NJF-9
New Joseph Forum no.12
Ephraimites, Two Houses, Joes, Ten Tribes Teachings
14 October 2009, 26 Tishrei 5769
Contents:
1.Rob from New Zealand:
An Alternate Calendar and the Otherness of Ephraim
Brit-Am Reply:
(a) The Brit-Am Involvement
(b) Anti-Jewish Contrariness
(c) Sanhedrin Wannabees
(d) Rabbinical Sources Employed by ALL authorities.
(e) Returning to the Law and Malachi 4
(f) Representative of Ephraim?
(g) Zechariah (8:23), the Ten Men, and identity of the Jew
2. Tess from New Zealand
: The Way of Ephraim is Unique
3. The Hebrew Calendar and Biblical Sources
Biblical Sources on the Calendar:
|
Brit-Am Discussion Group 
|
Contents by Subject |
Research Recognition Reconciliation Contribute |
|
Site Map Contents in Alphabetical Order |
 This Site |
1.Rob from New Zealand:
An Alternate Calendar and the Otherness of Ephraim
From: Rob <r.moore@netsmart.net.nz>
RE: Brit-Am Now no. 1391
#8. What Was the Sin of King Jeroboam?
http://www.britam.org/now/1391Now.html#What
Yair , I refer to your comment :
Certain Ephraimites today are guilty of the same offences by searching for alternate dates for the festivals other than those given by the Hebrew Calendar ...Are you referring perhaps to those of us Ephraimites who have been following the written Word of Moses, to calculate the calendar by the sighting of the new moon in Israel? If so, as one of those Ephraimites who has been observing this for some 5 years now, we have come to realize how inaccurate the Rabbinical calendar is, being up to one full month out in some years.
Interestingly, the inaccuracy of the Rabbinical Calendar is now being recognized by Judah himself now as being in a serious state of drift, and Judah is now acknowledging that the "hebrew" calendar is up to one month out at times. That this is now being recognized by Judah and that a return to Moses instructions to calculate the calendar according to the sighting of the new moons is becoming a pressing issue is a very significant development in my understanding.
For reference please see these two recent Internet articles:
(1. Rabbinical Sanhedrin declares the sighting of the moon to identify the
biblical calendar is correct and Hillel's Calendar is increasingly becoming
inaccurate
http://www.thesanhedrin.org/en/index.php/
Committee_concerning_the_fixing_of_the_Calendar
It should be noted that the mathematical calendar of Hillel II has been in use since the year 4119 (359 CE), and it has functioned for approximately 1600 years without difficultly. However, in recent years, a situation has been created where more and more frequently the onset of spring does not coincide with calendar currently in use. This means that the calendar is beginning to drift noticeably. Albeit, the rate of drift is very slow, much slower than other lunar calendars (such as the Islamic calendar). However, if continued unchecked, we will be celebrating Pesach in the summer, rather than the spring. Our current calendar will exceed halachically acceptable limits and we will be celebrating Biblically commanded holidays at times other than when Scripture requires them to be celebrated. One could argue that if a change is necessary in any event, it would be most correct according to Biblical and Jewish Law to once again use the system of witnesses. But it is certain that we will not longer be permitted to use the mathematical calendar of II in the near future.(2. The Seasonal Drift of the Traditional (Fixed Arithmetic) Rabbinnical
Hebrew Calendar has accumulated to a highly significant degree.
http://individual.utoronto.ca/kalendis/hebrew/drift.htm
Consequently, rather than looking down on Ephraim's concern to be obedient to a calendar that is clearly written in Moses instructions, rather than the traditional Hebrew (Rabbinical) calendar, which is now being openly discussed even by the leadership of Judah himself, as increasingly inaccurate because of the "drift" which is becoming readily seen by the fact that Passover on the "Hebrew" calendar as on the dates of the other biblical festivals of Leviticus 23 in some years is up to one month out, I think you need to give Ephraim some credit. Perhaps Judah could begin to consider that Ephraim's repentant return to via the Words of Moses, rather than traditions of "the Fathers" as is prophesied by Jeremiah 16:19 is something very significant that our Heavenly Father Himself is doing in renewing His relationship with Ephraim. Perhaps Ephraim's strong wake up call to return to the Words of Moses may even have significance for the redemption of Judah in the last days, for it was Joseph who redeemed the 12 houses of Jacob (Genesis 45), not Judah.For the following reasons, it would be preferable to correct the Hebrew calendar seasonal drift as soon as possible:
The seasonal drift has accumulated to a highly significant degree:
currently in every 8th, 19th, and 11th year of the traditional 19-year cycle, and soon also every 3rd year of the cycle, Passover is more than a month after the spring equinox, Purim is celebrated on the day before the day that "should have been" Passover, and the traditional Hebrew calendar continues to run "one month late" until the following spring season.
