21 August 2016

Who Are the Lost Tribes and Are They Returning? - Part 2: The Awakening

17 Menachem Av 5776

Part 1

The Awakening

The way I see it, HKB"H sends out "messages" across the universe and sensitive souls pick up on them - those connected to Him and those connected to "spirituality" in general. However, without the benefit of a Torah-filter, the messages can be misunderstood, misinterpreted and simply misused. The "Other Side" also knows the ultimate game plan and goals and can use these susceptible people with no anchor to the truth to mislead many for evil ends. We have to understand that just like there is a rasha for every tzadik to maintain the balance of free will in the world, there is also a lie attached to every truth.

The interception of these "messages" is what the New Age and others are calling a spiritual "awakening" to a previously hidden inner identity. So, yes, it is time for the "Lost Tribes" to return and so the fake ones are trying to cut in. We've seen the disaster that results from such an event already when the Erev Rav took over the Return to Zion begun by the students of the Vilna Gaon. We see the rotten fruit of their success every day in the State of Israel. And just as there has sprung up a fake "Sanhedrin" in recent years, there is a Temple movement which may very well, G-d forbid, result in the building of a fake Temple - a Temple to Avodah Zarah, G-d forbid, as the autistic kids have warned. Yes, there is an "awakening" taking place as many, many people claim, but the Prophet Daniel says some will awaken to "everlasting life" and others to "shame and everlasting abhorrence."

Because of the uniqueness of the time we are living in, I think we are the most vulnerable we have ever been to false messianism. And that's saying a lot when looking at our history. And this generation, weak as it is in Torah knowledge and Torah learning, is perhaps the least equipped to defend itself.

In short, beware anything labeled "universal" and which includes the words "brotherhood of all mankind" or which bases everything on "prophecy or prophetic revelation" and the "restoration" of ancient "lost" knowledge. Also, beware anything that eliminates the barriers erected between Jews and gentiles or which concludes that the Jewish nation exists to serve the gentile world. We were set free from slavery to Egypt in order to become servants of HKB"H!

If you stick to the above, I don't think you can go wrong. 

According to the Chofetz Chaim on the three world wars: "...the last war will be the beginning of the redemption, and a Torah-true Jew who is completely separated from the non-Jews will not be subjugated, as we find that in Egypt when two people drank from the same cup, one (an Egyptian) drank blood and the other (an Israelite) drank water. This shows that in fact there is no rule whatsoever over a Jew who is separated entirely from the non-Jews." (Rabbi Aharon Kotler, in the name of the Chofetz Chaim, as told over in the book The End of Days by Shmuel Raber)

Now, back to the so-called "Lost Tribes". Are they really experiencing a spiritual awakening to their true identity as so many claim? Are the Ephraimites really representative of our long-lost brother Yosef?

Oh, they are our "brother" alright, but it's not Yosef - it's Eisav. Nothing at all has changed. They are still Xians as the excerpts I have transcribed below will attest, and more, it leaves no doubt that their goal is to come here en mass and "claim their inheritance". Eisav wants the birthright back!
IN THE FUTURE ESAV WILL DON A TALLIT
In the future Esau will wrap himself in a tallis, sit down next to Yakov and say to him, "You are my brother"....Yakov will say to him, "My brother, you will not be like me. "I will lead you to death, I will be the pestilence that leads you to Sheol (Hoshea 13,14). Had I upheld decrees that you promulgated against me, I would have been guilty at the eyes of Heaven. Had I violated them, you would have killed me (Yalkut Shimoni, Yirmiahu 333).
"That was Esau's intention when he told Yakov, 'Let us travel together and I will go before you' (Genesis 33,12). He wanted them to join together in both this world and the world to come, to meet each other halfway, with each modifying his conduct until they were alike (Yalkut Shimoni, Genesis 133).
Indeed, Esau will even adopt certain tenets of Judaism-such as monotheism, the Divinity of the Torah, and reward and punishment - but only if Israel will give up some of its heritage.
If you don't need the proofs from the interview, skip on to the end.
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From Hebrew Nations Radio whose motto is "Building a Nation, Not a Denomination" - partial transcription of a February 2016 interview with Ephraim and Ramona Frank of Israelite Return.com and Tommy Waller of Hayovel Ministries.

[Ephraim was a new xian when he came to Israel on a tour in the 70's and felt as if he had "come home". He went to work on a kibbutz and through the intervention of his Jewish "boss" there, was allowed to become a member even though he was initially rejected because of being a xian.

