Who WILL Populate the Land of Israel in the Future?

                                                                        (originally written in September 2017)

             In his commentary on the Parsha (weekly Torah portion), Rav Nachman Kahana recently came to some startling conclusions.  His article (for Parshat Ki Taizai) was entitled, "Gathering the Ten Lost Tribes from faraway lands."  The entire article is interesting and well worth your time to read it:   http://nachmankahana.com/ki-taitzai-5777/    As fascinating as the entire article is, it is the second half of it that really impresses me.  That's what we'll focus on in this Blog post.  

              In the section of his commentary, "Who will populate Eretz Yisrael in the future?" Rav Kahana's position on the Lost Tribes of Israel is nothing less than paradigm shattering...especially considering it coming from someone with his perspective within the Jewish community.

              A few things you need to understand about Rav Nachman Kahana.  He is an outstanding Rabbinic scholar who is thought of very highly here within Israel's Dati Leumi (National Religious) community.  A prolific author (in both Hebrew and English), he has written15 volumes of commentary on the Talmud.  A renowned educator, he is the Rav of the Chazon Yehezkel (Young Israel of the Old City) Bet Knesset (synagogue) located in the Muslim (occupied) Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City.

             As highly regarded as Rav Nachman is, there's also a strong personal connection for me here.  Rav Nachman's brother - Rav Meir Kahane (yes, spelled differently) was the most significant Jewish influence in my life.  Rav Meir founded the Jewish Defense League and other activist movements in the USA and led the fight to free Soviet Jewry and other oppressed Jews around the world.  Later, serving as a member of Israel's Knesset, Rav Meir was a dynamic voice for Torah Observance, Judea & Samaria and the reclamation of the Temple Mount.  He had the foresight to see the dangers of Israel's Arab population who were not loyal to the State of Israel.  His published work continues to inspire a new generation.

           

             Rav Meir was murdered by Al Qaida in NYC in 1990, in the first act of Islamic terrorism in the United States.  It was from him that I learned to focus on the Tanach (Hebrew Bible), particularly the Nevi'im (Prophets).  It was that intense grounding in the Tanach that actually prepared me to understand what I have been involved with since 1994:  the Prophetic fulfillment that has been occurring with Ephraim (Lost Tribes / "Lost Israel") being awakened across the world.  And it was from Rav Meir that I learned how to be an activist; how to be driven by a mission...a higher cause. I learned to be prepared and to be willing  - to do whatever it might take...There is so much more that I could say about hin - but that will have to wait for another Blog post.   

             Returning to Rav Nachman's article, he begins the section on the future population of Eretz Yisrael by wondering where all the millions of Jews will come from to settle the Golan, Galil, Negev, Yehuda (Judea) and Shomron (Samaria).  Now, it's important to point out - within the classic texts of Jewish scholarship, there is never a mention of the term, "Ephraimite."  That is the term many of us have been using over the last few decades to refer to those people around the world who are coming to the realization that they too are part of Israel.  So, when he uses the term, 'Jew' - you can be thinking, "part of Israel."

             He states unequivocally, that they will NOT be coming from the Jewish communities in the US, Europe or South America.  But he says, "The big numbers will come from the hundreds of millions of Jewish descendants of the Ten Tribes and Anusim (those Jews forced to convert to Catholicism in Spain and Portugal in the 14-15th centuries).  He then adds, "...who will awaken one day to their Jewish heritage."  Hasn't that been what's been occurring for the last thirty years, or so?  

             The thing that is HUGE about what he said is that for many in the Jewish ('Orthodox') community, the feeling is generally that the Tribes must have already returned.  You see, Jewish communities around the world sent emissaries looking for our lost brothers and sisters for centuries.  However, once it was determined that there were no longer parts of the world that remained unexplored - where could they be hiding?  So, it was assumed that somehow, when no one noticed, they kind of snuck back in among their Jewish brothers and sisters.  Considering the amount of prophecies that speak of an enormous multitude returning to the Land and people of Israel, I could never take that theory seriously.  How could such a momentous fulfillment of prophecy - the restoration of ALL of Israel have already occurred and no one even noticed?  

               But, Rav Kahana is the first prominent Rabbi to publicly come out and say that those returning from the Lost Tribes would come from those totally "distant" from their heritage: does that sound like someone YOU might know?  Does it not fit in perfectly with so many people who are not Jewish coming (or perhaps - returning) to the Torah? Rav Nachman even quotes the verse from Yechezkel (Ezekiel) 11:17: "This is what HaShem says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again."   Perhaps he is using words and phrases you might have chosen - but look at WHAT it is that he is saying...He even quotes from the Malbim (famed Biblical commentator of the 19th Century) who, in explaining the verse above from Yechezkel, wrote: "In the future, HaShem will gather the Ten Tribes from faraway lands, those that did not return at the time of the Second Temple, and I will give them the land of Israel."  

             It is actually at the very end of his commentary that Rav Nahman provides another way of looking at this situation of the regathering of 'Lost Israel.'  He wrote: "If your brother Jew is far from you (in the spiritual sense) to the extent that you can no longer recognize any Jewish features in his life.  Bring him into your home (Eretz Yisrael) until his heart is opened and he begins to seek out his Jewish roots.  Then be prepared to return him to those roots."    

            Until now, the conventional wisdom has been that the returning Tribes (their descendants, to be exact) would be Jewish people - and readily recognizable as such. You know, with the same beliefs as the rest of the Jewish people in the world.  But now we have a prominent Rabbinic personality saying, no, they will no longer be recognizable to us - just as the Prophet Hoshea (Hosea) said they wouldn't be (1:9)!  It's another illustration of the story of Yosef (Joseph) playing out, yet again.  The brothers don't recognize him - he doesn't act like they do, he doesn't sound like they do and he doesn't even look like they do - but they're still brothers!  

            The last sentence in his monumental article states: "This is what will be in the near future, when HaShem will awaken the millions of our brothers so distant from their roots, and return them miraculously to us in Eretz Yisrael."   So yes, the stage is being set and part of that is that is that there are so many more that need to be woken up; on both sides of the family.  For those being called out to be Ephraim and for my fellow Jews who have no idea that this has begun to happen.  And just like the story of Yosef - we have brothers and sisters that we don't (at this time) yet recognize....

            If you look at the people around you who have been brought to this understanding, you're only seeing the tip of the spear.  While the full return of ALL of Israel will happen via HaShem's miracles - there is still our part to play.  We really need to start thinking (and living) focused upon Mutual Respect, because ALL of our people are coming home.