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EF-129 Ephraimite Forum Ephraimites, Two Houses, Joes, Ten Tribes Teachings 15 March 2012, 21 Adar 5772. |
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1. Rav Avraham Greenbaum- "Ephraim,
Where are you?" Brit-Am Description and Commentary. http://echadetzproject.wordpress. com/2012/02/28/rav-avraham-greenbaum -ephraim-where-are-you/ 2 Video Clips: Speaks well, slowly and assuredly, message is problematic. Clip 1. (11 minutes) Goes through Division of Ephraim from Judah; Lost Ten Tribes; Destined to Come Back; often referred to as Ephraim; will re-unite with Judah. Claims many Israelites were lost even before Departure of Ten Tribes; Also many Jewish souls strayed and and disappeared amongst other peoples. Potentially millions and millions of biological descendants; The Prophet Hosea especially addresses Ten Tribes subject. Incarnation and reincarnation of holy Israelite souls amongst Gentiles who are compelled by an inner urge to re-unite with Israel. Fallen Israelite souls striving to return amongst non-Israelites. Refers to Tarah meaning Torah: this is a wrong pronunciation used (as far as I know) by no-one else. Says he has been besieged by numerous non-Jews wanting to join themselves to the Jewish People. Refers to Christian Messiah being sent to Lost Israelites. Refers to an ongoing Cultural and Physical War against the Jewish People and the Jewish People in General. Ephraimites want to join the Jews and be on their side. Clip 2 (13.44 minutes) Jewish Rabbinical view of Ephraimite Movement. Pangs of Messiah that at end of time Jews will no longer receive proselytes. Fear of proselytes joining for the wrong reasons. The Ger Toshav category of Righteous Gentile will remains open. Talmud says (Avodah Zarah 3;b) says that in the End Times when problems and fear of War with Gog and Magog arise the false or insincere converts will leave; only true Israelites will remain. Speaks of false Israelites who wear the appurtenances of religious Jews but are not prepared to be martyred. True Israelites must be prepared to accept the authority of the Torah. Even if we cannot fulfill all the required stringencies we should still wish to do so and strive towards it. Two sticks show two portions from the same true tree being grafted together not alien branches. Claims nobody knows who are the Ten Tribes BUT everyone who claims to be should be respected. Women especially prominent in movement to re-connect with Israel. Women bear the biological potential of Israelites. Brit-Am Commentary: We did a Google search (like anyone else could have done) from which we see that Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum appears to be accepted as an Orthodox Rabbi with his own Modified New Age Braslov-type style of outreach. See: Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum Founder & Director AZAMRA http://www.azamra.org/rebavraham.shtml The approach of Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum appears legitimate. In our opinion he does not really address the issue from the Biblical Perspective. He is answering people who are coming to him and perhaps his answers are suitable to them. Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum treats the Ephraimite Phenomenon as a Gentile non-Jewish issue. This is correct BUT a Jewish aspect is also involved. As Brit-Am emphasizes it is for the good of Judah and an directive from the Prophets for Judah to reach out to the Ten Tribes. How this is to be done is another matter. It obviously requires study and discussion BUT at least a first step can be made. This first step involves determining WHERE the Ten Tribes now are, as Brit-Am is doing. The difference between Brit-Am and the approach of people like Rabbi Greenbaum may perhaps be summarized as: a. Brit-Am sees the Ten Tribes as a Biblical and Physical Reality. This needs to be dealt with. It is Biblical Duty of Judah as a well as a challenge to the peoples identified. b. Rabbi Greenbaum seems to view the Ten Tribes as a potentiality that should be dealt with according to its development. 