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The Lost Tribes of Israel

In the present day, Israel is made up of only the house of Judah. Where are the other 11 tribes of Israel?

Answer:

Aside from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, the tribes (ten) are lost, and their fate is generally unknown. However, in all probability there are members of the other tribes among Jews today, though their number is of course indeterminable.

After the tribes of Israel were exiled by Shalmaneser, King of Assyria, their whereabouts were forgotten, and the connection between the Ten Tribes and the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin was severed. The Ten Tribes became the Lost Tribes of Israel.

Several verses leave little doubt as to the future return of the Lost Tribes: “In those days the House of Judah will walk with the House of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the North to the land that I have given as a possession to your fathers.” However, the manner in which they will return, and the entire question of their rejoining the nation, is shrouded in mystery, and one of the tanaim could even state that they are not destined to return.

There has been much discussion of various possibilities of the whereabouts of the tribes, for instance the Pathans of Afghanistan and Pakistan (eyewitness accounts have testified that Pathans have a tradition of male circumcision on the eighth day, which follows the Torah law; their customary separation from women during menstruation also corresponds closely to that ordained by the Torah; they have traditions of levirate marriage, of abstention from forbidden foods, and of observing the Sabbath, all of which correspond to Torah law).

Yet, it is difficult, if not impossible, to determine the truth or otherwise of claims to descent from the Tribes, and only time will tell.

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