"Brit-Am Now"-645
Contents:

"Brit-Am Now"-645
Contents:
1. Significant Family Names from South Africa?
 2. Henry Rhea: Some Objections, The Importance of Truth,
and DNA
followed by Brit-Am Answers
3. Reply from Henry Rhea and More on the Great Seal
4. The Dr. Rochelle Altman Incident
5. Please Support Brit-Am


1. Significant Family Names from South Africa?
Shalom Yair

Thank you for all the fantastic info that you share with us all.   Your hours of research and results honestly bless this anglo-boer meisie(girl)  from South Africa out of my sox!   Listened to your interview on the internet and could not believe me ears - fantastic - truly when The Mighty One of Israel makes a move and He wants it done speedily nothing will stop Him.   Am enclosing some info for you - perhaps it will help - if not just delete - to me it has been an amazing experience to say the least!

For a long time have felt that many South Africans are Jewish or Israelites but just do not know it.   Have searched the internet and other places.    Started with the surnames of people that were left after the mass slaughter of thousands of boers that were put in concentration camps and sent off to islands like Mauritius and St Helens etc etc.   These people came to South Africa in the 16 - 1700's.   Imagine my surprise when I discovered that many of these surnames appear at Yad Vashem.

Keep up the good work

Blessings to you and yours

Jayne Botha

Brit-Am Comment: The majority of Jews killed in the Holocaust were
Ashkenazic (European) Jews.  Many of these Jews spoke Yiddish which is a German-Hebrew dialect.
More often than not they had German surnames.
Surnames on the whole in Europe are a recent phenomena.
The Ashkenazic Jews often had German surnames possibly because they
had been subjects of the German-speaking Austro-Hungarian Empire or of German States,
or associated with cities in Central Europe that were often German dominated,
or because they spoke Yiddish or in some cases because their ancestors had dwelt in Germany before moving eastward.
As I understand it,
The Boers in South Africa are mainly of Dutch origin with some French Huguenot and German
input alongside small proportions of Portuguese, Africans, and others.
Their language is a Dutch-German dialect so it stands to reason that many of their surnames would have
been similar to those of European Jews.
Nevertheless there may be similarities beyond that which can be explained by simple
linguistic parallels and that would justify more serious study.

2. Henry Rhea: Some Objections, The Importance of Truth,
and DNA followed by Brit-Am Answers

Subject: RE: "Brit-Am Now"-644
#2. The American Dollar and its Symbolism

Greetings, Yair.  In regard to the following appearing in your latest
Brit-Am news:
#W2. The American Dollar and its Symbolism
G wrote:
>hello yair here is a interesting connection between Israel and the
USA you
>might have already seen it. blow up the dollar above the eagle and
you
>will see the star of David. I was told it was put there at
Washington
>request . to honor the Jews who helped finance the American war for
>independence whom hyam Solomon played a big role in that effort.with
out
>that help i am sure the American war for independence would have
failed
>... Shalom

That symbol never appeared on U.S. Currency during George
Washingtons lifetime.  Here is a link to a site showing various
currencies from our history.  Compare the 1862 and the 1917 one
dollar bills to a modern one dollar bill, and you will see that the
symbol of the eagle with the star of David formation of stars is
absent on both.

From the same link you can view some currency from different eras of
American History.  During Washingtons day, various states and
colonies printed their own money, as did some towns even.  Later, so
did Railroads.

If you can eventually prove the truth of your American and British
Israelite origins, I am all in favor of it.  But I have learned that
true believers will attempt to force all sorts of facts and symbols
into proofs of their theories.  ...We will lie to ourselves,
even, if it is something we desperately want to believe.

Ive written to you of my own abandonment of the theory due to my
participation in a Family DNA project through FamilyTree DNA testing.
You have arguments against modern DNA research findings, and that is
all right.  Whatever the truth, it will eventually be known, and I
hope I will personally know it.  But right now, after  25 marker
testing, it appears that I belong to European stock which is not of
Israel.

In the meantime, continue on with your research, and I wish you the
best of luck and blessings in finding out the truth, regardless of
whether it conforms to your Brit-Am beliefs or not.