Ramona is Israeli-born, secular, went to school in England. Returned to Israel, became a xian, met and married Ephraim Frank and they have been promoting the Ephraimite theology and "opportunities" for xians as "lost tribes" to spend time in Israel with the goal of remaining permanently.]

Hebrew Nations Interviewer (Daniel Holdings): "The Father is bringing His people back to the land. ...People are waking up all over the world at the same time. It's like an explosion of the Ruach HaKodesh."

One contact by email commented: "My wife and I have been waiting for this for 50 years - for the people of Yosef, of Ephraim, to rise up and understand who they are."

Ramona: "I don't think the term Ephraim means much, however the term The Ten Lost Tribes is something that has never been lost [from] the Jewish People. ...Ephraim is a new concept. If you introduce yourself to them, say that you are from the Ten Tribes, or believe that you are, and almost everyone, with very few exceptions, will just receive you, listen to you, and will not think that there is something strange or esoteric about that kind of presentation...."

Interviewer: "I have appreciated so much, Ramona, your insights as a Sabra, and what you have just said here about how to communicate who we are with our Jewish brethren is very, very important. So, are they open to the introduction as I am part of the Lost Tribes?"

Ramona and Ephraim together: "Yes, uh huh." "Yeah."

[Ephraim recounts his history with Nir Lavi on Har Brachah, when Ephraim would bring Ephraimite groups up to Har Brachah (before Tommy Waller) 18 mins in. He brought the first money donations to Nir for his vineyard.]

[Notice how it is always the Jew who opens the door to it all.]

Ephraim: "There's this phenomenon happening out in the nations where people are discovering their Israelite identity from the Lost Tribes." (19:35)

Ramona: "The larger it becomes, and the more known it becomes, and if there is a face representing [enter Tommy Waller] this phenomenon... so for many of these Orthodox Jews, it's a very, very exciting turn of events. They would really see that as a major turn in history and the approach of a different era. It's very big."

Ephraim: "The House of Judah is wrestling with it. They don't quite know how to deal with it at this point...."

Tommy Waller: "Most of us growing up as xians, we take the attitude that we're bystanders, watching the Jews do their prophetic work and then we just clap our hands and say "rah, rah" and really trying to find our way, well, what is our place, what is our role, maybe we give to organizations to support, but it's very difficult, so...."

[He describes how he came over in 2004 as a tag-along with some businessmen, with no expectations and met Ephraim and Ramona Frank - striking up a close friendship.]

Interviewer to Tommy: "You said something that resonated with me...that regarding the Jewish people we xians are bystanders looking on and seeing what happens to them. ...then along came this path, the Ruach HaKodesh did this,...but come to understand that the stories about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are not just history, they're my family history and I am part of the nation, too.

Tommy: "That [the return of the Jews to Israel] was obviously the sign of the return of the Messiah [he's still expecting Yeshu to come back] and so we were grabbing hold of that with all we had, especially back when Ephraim was coming to Israel in the 70's, we just knew that [Yeshu] was coming back any moment after 1967, so I was in that crowd, ...but it was not something I thought I could have any particular part of the story. So Ephraim and Ramona really gave us that end note...."

[i.e., Ephraim and Ramona came up with the idea to say that all these xians are really "lost tribes" and it started out as a way to sell their inclusion to Jews, but then the xians began to believe it because, not only does it appeal to their ego, the NT claims that they are "grafted in" to the nation as "equal citizens and heirs" with Israel due to their relationship with J-]

[Tommy explains that xian arrogance (they have a superior understanding of the truth since they are believers in the Messiah and Jews aren't) has been the biggest hurdle to overcome with their volunteers relating to Jews (32 mins)]

Tommy: "It's difficult sometimes to go in [to Jewish communities]... That's [xian arrogance and pride] probably is the biggest problem that we face going in and when you're trying to introduce yourself as someone that wants to be a part of the restoration then we run into some serious problems of pride and arrogance." [What the Jews have been doing is wrong, the calendar is wrong, etc.]

[Tommy exemplefies the "restoration" between xians and Jews like a marriage where they have been an adulterous husband and the Jews are the wronged wife who is being urged to take him back. In order to "restore" this "marriage" - they have to prove their "faithfulness."]

Tommy: "What they respond to more than anything else, more than just saying I am (somebody), it's me demonstrating who I am. And that's the key, I believe, to this whole process, and what I found in my own experience. ...I was interested in seeing the land restored... and then I learned in the process while helping these guys, my relationship is all of a sudden turning from, they are really see me as brother...."