To allow new grain crops to be eaten one month earlier in those years in which otherwise the 16th of Nisan would fall more than a month after the spring equinox (applies to the years just mentioned). Note that this continues to apply in the present era even though the omer sacrifice is not offered in the absence of the Temple, as orthodox Jews refrain from consuming products made from new grain crops until the 16th of Nisan.
When Passover is more than a month after the spring equinox then also the following Sukkot (Feast of Booths) is a month later and, in the northern hemisphere, is colder and wetter than it would otherwise be (years 9, 1, 12, and soon also year 4 of the 19-year cycle, the above mentioned year numbers having been incremented at Rosh HaShanah, which makes dwelling in the traditional sukkah uncomfortable or impractical, notwithstanding the belief by many that time spent in the is "not supposed to be comfortable".
In the past the amount of equinox drift and the solution to the problem was unknown or uncertain, so it could not be confidently corrected, but today, due to an excellent understanding of the astronomy of the Earth, Moon, and Sun, we do accurately know how much drift has accumulated, and the solution for correcting it and preventing further drift is simple and straightforward.
What I can say is, I have awoken to my identity as Ephraim, this is a deep spiritual wake up call and is not dependant on how Judah would care to define the way I should go, but how the Heavenly Father is calling me and that is to hear and obey His Word as it is written by Moses, it is a biblical return and not a return to religion of traditions of Judah in fact if Ephraim were to return to the traditions of Judah He would no longer be identifiable as Ephraim, but would become Judah, and Judah in so many ways clearly expresses that he does not want this to happen for fear of loss of his own House, but that rather Ephraim stays "outside the gate" and keeps another set of customs?
Whether Judah can accept it or not, Ephraim's repentant return is well under way and he is doing so by coming out of religion(s) through a strong call into obedient relationship with the Almighty heavenly Father. Over the past 2 decades, this experience has urged Ephraim across the world to begin to study Moses and the Prophets very seriously and in greater detail than Judah may consider.
I am extremely grateful for the monthly reports I receive from those of Judah who are currently resident in Israel concerning the monthly new moon sightings, enabling me to identify the Mosaic measure of the beginnings of the biblical months and the calculations of the festival worship days. Thus I have not been dependant of the traditional "Hebrew" calendar and have been aware of the variances between the moon-month calculations and the "hebrew" calendar for some time. I decided many years ago to place my faith in the words of Moses and not the "hebrew" calendar and have been blessed to observe the festival dates of Leviticus 23 in their due seasons and date.
That Judah is now recognising this need which I have been practicing for more than 5 years now vindicates my decision which I made in faith of what is written in the Law of Moses and it also demonstrates the authority of what is written in the Law of Moses over the understanding and practices of
men.
To conclude, as I perceive it, in the last days in fact BOTH houses are being called to repent back to hear the Law Of Moses (Malachi 4) why would this call be made to BOTH Houses if BOTH houses are not in need to hear this commandment? The fact that Judah himself is now recognising the sighting of the new moon (Moses instructions as opposed to the academic calculations of the traditional "Hebrew" calendar) is significant for the future practice of the authentic biblical calendar demonstrates the point I am trying to make.
So perhaps Ephraim's spiritual return could be given more credence and significance than Judah currently will recognise Ephraim is being woken up by the Almighty, and it is the Almighty that he (Ephraim) hungers andthirsts for. Ephraim in waking to his identity, whilst he is also restored in his love for his brother Judah, is not Judah nor desires Judah's customary expressions of faith or identity.
Ephraim's return is in the Heavenly Father's purposes, and he (Ephraim) is being restored back to his own identity and his own inheritance, and the prophets foretell that he will be urgent and zealous in his return to
biblical righteousness and not religion of customs. Often I hear some teachers of Judah referring to Ephraim's return in terms of Zecharia 8:23, stating that Ephraim will take hold of Judah in the last days and ask the way. However, if one reads the text carefully, it does not state that the 10 men will take physical hold of Judah himself, but that he will tack hold
of the Tassles of Judah's garment, which we know full well represent the Law of Moses in the covenant. The fact that many Ephraimites have been observing the sighting of the moon as the markers of the biblical months for the calculations of the festival days of worship is a clear evidence of Zecharia 8:23 being fulfilled today. Therefore Judah needs to have more assurance in the fact that this is what is prophesied will happen and is what is in fact is happening if he can only begin to see it. The reason he cannot see it is he is using his own worldview to measure it by, rather than what Moses said.
That being said, we continue to walk together, as brothers in the faith of the Almighty and His purposes for the whole House of Jacob.
