeremiah 31:8), and at continental extremities (Deuteronomy 33:13, Isaiah 24:16, 26:15, 41:8-9, 49:6), to be sea-farers (Isaiah 42:6), to gain control over strategic points regarding their potential adversaries (Genesis 22:16-17, 24:60), to be like a lion, and unicorn (Numbers 24:8-9), and bald-headed eagle (Micah 1:16). They were also to be largely unaware of their Israelite identity and to practice a non--Jewish religion (Hosea 2:8, 2:13, 2:16 11:12). Judah in the End Times would not know who they were (Isaiah 49:21). Scripture gives numerous other identifying characteristics that taken as a whole can only fit THE one group of people that were to be found in Western Europe especially in Britain and its offshoots in North America, etc.
In the future the Lost Ten Tribes will renew the Covenant and indeed accept the Torah. According to the sources they will do this under the leadership of the Messiah son of Joseph or of the Messiah son of David who will come after him.
Ezekiel (NASB) 37:
24 MY SERVANT DAVID WILL BE KING OVER THEM, AND THEY WILL ALL HAVE ONE SHEPHERD; AND THEY WILL WALK IN MY ORDINANCES AND KEEP MY STATUTES AND OBSERVE THEM. 25 THEY WILL LIVE ON THE LAND THAT I GAVE TO JACOB MY SERVANT, IN WHICH YOUR FATHERS LIVED; AND THEY WILL LIVE ON IT, THEY, AND THEIR SONS AND THEIR SONS' SONS, FOREVER; AND DAVID MY SERVANT WILL BE THEIR PRINCE FOREVER. 26 I WILL MAKE A COVENANT OF PEACE WITH THEM; IT WILL BE AN EVERLASTING COVENANT WITH THEM. AND I WILL PLACE THEM AND MULTIPLY THEM, AND WILL SET MY SANCTUARY IN THEIR MIDST FOREVER. 27 MY DWELLING PLACE ALSO WILL BE WITH THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY WILL BE MY PEOPLE. 28 AND THE NATIONS WILL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD WHO SANCTIFIES ISRAEL, WHEN MY SANCTUARY IS IN THEIR MIDST FOREVER.
Meanwhile they are not obliged to keep the Torah at least not in the sense that Orthodox Jews do.
Even though they are not at present obliged by the Torah they should not re-interpret it in ways contrary to that of mainstream Judaism.
Attempts to do so are counter-productive and against the Torah.
It is also worth noting that this has happened before!
The Tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh received their inheritances east of the Jordan in the lands stretching from the Jordan to the Euphrates River (1-Chronicles 5:9).
They had agreed to leave their families east of the Jordan in the land they had received there. At the end of 7 years of assisting the other Tribes to conquer their inheritance west of the Jordan they were sent back to their own inheritance.
Joshua (NLT) 22:
9 SO THE MEN OF REUBEN, GAD, AND THE HALF-TRIBE OF MANASSEH LEFT THE REST OF ISRAEL AT SHILOH IN THE LAND OF CANAAN. THEY STARTED THE JOURNEY BACK TO THEIR OWN LAND OF GILEAD, THE TERRITORY THAT BELONGED TO THEM ACCORDING TO THE LORD'S COMMAND THROUGH MOSES.
10 BUT WHILE THEY WERE STILL IN CANAAN, AND WHEN THEY CAME TO A PLACE CALLED GELILOTH[A] NEAR THE JORDAN RIVER, THE MEN OF REUBEN, GAD, AND THE HALF-TRIBE OF MANASSEH STOPPED TO BUILD A LARGE AND IMPOSING ALTAR.
The rest of Israel when they heard that Reuben, Gad, and half-Manasseh had built their own altar prepared to go to war against them. They suspect of them of wishing to create their own religion distinct from t hat of the rest of Israel (Joshua 22:11-20).
21 THEN THE PEOPLE OF REUBEN, GAD, AND THE HALF-TRIBE OF MANASSEH ANSWERED THE HEADS OF THE CLANS OF ISRAEL: 22 "THE LORD, THE MIGHTY ONE, IS GOD! THE LORD, THE MIGHTY ONE, IS GOD! HE KNOWS THE TRUTH, AND MAY ISRAEL KNOW IT, TOO! WE HAVE NOT BUILT THE ALTAR IN TREACHEROUS REBELLION AGAINST THE LORD. IF WE HAVE DONE SO, DO NOT SPARE OUR LIVES THIS DAY. 23 IF WE HAVE BUILT AN ALTAR FOR OURSELVES TO TURN AWAY FROM THE LORD OR TO OFFER BURNT OFFERINGS OR GRAIN OFFERINGS OR PEACE OFFERINGS, MAY THE LORD HIMSELF PUNISH US.
...
33 AND ALL THE ISRAELITES WERE SATISFIED AND PRAISED GOD AND SPOKE NO MORE OF WAR AGAINST REUBEN AND GAD.
34 THE PEOPLE OF REUBEN AND GAD NAMED THE ALTAR "WITNESS,"[C] FOR THEY SAID, "IT IS A WITNESS BETWEEN US AND THEM THAT THE LORD IS OUR GOD, TOO."