This page is from Chapter 1
Israelites Came To Ancient Japan
Chapter 2
The Ten Lost Tribes of Israel
In Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, Myanmar, and China
What Are Israelites?
Around the time of 1900 B.C.E., there was a man named Jacob who was the
ancestor of the people of Israel. Later Jacob's name was changed to Israel.
Israel had 12 sons, who were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zevulun, Issachar,
Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph, and Benjamin. The descendants of these sons
formed 12 tribes of Israel. These 12 tribes are called "Israelites".
When
they had territories in Canaan (Israel, Holy Land), the tribe of Levi did not
have a territory for they were the tribe of priests. Instead, the tribe of
Joseph was divided into the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh and have their own
territories. Thus the land of Canaan was divided into 12 territories.
Later,
the 12 tribes of Israel experienced the height of prosperity in the time of King
Solomon in the 10th century B.C.E.. But after Solomon died, the united kingdom
of Israel was divided into two countries: One is the Northern Kingdom of Israel
and the other the Southern Kingdom of Judah. The Northern Kingdom is also called
Samaria, the Southern Kingdom is also called Judea.
The word "Jews" is used
basically for the people and descendants of Judea, the Southern Kingdom, but
sometimes used for the same meaning as Israelites.
The Ten tribes of Israel
belonged to Samaria, the Northern Kingdom of Israel. They were Reuben, Gad,
Ephraim, Issachar, Zevulun, Naphtali, Asher, Dan, Manasseh and (a part of)
Benjamin. While the other tribes belonged to the Southern Kingdom of Judah.
In the 8th century B.C.E., the Northern Kingdom of Israel was conquered by
the army of Assyrian empire, and the Ten Tribes of Israel was led captive and
compelled to march to the land of Assyria. They did not come back to the land of
Israel. They are so called "the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel."
Josephus Wrote About the Lost Tribes of Israel
Where was the exact place of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel to be carried
captive in Assyrian Empire? The Bible records:
"the king of Assyria carried
Israel away captive to Assyria, and put them in Halah and by the Habor, the
River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes." (2 Kings 18:11)
These places
are located in today's northern Iraq or Northwest Iran called Kurdistan. The Ten
Tribes of Israel were firstly compelled to emigrate there, and this is also a
starting point of our research.
There is a Jew named Josephus Flavius, a very
reliable historian who lived in the first century C.E.. In his book of history,
there is a description about whereabouts of the Ten Tribes:
"...the Ten
Tribes who are beyond the Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude,
whose numbers cannot be estimated." (Antiquities 11:2)
Josephus wrote that in
the first century C.E., the Ten Tribes of Israel lived as an immense multitude
beyond Euphrates River. This may mean that some of of them lived in the close
area east of Euphrates River and others moved to a place far beyond east of the
Euphrates.
The Lost Tribes of Israel in Afghanistan
The Bible mentions the cities of Medes, today's Iraq and Iran, as the
locations of the Assyrian exile of the Ten Tribes of Israel. It is an accepted
tradition that the people of this area are from the Assyrian exile.
It seems
that later, many of the Ten Tribes of Israel moved to the east along the Silk
Road. We find the descendants of them in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, Myanmar
(Burma), China and other countries, which are along the Silk Road. I will have a
brief explanation about them in this chapter. The information is mostly from the
books which were written by Rabbi Marvin Tokayer and published in Japan, and
"Beyond the Sambatyon, The Myth of The Lost Tribes" written by Simcha
Shtull.
East of Iran is Afghanistan. There are so many tribes in Afghanistan
with names that have Yusuf in the name as Yusufzai, Yusufuzi, Yusufzad, etc..
Yusuf means Joseph and Yusufzai means children of Joseph.
They claim their
origin to be from the Lost Tribes of Israel, that is, from the tribes of Joseph,
which are the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh and are a part of the Ten Lost
Tribes of Israel. They also call themselves Bani-Israel meaning children of
Israel. Their tradition is that they were carried away from their ancient
homeland.