Sincerely,
Henry Rhea

Brit-Am Answers:
a. Great Seal
The Official site of the US State Department article "Great Seal of the United States"
says that the Great Seal with the Magen David" (Shield  of David) "star" shape for the 13 star
constellation was finalized and adopted by the US Congress in 1782.
http://http.2Fbensguide.gpo.gov%2F3-5%2Fsymbols%2Fseal.html
It does not matter much whether George Washington was or was not
responsible for the final form of the Seal.
No-one stated for absolutely certain that such was the case.
The fact is that it exists
and that it represents something.
http://www.britam.org/Questions/QuesSymbols.html
We believe in symbolism and its significance but we can also understand that it is
not necessarily "everybody's cup of tea" so we have other proofs from
other fields.

b. The Dangers of over-enthusiasm
You said:
<<true believers will attempt to force all sorts of facts and symbols
into proofs of their theories>>:
This happens and we ourselves on a few minor points have in the past mistakenly accepted
"proofs" that turned out to be unreliable.
Nevertheless on the whole nearly everything Brit-Am has proposed so far as evidence has
stood the test of criticism and counter-attacks and more often than not actually been greatly
strengthened by additional evidence that has come to light.

The Proof of Brit-Am is primarily Biblical but we also pay a great deal of attention
to historical and related studies. Even if some of our conclusions from these studies
were to be proven mistaken (an event that seems highly unlikely but one never knows)
the Biblical evidence would remain and there would be other historical explanations
to complement it.

c. It works both ways.
Not only do radical proposals like that of Brit-Am encounter unfair opposition
but even "respectable" works that remotely point in a similar direction appear
to encounter prejudice.
For an example of prejudice against the concept of ancient links between
the Ancient Near East and the West see our entry in this posting below:
item #4. The Dr. Rochelle Altman Incident

d. DNA
We are not against DNA findings. I hope at some stage to take a DNA test
myself.
I do not understand the subject sufficiently well to be able to say anything certain about it.
Nevertheless based on DNA reports we would make the following tentative
observations:
(1. No-one has unique DNA, only unique or statistically rare combinations of DNA markers
each one of which in itself is quite common.
http://britam.org/now/574Now.html
item: #Statistical Analogy
Remember our analogy of the "Red-Haired" man and Brit-Am proofs?

(b. DNA changes occur in some cases over very short periods of time.

(c. DNA changes can effect large numbers of people at one and the same time.
In some cases the changes may affect only those groups that already have a common genetic denominator.
Once the changes take place they become hereditary until the next changeover.
http://britam.org/now/622Now.html
#7. Now Admitted: DNA Changes Cannot Be One-Time Events??

d. All physical attributes are determined by DNA. The sections of DNA that are tested
in studies of "racial" groupings are said to belong to "rubbish" DNA that is superfluous and
has no influence on the function of the body or its appearance.
We are doubtful about this and suspect that all DNA has a function even if it is not yet known to us.
Our impression are that physical attributes are both inherited and subject to change under certain circumstances.
See
Race: Q.4.

Can "Racial" Features be Acquired through Environmental Influence?

http://www.britam.org/Questions/QuesRace.html
Since DNA determines physical attributes so the DNA must also change.
In effect we believe that ALL the DNA of a human being  is subject to the same principles.

It follows that DNA testing can help you find people who may well be closely related to you
or  at least whose ancestors were in the same area as yours were
all the way back to a certain time limit that may be thousands of years, or hundreds, or less.
DNA can also provide proof of migrations and connections between peoples in different areas.
Everything however has to be treated with some degree of reservation.
Some DNA findings look very convincing, even incontrovertible,
and perhaps they are but other DNA findings though presented as such upon
examination turn out to be problematic.

Some DNA findings at their present stage could be presented in such a way as to support
basic Brit-Am claims while others seem to contradict us.
Even those findings that could be taken as support for Brit-Am we generally refrain
from using since we prefer to wait and see what further research will reveal.
We too can be quite conservative and restrained when necessary.

3. Reply from Henry Rhea and More on the Great Seal
Yair, Greetings, and thanks for the correction.  I should have
recognized the symbol as the Great Seal of the United States.  You
are right, it has been in existence basically as it is today since
1782, and, as you say, whether George Washington had any input or not
is of little significance except inasmuch that it has been claimed to
be so, and for reasons suiting the purposes of someone, somewhere.