2. Queries Concerning Brit-Am and Ephraimites. (1) Who are the Ephraimites and (2) How is Brit-Am different from them? (3) Why is Brit-Am not Accepted by them? Brit-Am Replies: (1) Who are the Ephraimites (Ephraimite Brothers)? In the past we may have used the term Ephraimites as synonymous with members of the Ten Tribes. This was mistaken and misleading. Regarding non-Jewish descendants of the Ten Tribes we should perhaps find some other term such as "Joes", "Israelite Hebrews", perhaps even "Brit-Amites"! Ephraimites as a religious phenomenon should henceforth be referred to as "Ephraimite Brothers" or something similar. "Ephraimite" without an adjective should no longer be the term monopolized by "Ephraimite Brothers" who are in fact ONLY a section of Christians who belive in the Ten Tribes and ALL OF WHOM are Ephraimite in Biblical terms. We repeat, Ephraimites (i.e. Ephraimite Brothers) ARE NOT all those non-Jews who believe they descend from Israel. They are only A SMALL PORTION of them! This is an important distinction and should be remembered. Ephraimite Brothers are a non-Jewish Gentile Messianic collection of groups and individuals who also believe they descend from Israelites. Ephraimite Brothers may be defined as members of a movement of Christians associated with certain Preachers who adopt what they consider to be Hebraic customs and also believe they descend from Israel. This definition might sound a little long-winded but it sums them up. Exact definitions are difficult since, They themselves often say that they have no leaders but they do have. Their beliefs as individuals however differ from one person to another, and from day to day. Let us refine the definition a little. Ephraimite Brothers (who often refer to themselves simply as Ephraimites): a. Adopt certain customs from Judaism or invent those of their own meant to reflect the Biblical message. They will often say they are bound by Old Testament law but they pick and choose what they should keep and how. b. Angus and Batya Wootten have had a strong influence and some of the Ephraimite Brothers preachers are on their paid staff. [Batya Wootten however was once on our list, sent messages to the list, and has been sympoathetic towards Brit-Am and her group bought books from us in the distant past.] They are often influenced by Messianic and Hebrew Roots leaders such as Eddie Chumney and others. Eddie Chumney is also a supporter of Brit-Am and somewhat different from the others. Eddie would probably prefer to be classified by the name of his Hebrew Roots organization. c. Ephraimite Brothers usually say they believe they are from the Ten Tribes but the definition as to what this means may be somewhat elastic. d. Historically they derive from Gentile Christian activists who were disappointed with the attitude of Messianic Jews to Gentiles and so sought to set up their own non-Jewish version of the same. e. Ephraimite Brothers are more important than their numbers suggest. Many of them come to visit Israel regularly. They seem to be more active than other movements and often dominate discussion groups etc. Ephraimite Brothers are Messianics who believe in the Ten Tribes. There are NUMEROUS OTHER non-Jewish Christians (some of whom are also Messianics i.e. adopt Jewish and Hebraic-type customs) who would not be easy with the classification Ephraimite. (2) How is Brit-Am different from the Ephraimite Brothers? * * * * Brit-Am Reply: Brit-Am is compatible with the Orthodox Judaism while being able to reach out to (and encompass) non-Jews including Christians in such a way as to (usually) not offend them. Brit-Am emphasizes the physical origin of Western Peoples from Hebrews. That is the main point. Brit-Am is against Conspiracy Theories, Jew-Hatred, Racialism, Karaites. Certain Ephraimites are strongly attached to such doctrines. Brit-Am is also against an emphasis on Lost Israelites coming to live in Israel at the present time. Some Ephraimites are often strongly for this. Brit-Am says that non-Jewish Israelites at present are not obliged by the Law though they should draw closer to it. Many Ephraimites feel they should be defined as obliged by the Law even though they do not know what it says and would not keep it if they did. (3) Why is Brit-Am not Accepted by them? Brit-Am is accepted by some of them. By others, not. The reasons are assumedly to be found in the differences between us. If other reasons exist we have not been informed of them. Ephraimites have some Jews amongst them, often like Jews, invite Jewish speakers, etc. Nevertheless Brit-Am is depicted sometimes as too Jewish??? It could be that some of them just do not like us? We once received an e-mail from a Christian convert to Judaism (who however remained Christian in religion, as he declared on his website, we are not revealing unknown secrets here) to