Formerly they were shepherds in search of pasture but they gave up
their nomadic life and settled into village communities. The people of Yusufzai
live separated from the rest of the world by mountains and difficult rivers and
it is hard to find them. They marry among themselves.
Today they are devout
Muslims but have Hebrew names, wear the fringes which only Jews and Japanese
Shinto priests wear, light candles for the Sabbath on Friday night which only
Jews do (The Sabbath is from the sunset of Friday until the night of Saturday).
They also have the custom called peyot (side-curls) which is to have curled hair
of about 10 centimeters long in front of both ears. This is a custom which only
Jews have and which may very well be of the Lost Tribes of Israel.
Pathans As the Descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel
In Afghanistan and Pakistan, there also live people called Pathans numbering
about 15 million. They live mainly in Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as in
Persia and India. Most of them are Muslims but they have a tradition of being of
the Lost Tribes and have Israeli customs.
According to a book written by
Rabbi Marvin Tokayer, the Pathans have custom of circumcision on the 8th day.
This is a known Jewish custom, and is the oldest Jewish tradition. Rabbi Tokayer
once told me that he had witnessed and been present at a very joyous
circumcision ceremony on the 8th day after birth among the Pathans. Muslims have
custom of circumcision but it is not on the 8th day, usually at the age of
12.
The Pathans have a sort of small Tallit called Kafan. This is a 4
cornered garment which they tie strings similar to the fringes (Jews call them
Tzitzit) and is one of the oldest Jewish traditions going back to the Torah and
it is a sign of their Israeli origin.
The Pathans have custom of the
Sabbath, Israeli tradition of the day of rest. On the Sabbath they do not labor,
cook or bake. The Pathans prepare 12 Hallot (traditional Jewish bread, Leviticus
24:5) in honor of the Sabbath as was done in the ancient Israeli temple. One of
the significant indicators proving the Israeli origins of the Pathans is the
lighting of the candle to honor the Sabbath. After lighting, the candle is
covered usually by a large basket. The candle is lit by a woman past her
menopause. This is the same as Israeli custom.
Pathans have custom of Kosher,
diatary laws same as Jews. Pathans do not eat horse or camel meat, which is most
common in their area but forbidden to Jews. There is some evidence to their not
eating meat and milk together which is also an ancient Israeli tradition. And
they have a tradition regarding differentiating between pure and impure birds
which means permitted and not permitted birds similar to the Torah.
Some
still wear a small box which Jews call Tefillin (phylactery) containing a verse
of the Bible. This box resemble Japanese Tokin of Yamabushi's forehead, too,
which I will mention later. This is an ancient custom of Israel. In the Jewish
box there is the verse of Shema Israel, that is, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our
God, the Lord is one!" (Deuteronomy 6:4) This custom of Tefillin came from a
verse of the Scriptures, "You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they
shall be as frontlets between your eyes" (Deuteronomy 6:8).
It is interesting
to note that the Pathans retain family names of the Lost Tribes such as Asher,
Gad, Naphtali, Reuben and Manasseh and Ephraim. Among them there are people who
are called by these names, which are of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. There are
also people who are called Israel, Samuel, and so on, which are never found
among the Muslims.
The Pathans were mostly called "Bani-Israel" meaning
children of Israel even though they live today as devout Muslims.
The legal
system which is known as Pashtunwali, the law of the Pashtu, is very similar to
the Torah, which is the holiest Jewish book and the book of ancient Jewish way
of life. There are pages and even complete books among the pathans and they
honor greatly what is called Tavrad El Sharif (the Torah of Moses), and they
rise at the mention of the name of Moses even though it is not important in
Islam.
Besides the oral tradition related by the elders of the tribe, there
are also interesting testimonies of keeping of scrolls of genealogy among the
tribes, reaching back to the Fathers of the Jewish nation. These scrolls are
well preserved and some are written in gold on the skins of a doe.