Blessings
Rob
New Zealand
================================================
================================================
================================================
Brit-Am Reply:
(a) The Brit-Am Involvement
The adoption of an Alternate Calendar is not something special to any breakaway minority of Ephraimites.
It has been a characteristic of Christian and other sects from the very beginning.
This subject should not really involve us.
We intend to concentrate on the subject of the Lost Ten Tribes and proving who and where their descendants are.
We see the Return to Hebrew Roots of many Christians in our time to be symptomatic of the instinctual arousal amongst descendants of Lost Israelites in our time towards acknowledgement of their ancestry.
We do not really care what Calendar you keep.
To state however that you keeping the "written Word of Moses" as against the Rabbinical Interpretation of Judaism is grossly misleading as shown below (item no.3).
See Reply to the Calendar Question in Item 3 below.
One of our principles is to work for a reconciliation between Judah and the Ten Tribes.
Here and there this involves us in other matters when we get the feeling that rather than reconciliation an attempt to make an additional distancing is involved.
================================================
(b) Anti-Jewish Contrariness
Christianity introduced Replacement Theology claiming that the Christians had replaced the Israelites (i.e. in their terms the Jews) as the Chosen People.
Along came various Identity Movements and hijacked belief in the Lost Ten tribes to say that they were the true racial Israelites whereas the Jews were of a different descent and impostors.
Most Ephraimites are not contaminated by such notions but some are.
Some of the attempts to re-interpret the Bible in a different way to that of the Jews seem to me to be illogical and smack of a wish not to be associated with the Jews.
================================================
(c) Sanhedrin Wannabees
http://www.thesanhedrin.org/en/index.php/
Committee_concerning_the_fixing_of_the_Calendar
You quoted from the so-called Sanhedrin site.
The Sanhedrin does not exist.
The original Sanhedrin derived from the Seventy Elders appointed by Moses.
This organization continued to exist until due to Roman persecution its members were dispersed in the Jewish Diaspora.
The inheritors of the original Sanhedrin today are the Orthodox Rabbis as a whole who through Divine Guidance manage to reach a general consensus as to how the Torah Law should be applied.
The present group that now calls its self "Sanhedrin" comprise a handful of self-appointed eccentrics not recognized by anybody else.
When this organization was first set up we were encouraging.
http://britam.org/now/566Now.html
[Numbers 11:16] AND THE LORD SAID UNTO MOSES, GATHER UNTO ME SEVENTY MEN OF THEELDERS OF ISRAEL, WHOM THOU KNOWEST TO BE THE ELDERS OF THE PEOPLE, AND OFFICERS OVER THEM; AND BRING THEM UNTO THE TABERNACLE OF THE CONGREGATION, THAT THEY MAY STAND THERE WITH THEE.The organization that was set up FAILED to receive recognition of the Jewish Public and of nearly all Jewish Rabbis.
[Numbers 11:17] AND I WILL COME DOWN AND TALK WITH THEE THERE: AND I WILL TAKE OF THE SPIRIT WHICH IS UPON THEE, AND WILL PUT IT UPON THEM; AND THEY SHALL BEAR THE BURDEN OF THE PEOPLE WITH THEE, THAT THOU BEAR IT NOT THYSELF ALONE.
These seventy elders comprised the first Sanhedrin which continued in each generation (Deuteronomy 17) and was a kind of combination of the Supreme Court and the Senate or Upper House in Legislature.
The Sanhedrin in History was a body of seventy chosen sages who decided all matters of religious legal controversy and behavior.
Due to Roman persecution the Sanhedrin was driven out of existence.
Ever since then Jewish Religious Law and practice has more or less developed through working out a kind of consensus amongst all the leading authorities in each generation. This has actually worked (in itself a miracle) but leaves much to be desired.
A re-newed Sanhedrin could be necessary to rebuild the Temple, and possibly also recognize the Lost Ten Tribes for who they are and take steps to effect a reconciliation with them.
The new institution that calls itself the Sanhedrin has no legal status at present and has not yet been accepted (as far as I know) by anybody of standing in Israel nor by the general public.
Attempts were made in the past to re-establish the Sanhedrin but because not enough Sages supported such a move there was no continuation. This does not mean that the attempt itself is not important and potentially it could have great significance in the near future.
I do not think the new Sanhedrin [Supreme Council of Rabbinical Sages] as it now exists will achieve the degree of recognition it would need to be able to do anything but it could serve as the skeleton body for something much better that may come after it.
The Sanhedrin should perhaps be requested to set up a Committee to examine a committee to impartially examine the evidence as to the present -day whereabouts of the Lost Ten Tribes.
Most of its early members left it and today only a few remain.
[If such is not the case send them this letter and see if they reply.]