Googling it, I have found no websites (though admittedly in a limited
search) with any reference to him in its design.  As for the actual
symbol in the formation of the stars, I have found no reference of
connection to David or Israel, which of course does not mean that
there could not have been in the minds of either designers or those
who adopted it.  But neither does it mean that it does.  Numerous
nations have the eagle as national symbol, Rome being one as well as
America and Mexico.  I dont know that there is any connection there,
either.  But in reading Gibbons The Rise and Fall of the Roman
Empire, I was struck by numerous parallels between America and Rome,
its Emperor aside, in the formation of its political structure, as
well as the relative freedoms enjoyed by the citizens of each, not to
mention the wealth, military power and envy of other nations and
peoples of all these aspects.

All this is to say that there are arguments perhaps as good or maybe
even better that America is Rome today, as there are that it is a
part of Israel.  Personally, Id rather be a part of Israel, if the
Bible is indeed Gods word.  But who knows?   It may be an
amalgamation of both.  Or neither, but simply taking symbols and
traits of each as well as from elsewhere.  The majority of the sites
I checked said that the stars were originally to represent a new
constellation representative of a new nation being born.

In any case, here is an online article I found at the following link:
http://www.heraldica.org/topics/usa/usheroff.htm#history

The seal of 1782-1841 for some reason cannot be depicted here by my
email server.  In the original, it is clear that it was formed in the
hexagram pattern known as the Star of David.

Respectfully,
Henry Rhea

History of the Great Seal
This section is based on Eugene Zieber's Heraldry in America,
Philadelphia 1895 (reprint 1984).
On the same day as the Declaration of Independence, the Continental
Congress formed a committee with Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and
Thomas Jefferson to "prepare a device for the seal of the United
States of North America". The committee reported on August 10 with a
proposal. The arms of the United States would be, in the words of the
committee:
The shield has six Quarters, parts one, coup .  The 1st Or,
a Rose enamelled gules and argent for England: the 2nd Argent, a
Thistle
proper for Scotland: the 3d Vert a Harp Or for Ireland: the 4th Azure
a
Flower de luce Or for France: the 5th Or the Imperial Eagle Sable for
Germany: and the 6th Or the Belgic Lion Gules for Holland, pointing
out
the countries from which these states have been peopled.  The shield
within a bordure Gules entwined of thirteen Scutcheons Argent linked
together by a chain or, each charged with the initial letters Sable,
as follows: 1st NH, 2nd MB, 3d RI, 4th C, 5th NY, 6th NJ, 7th P, 8th
DC,
9th M, 10th V, 11th NC, 12th SC, 13th G, for each of the thirteen
independent States of America.  Supporters, Dexter the Goddess of
Liberty in a corselet of Armour, alluding to the present times,
holding in her right hand the Spear and Cap and with her left
supporting the shield of the States; Sinister the Goddess of Justic
bearing a sword in her right hand and in her left a Balance.  Crest,
the Eye of Providence in a radiant Triangle whose Glory extends over
the shield and beyond the Figures.  Motto: E Pluribus Unum.  Legend
round the whole achievement, Seal of the United States of America
MDCCLXXVI.

The other side had a rather astonishing depiction of Pharaoh being
engulfed by the Red Sea before Moses and the Israelites, with the
motto "rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God".
The design can be seen in a manuscript sketch in the hand of Thomas
Jefferson.
It did not meet with a favorable reception. Another committees worked
on the matter, submitting a proposal on May 10, 1780. Then the matter
was referred to the Secretary of Congress, Charles Thomson, who asked
the assistance of William Barton, a prominent citizen of
Philadelphia. Barton proposed two designs, then Thomson submitted his
own, which, revised by Barton, was finally adopted in 1782.
The bundle of arrows in the eagle's sinister claw has an interesting
precedent: the arms adopted by the United Provinces or United Low
Countries after their break from the Spanish crown in the 16th
century feature a lion holding seven arrows in its paw, for the seven
provinces. The United Provinces provided a precedent for the United
States, sharing the feature that they earned their independence
through a war, but did so as several distinct provinces headed by a
representative assembly, and adopted a non-monarchical form of
government after independence; these features were unique in European
history.