No less
interesting and significant are the names of the tribes which bear close
resemblance to the Tribes of Israel. The Rabbani Tribe is really Reuben, the
Shinware Tribe is Simeon, the Lewani Tribe is Levi, The Daftani Tribe is
Naphtali, and the Jaji Tribe is Gad, and the Ashuri Tribe is Asher, The Yusefsai
Tribe is children of Joseph, and the Afridi Tribe is really Ephraim. These are
the names of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.
The Pathans themselves point out
the differences between the original names of the tribes and their present names
are because of the different dialects of the languages so that, for instance,
Jaji was actually called Gaji for the tribe of Gad.
Women of the Pathans keep
laws similar to the Jewish laws regarding menstruation. During this time and for
7 days after, no contact is allowed with the husband. After this period, the
woman immerses in a river or spring or in a bathhouse if a natural spring is not
available. This is exactly the same as the Israeli tradition going back to the
days of the Bible.
The Lost Tribes of Israel Who Came to Kashmir
Leaving Afghanistan and Pakistan where the Pathans live, when one goes east,
it is the State of Kashmir in northern part of India which is west of Nepal.
There are 5 to 7 million people there. Generally speaking, they have clearer
complexions and are different from the other citizens of India. An Interesting
tradition is passed down among the Kashmiri people regarding their ancestry from
the Lost Tribes of Israel.
The people in Kashmir perform a feast called Pasca
in Spring, when they adjust the difference of days between the lunar calendar
and solar calendar and the way of this adjustment is the same as Jewish. Several
books are published on this. The Udu language which is used in Kashmir includes
many words of Hebrew.
In Kashmir, various places are called with Israeli
names, like Har Nevo, Beit Peor, Pisga, Heshubon. These are all the names in the
land of the Ten Tribes of Israel.
The same thing is true in the names of
people, male names, female names, and names of village. For example, one of the
tribes of Kashmir is called Asheriya which is Asher, the tribe of Dand is Dan,
Gadha is Gad, Lavi is Levi. The Tribe of Shaul is the Hebrew name of King Saul.
Musa is Moses, Suliamanish is Solomon. And you also have the tribe of Israel,
the tribe of Abri which is the tribe of Hebrew, and the tribe of Kahana which is
the word for Jewish priest.
There are also 50-75 names of places in Kashmir
which are in fact the Hebrew names that ancient Israelites were very familiar
with. There is a place called Samaryah which is Samaria. Mamre is Mamre, Pishgah
is Pisgah, Nabudaal is Mt. Nevo, Bushan is Bashan, Gilgit is Gilgal, Heshba is
Heshbon, Amunah is Amon, Gochan is Goshen, Median-pura is Midian, and Guzana is
Gozan which is a place name in Assyria and the very place where the Ten Tribes
of Israel were deported.
The name Israel is very common among them as it is
among the Pathans, and this name is never used among the Muslims.
The
history of the Kashmiris is shrouded in mystery as is the history of other
people in that region. Most Kashmir researchers are of the opinion that many
inhabitants of Kashmir are descendants of the Lost Tribes who were exiled in 722
B.C.E.. They wandered along the Silk Road into the countries of the East, Persia
and Afghanistan until they reached the Kashmir valley and settled there.
The
priest Kitro in his book, the General History of the Mughal Empire, said that
the Kashmir people are the descendants of the Israelites. The priest Monstrat
said that in the time of Vasco da Gama in the 15th century, "all the inhabitants
of this area who have been living here since ancient times can trace their
ancestry, according to their race and customs, to the ancient Israelites. their
features, their general physical appearance, their clothing, their ways of
conducting business, all show that they are similar to the ancient
Israelites."
Among Kashmiri people there are customs to light a candle for
the Sabbath, have sidelocks, beards, and emblem or design of the Shield of David
(Star of David) just like Jews do.
In an area which is on the border of
Pakistan, called Yusmarg (Handwara), there lives a group which to this very day
calls itself B'nei Israel meaning children of Israel. Many of the inhabitants of
Kashmir say that this is the ancient name of all the people of Kashmir. The two
primary historians of Kashmir, Mulla Nadiri, who wrote The History of Kashmir
and Mulla Ahmad who wrote Events of Kashmir have established without a trace of
doubt that the origins of the Kashmiri people are to be found in the people of
Israel.