Interviewer: "...we of Ephraim are like the younger son [in the parable of the Prodigal Son] and the older brother is the Jewish People - Judah. [The Zionist settlers are laying their lives down for the land so] ...the least we can do as Ephraimites or Bnei Yosef is lay down our lives as well. ...laying down our lives in serving in the very communities that we live in to begin with because we are a nation in exile.... we have to at the end of Pesach say 'Next Year in Jerusalem' ...actually with that hope deep in our hearts that hey, next year we will be somehow either in Jerusalem or somewhere in the Land of Promise. Tommy and his family have had the privilege to be welcomed into the homes of these farmers and of these students [Rabbi Melamed's yeshivah in Har Brachah] that are living in these settlements and also other rabbis and they have this intimate, that over the years they have gained favor because of the humility, because of the fact that they are willing to dig into the rocks and the ground and build fences and plant vines and to harvest those vines in a way in which they have won - they have won - the favor of these people [This was the calculated plan and the hoped-for result.] and now I want Tommy to share more of his relationships and his experiences because that's a trail [for other Ephraimites to follow to success in infiltrating Jewish communities]...." [42 mins]

[Tommy details the beginnings of Hayovel - 43:53]

Tommy: "One of the problems in our communities of believers [xians] is that we really don't know Israel...we don't know the Jewish people that well and that's one reason it's easy for us to speak against the Jewish people...because of our ignorance. [After 12 years of weasling his way into the confidence of Jewish families and leadership, he now knows all the secrets and can pass them along. He's been a spy in the camp.] Our relationship with the Jewish people was changed when we began to serve these ??. [47:19]

Hebrew Nations Interviewer (Al McCarn): "Regarding our return as Lost Tribes, Ephraimites, Sons of Joseph, and coming in humility, I'm looking at the Parable of the Prodigal Son - we know the story very well, we know that the younger son took his inheritance, he went out to a foreign country, he squandered his inheritance, and then it says 'when he came to his senses he said, how many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread, but I'm dying here of hunger. I will get up and go to my father and say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, I am no longer worthy to be called your son, make me like one of your hired men'. ...Tommy...this is what you have done with HaYovel, is your going to our brother Yehudah and saying, ok, let us humbly serve you as one of your hired men, one of your servants...."

Interviewer: "...We have a debt, we who are from the Ten Tribes of Ephraim, we have a debt to our brethren of Judah for reclaiming this land and that's why it is so important for us to connect with it, to get to know them and to help where we can.... We go knowing we are content to be servants in His House, but also knowing we are the sons and the daughters and in His timing when He deems it's right then we can step into our inheritance along with our brother Judah, but in the meantime there's a lot of work that we need to do with and for him,...."

[It all started - HaYovel's successful campaign - with an 'in' with Nir Lavi in Har Brachah and Tommy Waller credits Ephraim and Ramona Frank with making the introduction. They all agree that the unexpected stupendous success that they have experienced throughout the entire enterprise is proof that they are on "the right path" and has reinforced their belief that God is blessing them and thereby indicating that they are doing the right thing and believing the right way. (1:01:00)]

Ephraim Frank (referring to Tommy Waller's Video - "A Journey Home"): "...That was a preparation that I think all of us in the Ephraimite/Restoration movement, in the Bnei Yosef/Restoration movement should see, how the Father begins to prepares somebody for a future in the Land and that would really help a lot of individuals understand what the Father's expecting of us as we're called to the Land..."

Caller: "...I'm wondering, there isn't any way that a person who knows they are a part of the Ten Tribes, if they could legally move there, right?"

Ephraim Frank: "There are laws, and these aren't rabbinic laws, these are actually state government laws, how a person can come and live here in the Land of Israel, in the Jewish State of Israel, and they're very specific in regards to your background, your history. And just basically, you have to have at least one grandparent that you can prove, either by marriage documents or by burial documents, that they were Jewish. And you would not be able to return as a Jew, but as a descendant of a Jew. So there are different categories that they would look at in regards to coming to live in the Land at this time."

Ramona Frank: "If you don't have that kind of background, most likely you will not be able to come to the Land and become an official immigrant. The extenuating circumstances are very, very rare. Some multi-thousand business or some skill that's absolutely needed here and lacking. You have to have the endorsement of an Israeli business or employer, but overall, immigration is now for Jews or as I mentioned or for descendants of Jews who can prove either Jewishness or being a descendant of a Jew."