The anonymous face behind announcements made in its name have no authority whatsoever.
So far they have made a mark by calling (or rather their titular head called) President Bush the Head of Gog (i.e. implying that the USA is Gog son Joaphet) and running after Arab Beduin with claims that they have Israelite ancestry.
Together with all of the above and in sense despite it we suggest you read though ALL of the article in question:
Committee concerning the fixing of the Calendar
http://www.thesanhedrin.org/en/index.php/
Committee_concerning_the_fixing_of_the_Calendar
Extracts:
From The Sanhedrin - en
##A special court has been established to accept evidence concerning the sighting of the New Moon, as required by Jewish Law. ...The purpose of the court is to increase awareness, develop skills, and resolve halachic issues that arise when determining the Jewish Calendar according to testimony by witnesses. At this point there is no intention to supercede the mathematical calendar currently in use and fix the calendar on the basis of the testimony, such a step should be unacceptable to the public and spiritual leadership.
##There is a requirement from the Torah (deOraisa) that Pesach come out two weeks after the first new moon of spring. The first day of spring according to the Solar Calendar is always March 21. The Jewish Calendar has a discrepancy of about one day every century. This means that by the year 6000, Pesach will come out two news moons (Sivan) after the first day of spring. The Natziv was one of the first poskim [legal authorities] to bring up this question about a hundred and fifty years ago. Some poskim replied that Mashiach would come by the year 6000, so there was nothing to worry about. Others said this would become an halachic question that will eventually require the re-establishment of the Sanhedrin to universally authorize a change in the calendar.
Read the above carefully:
The Sanhedrin Wannabees by their own admission are only practising. They are carrying out a dry run.
It is also implied that up unto the year 6000 no serious problem with the present system should arise.
It is now the year 5769.
We have another 231 years.
================================================
(d) Rabbinical Sources Employed by ALL authorities.
As to the second article you quoted from:
http://individual.utoronto.ca/kalendis/hebrew/drift.htm
The substance of this article may or may not be referred to by us at a later date.
Please note however that this article quotes as authoritative sources The Talmud, and Rabbinical Commentators such as Rashi and Maimonides.
There is no attempt to do away with these sources.
On the contrary, the author advocates what he sees as a stricter adherence to their opinion.
See item no. 3 below.
================================================
(e) Returning to the Law and Malachi 4
This is what Malachi 4 says (together with the Brit-Am Commentary):
http://britam.org/malachi.html
[Malachi 4:4] REMEMBER YE THE LAW OF MOSES MY SERVANT, WHICH I COMMANDED UNTO HIM IN HOREB FOR ALL ISRAEL, WITH THE STATUTES AND JUDGMENTS.
The Lost Ten Tribes will have to return and accept anew the Law of Moses and Israel. This is also mentioned in Jerusalem Talmud and Zohar.
[Malachi 4:5] BEHOLD, I WILL SEND YOU ELIJAH THE PROPHET BEFORE THE COMING OF THE GREAT AND DREADFUL DAY OF THE LORD:
[Malachi 4:6] AND HE SHALL TURN THE HEART OF THE FATHERS TO THE CHILDREN, AND THE HEART OF THE CHILDREN TO THEIR FATHERS, LEST I COME AND SMITE THE EARTH WITH A CURSE.
Darrel Conder (of Commonwealth Publishing) once suggested that this refers to the Lost Ten Tribes returning and identifying their fathers from the Tribes of Israel.
You implied that these verses entailed some kind of criticism of Judah.
I fail to see this.
================================================
(f) Representative of Ephraim?
Your letter in some parts expresses itself in the name of Ephraim (meaning the Lost Ten Tribes) as a whole but this is not exactly so.
Despite its "Jewish" characteristics Brit-Am represents Ephraim at least as much as any other body.
================================================
(g) Zechariah (8:23), the Ten Men, and identity of the Jew
[Zechariah 8:23] THUS SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS; IN THOSE DAYS IT SHALL COME TO PASS, THAT TEN MEN SHALL TAKE HOLD OUT OF ALL LANGUAGES OF THE NATIONS, EVEN SHALL TAKE HOLD OF THE SKIRT OF HIM THAT IS A JEW, SAYING, WE WILL GO WITH YOU: FOR WE HAVE HEARD THAT GOD IS WITH YOU.
See our Commentary to this verse.
http://britam.org/zechariah.html
You said:
Often I hear some teachers of Judah referring to Ephraim's return in terms of Zecharia 8:23, stating that Ephraim will take hold of Judah in the last days and ask the way. However, if one reads the text carefully, it does not state that the 10 men will take physical hold of Judah himself, but that he will tack hold of the Tassles of Judah's garment, which we know full well represent the Law
of Moses in the covenant.
Our commentary