In Kashmir there is a strange legend which says that Jesus did not
die on the cross but in his search for the Ten Tribes reached the Kashmir valley
and lived there until his death. They even point to his grave in
Kashmir.
This is very much like a legend which exists in Japan (Herai
village, present Shingou village in Aomori prefecture), where they also have the
legend that Jesus came to Japan and died there. They even point to his grave. It
seems that sometimes the legend of coming of Jesus and his tomb is born where
the Ten Tribes are said to come.
In Kashmir, there is another strange
tradition of a small community next to the Wallar Link who point out the grave
of Moses. There is yet another tradition in connection with King Solomon
according to which even King Solomon reached the Kashmir Valley and through his
wisdom aided the people of Kashmir by successfully regulating the Jalum river.
This tradition is also connected to a place called Solomon's throne which is
situated above the capital of Kashmir, Srinagar. Isn't it strange and
fascinating that there are historical and even folkloristic tales of ancient
Israeli heroes in these strange and exotic places?
These also strangely
resemble the legends of Japan. There is so called the grave of Moses on Mt.
Houdatsu in Ishikawa prefecture, Japan, and also a legend says that many secret
treasures of Solomon are kept in Mt. Tsurugi in Shikoku, Japan. What is this
phenomenon?
The Lost Tribes of Israel Who Came to India and Myanmar,
In the mountainous region which lies on both sides of the border between
India and Myanmar (former Burma), lives the Menashe (Shinlung) tribe which numbers
between 1-2 million people. They intermarried with the Chinese and look
Chinese-Burmas, but the entire tribe is conscious of their Israeli
ancestry.
Recently, Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail, who is the president of Amishav,
an organization in Jerusalem for the search of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel,
went to Myanmar and investigated the Menashe tribe.
Menashe people with Rabbi Avichail (right)
The word Menashe appears often in their poetry and prayer. It is the name of
their ancestor and they call themselves children of Menashe (Beni Menashe). When
they pray, they say, "Oh, God of Menashe," which is from the name Manasseh, a
tribe of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.
According to the history which
Menashe people say, they were exiled to Assyria in 722 B.C.E. with other Tribes
of Israel. Assyria was later conquered by Babylon (607 B.C.E.), which was later
conquered by Persia (457 B.C.E.), which was later conquered by Greece of
Alexander the Great (331 B.C.E.), when the people of Menashe were deported from
Persia to Afghanistan and other places.
There Menashe tribe became shepherds
and Idol worshipers. They were later conquered by Islam and forced to convert to
Islam. Because of their speaking Hebrew they were called the Semitic speakers.
Throughout this entire period they possessed a Hebrew Torah scroll which they
guarded with their elders and their priest.
Among them there were those who
left Afghanistan and migrated eastward until they reached the area of the
Tibetan-Chinese border. From there they continued into China following the Wei
River until they reach the central China, near Kaifeng. They settled there at
about 231 B.C.E..
But the Chinese were cruel to them and made them as slaves.
Some of them escaped and lived in caves in the mountainous areas called
Shinlung, which became another name for the tribe of Menashe. They are also
called the cave people or the mountain people.
Menashe people lived in caves
in poverty for about two generations but they still kept the Torah scroll with
them. But they started to assimilate and have Chinese influences. Later they
were banished from their cave area and went west through Thailand and eventually
reached the area in Myanmar.
There they wandered along the river until they
reached Mandaley. From there they reached the Chin Mountains. In the 18th
century a part of them migrated to Manipur and Mizoram which are in northeastern
India. Generally, they maintained the tradition about their wandering and they
realized that they were not Chinese even though they spoke the local
language.
They call them themselves Lusi which means the Ten Tribe ("Lu"
means tribes, and "si" means ten).
According to the history which Menashe
people state, when they were banished from their cave area they lost their Torah
scroll when or perhaps it was stolen or burnt by the Chinese. But the priests of
the tribe of Menashe continued to hand down their tradition orally including
their ritual observances until the 19th century.