Ephraim: "The other way would be also conversion, going through an Orthodox rabbinic conversion. They have courses here and know for sure that they are not into, as someone in the government said, 'we don't want to be building churches', so..."

Ramona: "And even if it's the furthest thing from your mind, what is meant by that is that they don't want believers in [Yeshu] as citizens in the Land."

Ephraim: "Because you know the messianic Jews it's very difficult for them to make aliyah."

Tommy: "...The question is a good question and I think it's an honest question and is the place that shows your heart and I think that the problem is that even for the Jewish people who yearned for the nation for over two thousand years and even before that, ...I don't think we are going to have to wait two thousand years to see the restoration happening. I believe...we're going to see things happen exponentially and there is going to be a process, we can't just wake up one morning and say 'I'm going to Israel'... God's going to prepare us for this holy journey and our aliyah to the Land of Israel is going to have to be done in a purified way and to be sanctified and to be all the process of having the right to be able to say and to be a part of the commonwealth of Israel. ...The Jews believe that this full restoration is happening when the Mashiach comes and so I believe that there is a an excitement now, but this whole process is not just us coming and making an announcement, it is what are we willing to give, what are we willing to do, are we willing to lay down everything in order to give to this restoration. ...it's the collective efforts of many people who have come to the Land [HaYovel volunteers, etc] that's making an impact and changing the way that Jewish people see us as a community and it is through that effort that things are going to change...."

Interviewer: "...the Jewish people...they know it's their land, they have given blood and treasure to take and hold the land, so for us to say 'Hey, it's our land, too, we want to come and live beside you', imagine what a settler would think or someone who's been there for generations saying 'What? It's your land? What have you done to earn your right here, to earn your place?' This is why, Tommy, what HaYovel is doing...it's going to take awhile to earn trust and...pay our dues.

Ephraim: "...The reconstitution of the second stick in Ezekiel 37, this stick is a nation just like Judah's first stick is a nation...." [1:12:50]

Interviewer: "Ramona, you had said that if we talk to Jewish people and we say we are of the Ten Tribes or Ten Lost Tribes they will know what we are talking about because Jews have been looking for centuries for the Lost Ten Tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. But there is a new dynamic in that conversation these days...."

Ramona: [She explains the traditional Jewish view of the lost tribes living in remote tribal communities and says] "...the fact that the descendants of the tribes, the Israelites, have come out of churches, that is the new phenomenon,...that they believe in [Yeshu] and then, of course, the history of the church, all that luggage and baggage, ...makes it a little bit more complex...."

Interviewer: "That does introduce many complications. Now, some of our people are still living in tribal or semi-tribal states [like the "Pashtun" for example], ...but so many of us have grown up in the church so that means we have the question of how do we handle the issue of [Yeshu]? Because we know that we can't be even considered, we believe we are Israelites because of the covenant work of Messiah [Yeshu] and so how are those who are looking for a return on the Jewish side, how are they dealing with this, and what's the best way that we should approach it?"

Ephraim: "That takes us back to Tommy with his testimony of his relationship with the rabbis, because that's the biggest handicap. Secular Jews could probably care less about either side, but it's the rabbinic side that's very concerned about the history of the church...and all of a sudden your getting these xians waking up to Shabbat, waking up to the Torah, waking up to Hebrew roots, ...and all of a sudden the dynamics have changed in the relationships. And these are the ones who are really enthusiastic about coming back to the Land and these tribal ones, they could stay in their tribes as far as they're concerned and live out their lives in the nations, but you have a whole different dynamic now with believers [in Yeshu] who understand the scriptures and the prophets and the covenants and all these things, so this is the greatest challenge right now to the rabbinic community, but I think Tommy has a tremendous answer in his relationship with the rabbis that he has been in contact with...it hasn't been all good because some of them have wanted him out of the country out of the area, and so it's been a very interesting battle for him."