Brit-Am Comment:
For more about the US Great Seal see:
http://www.britam.org/Questions/QuesSymbols.html


Q. #1. Is the Great Seal of the USA a Masonic Symbol?

4. The Dr. Rochelle Altman Incident
Dr. Rochelle Altman
http://www.otgateway.com/contributors/altman.htm
Dr. Rochelle Altman is a specialist in ancient phonetic-based writing systems. Her publications include _Psalms from the Paris Psalter: Psalm 22(23)_, 1993; _The Diplomatic E-Edition of Beowulf_ (MS emulation -- 4 editions) 1994; and _DIPLOMAT_: Computer Application for creating diplomatic editions, 1995. She is also co-coordinator of the <http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/ioudaios/>IOUDAIOS-L discussion list.--JRD

Remember in
"Brit-Am Now"-634
item #2. Ancient Tin Supplies from the Iberian Peninsula and from Britain
we quoted from
"ABSENT VOICES: THE STORY OF WRITING SYSTEMS IN THE WEST"
by Rochelle Altman.
The writer is a well-known academic who claims that a
colony of Phoenician descent  in Britain
influenced the form of scripts used all the way through to Anglo-Saxon times.

We quoted:
"bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, and major tin deposits are rare...The bronze weapons, helmets, shields, and vessels of the ancient Near East, as well as the bronze statues of Classical Greece, used Cornish tin.10"
p.278 "10. At least four isotopic studies have been done on tin. Three of these studies  came to the conclusion that tin isotopes can be distinguished as to place of origin.  One study cautiously stated that, while it can be difficult to distinguish the isotopic profiles of Iberian and Cornish tin, the profiles of tin from Eastern sources  do not coincide with either. Another study, the English one is currently under dispute."

["isotopic studies" meaning the study of atomic structure: An atom consists of electrons circling a nucleus in which
are protons and neutrons. Physical properties of a substance are determined mostly by the electrons.
In the nucleus may be found variations from the usual number of protons and electrons.
These are isotopes. Isotopes can differ from place to place. Examination of these differences can indicate the place of origin of a mineral].

On another list either in reply to the above quotation from Rochelle Altman
the following reaction was received:

>>Yair, you might want to double check your source..here is an opinion
about the mis-information put about by Ms Altman, goodness knows what
else is the product of her imagination?
>>Please note this contrary comment embedded in the post, it is in
response to the claim that isotopes can be used to isolate tin
sources, I extract the comment here:

 > >As someone who works in the archaeometallurgical field, I
 > >would really like references on this...this is news to me (and
 > >probably to my colleagues). While it has been suggested by
 > >Budd etal. that tin isotopes may be a way of sourcing tin,
 > >but I have yet to see a complete a definitive example of it.

Brit-Am Comments:
Sounds quite condemnatory does it not?? And there was more of like nature.
It sounds as if Rochelle had been inventing things and misleading others?
So we checked the web.

The results showed:
a. Tin isotopes apparently cannot yet "be a way of sourcing tin" in a way that all authorities would agree on though some scientists claim to be able to make distinctions that indicate place of origin.
b. Lead isotopes usually found together with the tin in ancient
bronze products can more or less indicate the source of the mineral.
and this is probably what R. Altman was referring to.

c. Examination of lead isotopes found with the tin of ancient bronze products
does indicate that the tin (with which the lead was found) came from
Britain (and/or from Spain as Altman noted)
See
http://britam.org/now/634Now.html
#3. Tin and Bronze From Cornwall

And this is the main point.

Altman was right and if anything possibly reserved and conservative in her description.

To answer the question it should not have mattered much whether one tests
the tin isotopes directly or isotopes in the lead that accompanies the tin
as an impurity or deliberately retained addition.

R. Altman was correct in her conclusions she just wrote tin isotopes
instead of lead ones and for the case she was making it does not really matter.
It certainly does not deserve to have the valid evidence she cited
described as:
"mis-information put about by Ms Altman, goodness knows what
else is the product of her imagination?"

It looks like an honest mistake and one that should not have been allowed
to detract from the point Altman was making.

It would seem that at least some of they who criticized Altman should have
been aware of the facts in question.

5. Please Support Brit-Am
On the whole things have been slowly improving but we need more funds
to function properly and to spread the message.
The Brit-Am message is Biblical, it is the truth, it helps others, it helps Israel,
it helps the peoples represented by "Joseph", and it is good for "Judah".
Helping Brit-Am could bring manifold blessings.
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