They had kept the custom of
circumcision, which when it became difficult was no longer practiced but they
blessed the child in a special ceremony on the 8th day. They also had holy days
which were very similar to the Jewish days.
The following poem accompanied
them throughout their migrations. It is a traditional song about the crossing of
the Red Sea which was written by their ancestors. This is the English
translation:
We must keep the Passover feast
Because we crossed the Red Sea by dry
land
At night we crossed with a fire
And By day with a cloud
Enemies
pursued us with chariots
And the sea swallowed them up
And used them as
food for the fish
And when we were thirsty
We received water from the rock
This content is similar to the experience of Israelites written in Exodus.
The people of Menashe call their God Y'wa, which is the same as Biblical God's
name Yah, or Yahweh.
In every village they had a priest whose name was always
Aaron, the brother of Moses and the first Jewish priest. One of his duties was
to watch over the village.
The priest wore a tunic and a breastplate and an
embroidered coat fastened with a belt and a crown on his head. And they always
sang about Menashe at the beginning of each gathering.
Rabbi Tokayer says
that he met this group in the jungles of Burma in 1963 or 1964 and he can
describe their offerings and sacrifices as exactly the same as was offered in
the Bible.
Recently a return to Judaism began. Several thousand people of
Menashe decided to observe the laws of the Torah and returned to Judaism. They
have synagogues in Manipur, Assam, and Mizoram. There are also those who
emigrated to Israel. Thousands long for returning to Israel.
The Lost Tribes of Israel Who Came to China
In the mountainous area of northwest China, west of the Min River, near the
border of Tibet, in Szechuan lives an ancient people called by the Chinese,
Chiang or Chiang-Min, who numbers about 250 thousand people.
In 1937, a book
was published entitled, China's First Missionaries, subtitled, Ancient
Israelites, by Rev. Thomas Torrance, who was a missionary in this area of China
and was the first to write about this tribe and what he believed to be their
ancient roots of the Lost Tribes of Israel.
According to the reports by
Torrance, he believed that the customs, rituals, modes of thought, domestic and
religious practices of the Israelites who were the contemporaries of Amos, Hosea
and Elijah, were found within the Chiang people of northwestern China. Torrance
was basically very impressed with the simple monotheism of this people in China
in an area where the term God was not even known.
The language of the Chiang
tribe had been forgotten and they had also lost their ancient script. Today they
speak Chinese.
They themselves see themselves as immigrants from the west who
reached this area after a journey of three years three months. The Chinese
treated them as Barbarians, while Chiang people related to the Chinese as idol
worshipers.
Chiang Min people (Photo: Thomas Torrance in 1920's)
Hate and enmity existed between the Chinese and this tribe for a long time.
They lived independently until the middle of the 18th century when they became
part of the general population to earn more freedom. The religious pressure from
the Chinese, the spread of Christianity, and the influence of intermarriage
caused the Chiang tribe to generally and greatly give up their special
monotheistic way of life.
However it is still possible even today to learn
about the past traditions of the Chiang tribe through their customs and their
faith which they still keep. This tribe had been living a special Israeli way of
life since the time of B.C.E..
According to their tradition, the Chiang tribe
is the descendant of Abraham and their forefather had 12 sons. Those among them
who did not take Chinese wives after their victory in war still look
Semitic.
They believe in one God whom they call Abachi meaning the father of
heaven, or Mabichu, the spirit of heaven, or also Tian, heaven. As a result of
Chinese influences they all call Him God of the mountains as the mountains are
the central place for worship of God.
Their concept of God is that of an all
powerful God who watches over the entire world, judges the world fairly, rewards
the righteous, and punishes the wicked. This God gives them the opportunity to
do repentance and to gain atonement for their actions. In times of trouble, they
call God in the name of "Yawei", the same as Yahweh.
They also believe in
spirits and demons and they are forbidden to worship them, but this is probably
a Chinese influence. In the past they had written scrolls of parchment and also
books but today they only have oral traditions. They themselves do not
understand the prayers that they recite every week.