Tommy: "The first thing we have to discuss is the desecration of [Yeshu's] name by those who call themselves followers of [Yeshu]. That's the main problem...." [i.e., he just hasn't been properly presented to the Jewish people and the sins of the church keep them from hearing the good stuff about him - xians themselves still don't understand that the "main issue" is his deification.] "Because when [Yeshu] is associated with antisemitism, we start off with a problem because this is the way that they see and the persecution of the Jewish people through [Yeshu's] name and those who represented [that] name, this is a hurdle that's going to be difficult to overcome. And it's not going to come by going out and telling people that, well, wait a minute, it's not what you think, well these guys have a hard core reality with what the name of [Yeshu] and [Gee-zus] represents. ...They know that this has never been a good deal for them, so the key here in the restoration, ...we're in a position to bring honor to the name of [Yeshu] and ...first...he has to be recognized in his messianic place as a good Jew, so right now a Jewish person cannot accept [Yeshu] in his basic deal as a good Jew...he practiced no form of xianity, he practiced Judaism and some people have to swallow real hard to even hear that. The reality is that we have to accept our messiah was a Jewish messiah in the fullest extent, so when I'm hearing in this dialogue of restoration that we're having in the Land of Israel, in the mountains of Israel with our friends, we're hearing all of a sudden people that sound a lot like our messiah. ...they're speaking in terms, speaking in stories and parables and very rarely do you sit down with a rabbi that he doens't tell a story or a parable...we don't talk like that...there has been so much of Judah that we have hated...some of your listeners may be experiencing that...What's happening in our movement is that people are trying to follow knowledge and trying to grab hold of Torah from a knowledge standpoint instead of the reality of it is that God is using His word to bring us back to a place of recognizing [Yeshu] in his obedience, but also almost in the place of obsession with the Land of Israel, with the Temple and with Jerusalem. Those are the things we are needing to deal with in our own community because this is the place where a great deficit is happening right now, because even in our own communities we're creating Jerusalem in Colorado or in Tennessee and we're telling people that we're keeping the feasts ...all these things are good rehearsals, but they're only rehearsals. The real feast is going to happen in Jerusalem, [Yeshu] is going to sit on the throne on the Temple Mount and WE have to be as believers in [Yeshu], until we want and desire the Temple to be restored, until WE desire Jerusalem to become a praise in all the earth more, more, MORE than the Jewish people, then we're not going to see a complete restoration. ...What's bringing us together is this excitement and the conversation is a conversation that they've been wanting to have for 2000 years, so we're sitting there and they're sharing and we're going back and forth and they're talking about things that we're excited about. We had a supernatural engagement with Yehudah Glick this past Fall and it was amazing how he came in and people were weeping at his message and his desire to see the Temple restored because they believe with everything that they have that the messiah is coming when the Temple is restored and so there are so many levels here that are important for us to grab hold of.

Interviewer (Al): There are indeed. And, Tommy, what you have just described for us is an aspect of the gospel of the kingdom which we growing up in the church never got. Go back to what you first said in our first segment looking upon all this about Israel as, ok, we are bystanders, we're seeing the Jews do this and these are the signs that we will be looking for so that [Gee-zus] comes back and takes us away. Well, no, it's a whole lot bigger and whole lot more exciting than that because we are supposed to partner with our Jewish brethren in the restoration of the entire kingdom of our messiah and that's just what you're talking about. And when you mention hearing Rabbi Glick and his vision and the heart he has for restoring the Temple, well, that's what we should have and when we get there, and you know it better than I, all of a sudden we'll realize we have so much more in common with Jews than we do reasons for division. And that's the reason we need to go to the Land and connect with the people.

[1:29:00 Tommy discusses the differences between the xian and Jewish understanding of what it means that "the temple is within us".] 

Ramona: "What we've just heard Tommy describe is a precursor of how Judah and Ephraim will begin to walk together... Although we want everyone to go to Israel, they can go to Israel by way of Missouri." [where they stop over in Waller's compound and learn Hebrew, etc.]

Ephraim: "...We just need the next stage and phase of developing something in this national movement* things like Tommy has going there and get people there...."

The simple fact of the matter is that Xians - all over the world - have been coached to say they are from the Ten Lost Tribes so Jews will be more receptive to them. They learned about Jewish ritual from Messianic missionaries. They began wearing prayer shawls and kippot and worshipping on the Sabbath, lighting candles and keeping the "Feasts", and now they want the right to make aliyah. But, it's still just Eisav - Eisav who "soneh et Ya'aqov". Think about that.
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* These so-called Ephraimites have decided to follow Herzl's First Zionist Congress as their model for restoring their "nation" to the Land of Israel. There are a lot of Jews in Israel organized to help them realize their "dream".

B'ney Yosef National Congress
Promo: First B'ney Yosef National Congress 2015
Promo: Second B'ney Ypsef National Congress 2016

But, HKB"H says through His prophet...


"I will make them into one nation in the land, ...they will no longer be two nations, 
and they will no longer be divided into two kingdoms, ever again."
Ezekiel 37:22