the effect that: They were dissatisfied with Brit-Am and were about to offer an alternative. They proceeded to do so. It may have been a blessing in disguise for us. 3. Meetings with Ephraimites and Others in Jerusalem. We met with different visitors to Jerusalem. Some of them would classify themselves as Ephraimites. Here are a few impressions. A whole social circle exists of prominent personalities each with their own followings. Differences in religious doctrines etc are often on a practical level considered irrelevant. We met with a prominent Ephraimite organizer of social activities and lectures etc. From his words and attitude we understood there Brit-Am has little to expect from co-operating with Ephraimites but should strike out more on its own. We suspect that religious and ideological prejudice as well as personal issues amongst some Ephraimites leaders work against us. Looking back we are probably better off because of it. It sometimes happens that one strives to be accepted by a particular social circle etc but later realizes that it was not worth it. Paradoxically there are Ephraimite elements who do not really want to hear of Israelite Ten Tribes identification at the practical level. OR they consider it to be of insignificant importance. This may be for the better. It means that if Brit-Am manages to keep going we should begin to more actively organize our own meetings and conferences and keep to ourselves a bit more. This can be done. Experiences shows that many of the Ephraimites will come to hear us if we advertise properly and also that many others from other social groups also will come to us. In effect Brit-Am can reach circles and individuals that others cannot. We should build on our own strengths and uniqueness. One of our strengths is our ability to unify and draw people together from different backgrounds including both Judah and Joseph. 4. Jay: Brian Needed a Real Estate Agent not Brit-Am! Re: EF-128 #1. Question about Groups of Joes (Ephraimites) Buying Land in Samaria. http://britam.org/EF/EF128.html My quick thought is that you should never, ever have answered Brian about real estate in Israel. If I was serious of buying property for whatever purpose, I would have looked for a real estate agent, not Brit-Am. I'm sure there are enough agents in Israel who have lots of property for sale, even at discount prices. My thought is that you should have just privately referenced a real estate agent to Biian. Please don't work too hard. I'm as old as you are and as old as Pres Eisenhower was from 1952 to 1960. In 1957 he suffered a stroke when he was in office and before that a heart attack. Jay 5. Bill Rasmussen: Remarks on Messianic Anti-Ten Tribes Article. Re Brit-Am Now no. 1783 #3. Messianic Article Against Ten Tribes Doctrine Ten Lost Tribes? http://www.britam.org/now2/1783Now.html#3 Shalom Yair. I trust all is well with you. I would like to comment on Brit Am 1783 regarding the website "Light of Mashiach". First of all, this group does not seem to be connected in any way with mainstream Messianic groups like the MJAA and UMJC. [Messianic Jewish Alliance of America and United Messianic Jewish Congregations], both of which are hostile to the teachings of Brit Am. They also do not belong to Jews for Jesus. They seem to be a wannabe Johnny Come lately group that is probably a Hebrew Christian group that may include some Jewish people. I gave a cursory look at their comments regarding the lost tribes. The article is totally distorted regarding what both the Tanach and New Testament have to say... To them, the tribes are already reunited, which is total nonsense. I hate reading articles like this because in this case, it is almost painful to read. Sadly, their position on the Lost Tribes is classic Messianic Judaism at its worst. Also, it would seem that there is an increase in cultish behavior on the part of many Christians, whom are drawn to groups like this like moths to a flame. Regardless of what drivel they want to publish, the fact of the matter is that the Brit Am position regarding the Lost Tribes is the only one that uses scripture, history, archaeology and culture to determine where the diaspora of the Northern Kingdom is today. This is why I continue to support Brit Am financially and through prayer. As for this particular group, I recommend not giving them any further attention as they are not worth the effort. Shalom v'b'richot, Bill |
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