The Chiang tribe lives a
very special way of life based on the offering of animal sacrifices which seems
to have been seen among the Ten Tribes of Israel. It is forbidden to worship
statues or foreign gods and anyone who offers a sacrifice to another god faces
the death penalty.
These priests wear clean white clothes and perform the
sacrifices in a state of purity as the priests in ancient Israel did (1 Samuel
15:27). I recall that Japanese Shinto priests also wear clean white clothes at
holy events.
A
priest of Chiang Min tribe (Photo: Torrance in 1920's)
The priest of the Chiang tribe wears a special head turban. The priest is
ordained in a special ceremony in which sacrifices are also offered. Unmarried
men may not be a priest, which was the same in ancient Israel (Leviticus 21:7,
13).
The altar itself is built of earth which is molded into stones which
are then laid one on top of the other without being cut of fashioned by any tool
of metal. It is important to remember that in the Torah, the ancient altar could
not be made of cut stones (Exodus 20:25), since the sword or whatever tool to be
used to cut the stone was also an instrument of war and harm.
The main part
of the service is performed at night perhaps to conceal it from other Chinese or
because of the special effect of the silence and the tranquility of night. This
was also ancient Israeli tradition. It is interesting that the important rituals
of Japanese Shinto religion are also performed at night.
Before the offering
of sacrifices, one is required to wash one's self and one's clothing and to
dress in clean garments. Sacrificial animals themselves must be washed and
purified. There is a special place for purification and washing. The elders and
priest place their hands on the head of the sacrifice which is to be slaughtered
then offer their prayers.
Circumcision is not performed. It seems to have
obsoleted. But after the 7th day or at the eve of the 40th day of the child's
life, a white rooster is slaughtered in the child's honor and he is given a
name.
Ancient Jewish Communities in Kaifeng, China
As I mentioned before, Menashe people once went to the region near Kaifeng,
China. The Jewish community in Kaifeng is most famous as the very ancient one
which had existed since the time of B.C.E..
Kaifeng was the former capital
for several dynasties in China. The Jews there did not eat the sinew of the hip
which is on the socket of the thigh, which is a custom of Israelites, and their
religion was called by the name meaning this.
There are still a few thousand
Jews in Kaifeng. They had maintained some Jewish tradition. In Kaifeng they had
a synagogue. They intermarried with the Chinese and look Chinese.
We can
trace the history of Israelites in China to very ancient times. According to a
stone monument in Kaifeng, Israelites already came to Kaifeng in 231 B.C.E..
Many Israelites or Jews lived in parts of China even before the destruction of
Jerusalem in 70 C.E..
The Lost Tribes of Israel Went East Along the Silk Road
I have mentioned above about the people of the Yusufzai and the Pathans in
Afghanistan and Pakistan, the people of Kashmir, the Menashe tribe in India and
Myanmar, and the Chiang (Chiang-Min) tribe in China. These places are all along
the Silk Road. Are these all where they went?
Otherwise, were there any other
people who went further east along the Silk Road?
Where is the destination
of the Silk Road? Japan. Did the Ten Tribes of Israel come to Japan?
If the
Ten Tribes came to China, we must say that there is a strong possibility that
they came to Japan also, for next to China is Japan. But someone may think,
"There is a sea between China and Japan, which makes it difficult to get to
Japan."
However, it was not a big problem for the Israelites. Scholars say
that Israelites already traded in the time of King Solomon (the 10th century
B.C.E.) with India and other countries of the Mediterranean Sea with a fleet of
ships (see 1 Kings 10:22, Some of the words are from Sanskrit). Israelites knew
well about ships even in the times before the country of Japan started.
The
Silk Road was actually Silk Roads because there were several roads on the land
and the sea already in the time of B.C.E. The Israelites were experienced people
for getting across the ocean.
Chapter 1
Israelites Came to Ancient Japan
Chapter 2
The Ten Lost Tribes of Israel in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, Myanmar, and
China
Chapter 4
Various Other Similarities Between Ancient Israel and Ancient Japan