This account came to me from friends who live in that part of the world and I have edited out clues as to their whereabouts for their personal safety.
I just want to share an experience I had several years ago when I was visiting Jerusalem during the feast of Sukkot ( Feast of Tabernacles) with F--------. We happened to meet a rabbi who was praying by the part of the wall closest to the holy of holies. Very early on in our conversation I let him know that I believed in Yeshua and he was eager to show us some sites in the Jewish quarters and tell me some of his ideas about the Gospels. This was a rare moment where I was given some insight as to what the Lord is doing among the Jewish people today. He took us to stand in the part of the Jewish quarter which looks out at the Mt of Olives. The Mt of Olives faces the Eastern Gate, the direction which Yeshua will come when he returns.
The rabbi was eager to discuss where I thought Yeshua was crucified and I explained that I thought it was on the Mt.of Olives because the Mt of Olives would be facing the holy of holies and when the curtain of the temple was torn open it was like the Father tearing his garments as he looked upon the Son. Now I'm not saying that I'm right about this or not, so that's not the point of my story.
Much to my surprise, the rabbi agreed with me and went on to tell me with stunning historical accuracy what would have be happening on the day Yeshua was crucified. He explained that not only was his crucifixion on an "appointed feast" or a "mo'ed" in the Hebrew, but it would have to be an "appointed place" which is also called a "mo'ed". He said that it would have had to be a place of importance and also a place that would be very visible to all. The prophet Zechariah's tomb is on the Mt of Olives. He spoke about all the Jewish customs of those days and why the site could not be far away. He quoted numerous passages from the gospels and then this one from the book of Acts:
They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. Acts 1:12
Then the rabbis turned to me and said "and he's coming back here" pointing to the Mt. of Olives. In my utter amazement I quickly responded: “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. " from Zechariah 12:10 and He replied in turn, "Yes, exactly.!"
I asked him a number of questions about how he knew all of this and who he thought Yeshua was . He told me that I would be surprised to learn what they are discussing in some the yeshivas in Jerusalem. He qualified that by saying, "some of us who are open". When I asked him who Yeshua is he said, "well the whole New Testament is about him". He would not commit himself further, but this was already enough for me.
The funny thing was that five minutes before meeting him, I was praying at the wall for the salvation of my people as well as the Muslims on the other side of the wall, and then I received this amazing peek into a window of what is happening in our day. .... Jews mainly represent only 2 1/2 of the 12 tribes that all the prophets promised would be restored. The others are mixed with the nations and look like all different kinds of Gentiles. The Northern Tribes never returned from Assyrian exile because of their apostasy. The prophet Hosea, as well as Paul and Peter explain that one day, "those who were not a people, will be a people and God will have compassion on them". As the gospel reaches to the 4 corners of the earth the scattered tribes, or lost sheep are hearing their Master's voice along with the nations. Some Jews and the others tribes are even in Muslim countries. One known example of this is the Pashtuns. There are Cohen's in Morocco who are Muslims. The young man in my Hebrew class raised in Yemen, who claims his family is "like the Taliban" believes that he has Jewish heritage from his mother's side. The father's tribe conquered her tribes village, so he might be right. I have been able to share with him about God's promises to restore "all Israel".
In the past number of years we have experiences the riches of observing the Lord's "appointed times". In the book of Genesis, it says that God put the sun and the moon in the sky to designate "signs and seasons". The word here for signs "oth" means prophetic signs, seasons is "mo'edim". Yeshua will return to an appointed place on an appointed time. Yom T'ruah ( feast of Trumpets) was historically called the feast in which no one knows the day or the hour because it falls on a new moon which requires two witnesses to site. We know that the sound of the last trumpet will signal the resurrection. Passover is one of these special appointments that we have where we are able to see the clear connections between celebrating the historical exodus from Egyptian slavery and celebrating the the victory that Yeshua's death and resurrection had over the enemies of sin and death. Within the feast is the seven day observance where we remove the leaven from our houses and our hearts. Within the feast there is a waving of the sheath celebrating "first fruits'. Yeshua is the first fruit of the resurrection and because this we know that we have this same hope and promise. When we count seven weeks after the the waving of the sheath and we arrive at Shavuot or Pentecost. On Shavuot Israel received the Torah at Mt. Sinai and on Pentecost the Spirit of God was poured out on the followers of Yeshua who were at Jerusalem to celebrate this pilgrim feast and waiting as they had been instructed by Yeshua.
The video embedded here has been removed because it no longer worked. TW will try to find one that is active to go with the following caption, but till then we can only apologize. TD
This lecture is part of a series titled "The Seventy Most Difficult Questions" by Rabbi Elyahu Kin. In this presentation Rabbi Kin expounds on the history of the dispersion of the Tribes of Israel and their whereabouts today. The lecture contains video footage filmed by recent researchers on this topic.
My friend then added this comment to the above story:
I don't agree with all of what he says, but it is interesting to hear the Orthodox perspective on this. What's very interesting is that they believe in two Messiahs a suffering one and a kingly one, and they say that Messiah ben Yosef the suffering one will save the descendants of the Northern Kingdom (sometimes called Ephraim, House of Israel , etc) Messiah ben David the victorious King will save Judah. In a sense they might be right but wrong about the fact that there are 2 different Messiahs. He's one and the same and as the gospel goes out "the lost sheep" hear his voice along with the nations where they are scattered.
I think the tribes are scattered to the 4 corners of the earth because Scripture says so. The ingathering will surprise a lot of people when they see how big Israel actually is, both the physical descendants and those who have been grafted in:
Contributor of the above article remains anonymous for their personal safety. TD
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