Since the Assyrians in the VIII century BC. expelled ten Jewish tribes from their land, the further fate of these people is unknown. Where did they go? What happened to the exiles afterwards? Historians have not yet received an unambiguous answer to these questions.
Let's take a short excursion into the biblical history and start with the patriarch Abraham or, even better, with his grandson Jacob. God appeared to the latter in a dream on the way to Mesopotamia and blessed him to become the founder of the Jewish people. Jacob gave birth to 12 sons: Reuben, Simon, Levin, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, each of whom later became the father of one of the tribes of Israel. In the land of Canaan, tribes settled on the banks of the Jordan River. Later, a monarchy was established, and the descendants of the sons of Jacob had a single ruler, but after the death of King Solomon, the state was divided into two. From the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who lived in the south, ten other tribes split off and settled in the northern regions. These tribes were ruled by monarchs who passed on the throne by inheritance. The peoples of Judah and Benjamin are believed to beare the ancestors of modern Jews. And what happened to the ten northern tribes? Where are their descendants?
In 722-721 BC. the king of Assyria Shalmaneser V captured Samaria and expelled ten peoples of the northern kingdom. People withdrew from their homes and, together with small children and old people, with belongings that they could carry away, on carts and on foot went to Mesopotamia and Indian cities (modern Syria and Iraq). Weeping and groaning rose above the crowds of exiles. Many could not bear the hardships and died on the way. No one knows what happened to the survivors.
Prophet Ezekiel predicted the future unification of all Jews in the Promised Land. In many parts of the world live people, possibly descendants of disappeared tribes: in the Crimea, the Caucasus, Kenya, Nigeria, Armenia, Iran, Central Asia and northern Siberia, Africa, South America, Australia and Ireland. There is no indisputable evidence, but the Jewish elements of the cultures of some peoples living in the above regions indicate a possible connection with the missing tribes.
One of the first known researchers of this mystery was Benjamin of Tudela, who lived in Spain in the XII century. He spent most of his life traveling in search of descendants of people belonging to the ten tribes mentioned, and, visiting Jewish communities, wrote down his impressions in a diary. After visiting Persia and the Arabian Peninsula, Benjamin encountered the Jews, who, in his conviction, were the direct descendants of the exiled Israelites.
Their self-sufficiency and ferocity deeply impressed the researcher. Benjamin wrote: “The descendants of the tribes of Dan, Zebulun, Asher and Naphtali live in Persia. They are led by the ruler Joseph. Among these people there are learned men, versed in various sciences. They sow cereals, reap a rich harvest, are in a military alliance with the pagans who worship the wind and live in savagery. While traveling in Arabia, Benjamin also visited large Jewish cities, surrounded by powerful defensive structures. The locals were distinguished by their belligerence and, in alliance with the Arabs, raided the peaceful tribes of Arabia. The townspeople informed Benjamin that their ancestors were Reuben and Gad.
When in 1492 Christopher Columbus undertook a journey and discovered new lands, no one imagined that his appearance would change the fate of the aborigines. But perhaps Columbus was not the first inhabitant of the Old World to sail to America. Missionary Bartolomeo de Las Casas at the beginning of the 16th century. met in Peru and Guatemala the Indian tribes, whose legends said that their ancestors arrived from the East, having crossed the ocean. In addition, the Indians observed many Jewish rituals. 120 years later, a similar report by the Portuguese traveler Antonio Montesinos caused a sensation among scientists in Europe. Montesinos met Indians in the Andes who read excerpts from the Torah by heart. Their clothes, pottery and other household items were decorated with the Star of David. Manasseh ben Israel, a Dutch scholar respected in both Christian and Jewish circles,reinforced the notion of American Indians as descendants of Jewish tribes. Impressed by Montesinos's report and inspired by his own mystical views, the scientist wrote the book "The Hope of Israel", in which he encouraged Jews scattered around the world to unite. In 1655 Manasseh met at Westminster with Oliver Cromwede and presented a petition for the return to England of all Jews expelled from the country. In his opinion, foggy Albion is the Promised Land.foggy Albion is the Promised Land.foggy Albion is the Promised Land.
The fantastic manifesto of 1665 shook up the Jews. Rabbi Nathan Gazsky declared the messiah, called to unite all Jews, Sabbetai Zevi from Izmir. The manifesto stated that the latter came to earth astride a dragon with seven heads. Along the way, the messiah was attacked by Gog and Magog, enemies of Israel, leading a huge army. However, Sabbetai, with the help of fire escaping from his nostrils, was able to defeat the enemies. Nathan announced that the savior was on his way to Jerusalem, and when he arrived there, God would erect a temple of gold, adorned with precious stones, and the whole city would be filled with splendor. On the day that this happens, the dead will rise from their graves.
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The news swept from country to country. Many Jews started selling property and preparing to travel to the Holy Land. Who was the new messiah really? Sabbetai Zevi was born in Smyrna in Asia Minor in 1626 and was ordained a rabbi at the age of 18. Under the influence of the mystical teachings of the Kabbalah, he announced to the suffering Jews that the hour of redemption had struck. Such ideas spread to Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Italy. There was a rumor that a huge army of the descendants of ten tribes was moving through Africa towards Mecca. The alarmed Turkish authorities arrested Zevi in 1666 and converted him to Islam. Following this, thousands of Jews also became Muslims.
Possible descendants of the disappeared tribes are a large group of peoples who call themselves the Pathans. They live on the border of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Kashmir. Pathans believe they are descended from Kish, the ancestor of the biblical king Saul. They wear Jewish clothing, observe Jewish food taboos, and celebrate the Jewish Passover. In South Africa, tens of thousands of Lemba blacks claim to have been cut off from their fellow Jews hundreds of years ago.
But perhaps the most exotic place where the exiled Jewish tribes could settle are the Japanese islands. There are thousands of words and place names in the Japanese language whose etymological roots cannot be traced. They all have a Jewish sound. The Axis Emperor of Japan, who ruled around 730 BC, is associated by a number of historians with the last king of Israel, Hosea, who lived at a time when the Assyrians expelled the Jews. Shinto temples from that period are reminiscent of ancient Israelites. Among the artifacts found in Japan ', some are clearly Assyrian or Jewish in origin … These include, for example, the well in Koriugi with the words "Well of Israel" inscribed on it. The surviving parts of ancient carts differ sharply from the Japanese ones and are similar to those described in the Old Testament. May be,Did the ancient Israelites travel across Asia in these carts? It is no coincidence that the samurai believe that they came to Japan from Western Asia around 660 BC. The word "samurai" itself sounds similar to the word "Samaria". But which of the ten tribes settled in Japan? Some historians have hypothesized that the Mikado, the Japanese emperor, is a descendant of the Gada tribe. The very word "mikado" sounds like a Hebrew term meaning "his majesty the king" …meaning "his majesty the king" …meaning "his majesty the king" …