What is the Brit-Am Mandate? 23 January 2012, 28 Tevet 5772 SCROLL DOWN!
What is the Brit-Am Mandate? S said: Shalom, I am not sure whether we could all be grouped together. You (I assume) and I believe that the Lost Tribes are primarily amongst certain Western peoples. I am not so sure about the others. Brit-Am in fact appears to be the only body that does say up-front exactly what it does believe in and what it is prepared to talk about and what not. First of all in a previous letter you referred to the Laws of Lashon HaRa (Evil Tongue). This involves severe prohibitions of saying bad things about others. Fair enough. Strictly speaking however the prohibitions do not concern matters that are already generally known. If one repeats something that is more or less public knowledge it is not Lashon HaRa even if those who hear it were not previously aware of it. Even so one should be extremely careful not to say things that are incorrect neither should one gratuitously harm another in any way. We keep going and have been enabled (up until now) to do so because others gain benefit from us. So too you and your friends will rise or fall in the long run according to how the public receives you. Others however should not use our information and findings without acknowledging us. Neither should they make claims about us or about themselves in regard to us that are not so. Neither in our opinion should they make claims in general that are misleading and incorrect. We never claimed to be the only voices in this field. We do believe we have a certain uniqueness of our own. Brit-Am uses its own findings as well as those that others revealed before us. We also read anything that comes our way on the subject by contemporaries. When new findings or insights of value come up we often use them. We try quite hard to record and acknowledge the sources from which we derive information. This in itself is a de facto acknowledgement of the contributions of others. We also correspond with others in the field, exchange information and opinions. On our site we gladly post the articles and opinions of other people even when they differ from our own understandings. There are cases where others differed with us. We argued with them. In the end we came to agree with them, went back on what we had said, and announced the fact. If anything we have been criticized for not being more arbitrary and pontifical in what we say. We were the ones who first coined the term Mandate in connection with this work. Divine Providence has enabled us to work very hard and consistently on the subject of Israelite Identification. We merited to come across a great many facts and very much information as well as new insights and revisions of old ones. Much of this is unique to us. Some of it is dependent on our understanding of the sources and our correct interpretation of them. We are the ones responsible and we are able to defend our interpretations. With all due respect there is at present no one else in the field known to us at this level in these particular matters. This is not due to any intrinsic inborn right of ours. We applied ourselves. We worked at it. We believed in it and were dedicated to it. [Or we worked at other matters and the skill and know-how so acquired turned out to be directly applicable in Brit-Am research.] In some cases our findings were directly connected to our efforts and in other instance they were more like rewards. By analogy, a gold miner might dig holes all over the place all day long and find very little. He then in a fit of absent-mindness kicks over a rock and hits a goldmine! Is there cause and effect here? Continuing the simile, because the miner worked at it he knows what gold looks like when he does come across it. When he finds a little he already intuits if there is more there and in what direction it probably lies. He will feel certain proprietary rights over what he has found and also concerning his profession in general. We understand that we have a Mandate to research this subject and to spread knowledge of it and also to relate to it with familiarity. There are certain matters that we understand should not be broached in this generation. Christians should not try to missionize Jews. For Jews (but not for non-Jews) this would be considered idolatry. Whether or not Jews should preach to non-Jewish Israelites about religion, We do not know. Perhaps they should? Even if they should, perhaps they should not do so at present? The Bible might seem to require a change of religion on the part of Joseph but who will initiate it? And how? And in what precise direction? Any decision in these matters to our mind would require a clear Biblical understanding on the subject. This up until now does not seem to exist though further study might supply it. It would also require an inner conviction of Divine Guidance in the matter. It would also necessitate some degree of Rabbinical Compliance. None of these requirements until now, as far as we know, have been met by anybody. This also reflects on non-Jewish believers (e.g. Ephraimites) and others coming to Israel to live. Yair Davidiy has close non-Jewish friends who live in Israel. In some cases I even wrote letters to help them stay. I doubt if my letters were really of much help on their own but I did do something and together with other recommendations they could have made a favorable impression. Even so, we understand that in general terms in our time it is a mistake for Ephraimites to pressure in this direction. At all events it is not within our Mandate. Those who say otherwise may be guilty of giving a false impression. Such action is liable to have negative results both concerning Judah and Joseph. At this stage it is mistaken. If a person believes they should go ahead along that path then that is their business and their responsibility. We would not advise it. This would not, to our minds, be considered as acting according to the Mandate. For us Mandate means a command, an obligation in light of Torah Knowledge and General Truth. First let us establish the truth of Israelite Ancestry in principle. That is what we are aiming to do. Brit-Am has a Mandate in light of its findings and other factors that come together with those of us who think along the same lines. Those who think Brit-Am is a one-man show should realize that we would not be able to function even for a single day without the support and encouragement of numerous others over the past decades. Our costs are the equivalent of any similar enterprise in the USA or UK. They are high. That is why we have to frequently worry about raising funds. No-one person backs us but rather a lot of individuals who give us something and taking it all together we usually (but not always) get by with it. Just look at our web-site. A lot of the material is from Yair but you will also find scores of articles by others, and hundreds (even thousands) of comments and observations in the News-Letter features. Brit-Am Now is now in its 1,814 posting and on an average one could say that there are at least the same number of personal opinions from others. And that is only part of it! For every person who does say something there are others who were thinking to do so. The Brit-Am Mandate obliges Brit-Am to do what it can with what it has. Whether or not others have a similar obligation we cannot say. If the other groups have a message compatible with that of Brit-Am it may be so. Otherwise we would doubt it. We understand our own task to emanate from the Torah. We do not identify it with the Torah because we are human and fallible. We try to measure our veracity against Torah requirements. What others do is up to them. The Lost Ten Tribes are amongst Western Peoples. They evidently comprise a significant proportion of the population. They deserve to know about it. So do the Jews. In Biblical Terms the Jews and the Ten Tribes are brothers and should be aware of it. Brit-Am has a Mandate to research the subject, to spread knowledge of it, to work to bring the two sides together, i.e. Research, Recognition, Reconciliation. Anyone who says they are from Judah and who works in parameters beyond those of the Brit-Am Mandate should adduce justification from the sources. They certainly cannot act in the Brit-Am name. We may sometimes sound as if we are trying to lay down the law where we have no clear right to do so. This may be the case. Experience has taught us however that we either make our position as clear as we can or else risk having our message pre-empted for agendas we do not agree with. If this results in a relative isolation so be it. The Brit-Am Mandate presupposes that Brit-Am should be supported by both Judah and Joseph, that we are entitled to request such support, and also that Brit-Am is (in effect) what there is. Other groups with similar beliefs would
do well to align themselves with Brit-Am and in accordance to it. |
