"Brit-Am Now"-29
Contents:
1. Note from Yair Davidiy
2. Stephen Spykerman (quiting Colbert Bryan) 600,000,000 (six hundred million) Israelites???
3. First Wave of Homeschoolers Comes of Age

Date:  Fri Jun 7, 2002  12:38 am
 

1.
WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS MESSAGE?

Note from Yair Davidiy:
Most people in the west may someway or other belong to the Lost Ten
Tribes OR it may be that only part of them do.
Another point is that even though many people may be physically descended
from Israel if they are not aware of the fact or do not
act in accordance to it then it may make no or little real difference.
On the one hand you may say that the belief exists and the question is true
or not true. On the other hand you could say that if it applies to only
part of the people
and even they have intermixed with others and are culturally dominated by
them then it may make no real difference. In this latter case you could
even propose that
the actual truth of the belief is expressed through acting in accordance
with it, i.e. in its realization.

At all events we think it is important. I work at it full time and we have
other people who (mostly on a voluntary basis) give much time and energy
towards it. The Brit-Am belief needs to be developed and promoted. We are
being held back mainly through lack of resources. Please take this into
consideration.

At the moment we are working on putting out new publications and
re-publishing those that have gone out of print. Publications enable us to
spread the message, deepen the awareness of it and also serve as a source
of income enabling us to function.

We are working on a work in Hebrew. This work will be based on the
book "Ephraim" with adaptations, additional material, and
summarized segments from our other work. In the past we gave talks on
Brit-Am to young Hebrew-speaking Israelis both in groups and as
individuals. The people concerned were interested to a degree but a
recurring question that arose was: "WHAT PERTINENCE DOES IT HAVE TO US?"
i.e. what pertinence should Brit-Am have to Jewish people especially those
living in the State of Israel today? I am working on an answer and Rabbi
Feld is working on an answer and both our answers should find their way
into the Hebrew version
of "Ephraim" when it is published. These answers will be translated into
English and posted out to you.

In thinking of this matter a thought occurred to me.
"WHAT PERTINENCE DOES IT HAVE TO YOU?" i.e.
a. Why should those of you who are not Jewish care about the matter?
Perhaps some of our subscribers could write in and explain why Brit-Am
beliefs should be important to them.
In addition if you have ideas as to why Brit-Am should be important to the
Jewish people please send them in.
b. Why should Jews care about Brit-Am?
If you have anything to say, please say it.
Your ideas and your feedback are very important to us and sometimes that is
what keeps us going.
 

2.
Stephen Spykerman in "Brit-Am Now"-18 made an important point regarding
the enormous numbers
that may be entailed in counting the Lost Ten tribes as part of Israel. For
those of you who missed the point
or overlooked it excerpts from his post are given below:

Subject: "Brit-Am Now"-18
From Stephen Spykerman 20th may 2002
Dear Yair
There have been a number of letters recently on the subject of the size of
the Israelite population. I believe the attached article gives us the
definitive and most astonishing answer.
According to the Covenant God made with Abraham
THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL IS TO HAVE A LARGE POPULATION

The reason we need to look for a very large Israelite population in the
world today is because a pivotal part of the covenant God made with Abraham
included the promise of immumerable descendants. One of the most prominent
promises contained in the 'birthright blessing' was that the descendants of
Abraham would be very numerous. Israel's history book puts it in beautifully
poetic language:
"Blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants
as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore!"
(Genesis 22: 17)

The 'birthright' promise of an innumerable multitude descending from Abraham
through his son Isaac have most certainly come true when you take into
account the combined populations of the world's Israelite nations today.

For those who are aware of the identity of the nations who represent the
twelve tribes of Israel today, it is easy to calculate the approximate
numbers involved. If we count the current population of the United States of
America, Great Britain plus her white commonwealth countries, the nations of
N Western Europe, plus the Jews and all the Israelite ex patriot populations
worldwide, the total population comes to approx 600 million people. Yes,
believe it or not there are today around 600 million descendants of Jacob on
the earth, and remember, Jacob's name was changed to Israel! Incredible as
it may seem even the Scriptures confirm this fact, as Moses himself
prophesied that the children of Israel would become 'a thousand times more
numerous' than they were in his time. Read all about it in Israel's
consummate history book.

The Prophecy of Moses

Moses made a most astonishing prophecy! Moses himself prophesied that the
descendants of those Israelites that came out of Egypt, one day would number
six hundred million! In the Book of Exodus it records that there were some
600,000 Israelite males in the Exodus, besides women and children. Scholars
are agreed that these 600,000 males represented men of a military age who
were able to bear arms. Estimates of the total number making the Exodus vary
between two to three and a half million people. (Exodus 12: 37) In the Book
of Deuteronomy Moses addresses those same six hundred thousand Israelite men
that came out on foot in that great Exodus from Egypt by prophesying the
following words over them:
"May the Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times more numerous
than you are, and bless you as He has promised you! (Deuteronomy 1: 11)
A thousand times more than 600,000 = 600,000,000 (six hundred million), and
thus once again we see a prophecy spoken out around three and a half
thousand years ago, fulfilled to perfection in our time! Six hundred million
is far more than the 14 to 17 million Jews reckoned to be in the world
today, but then the Jewish people of today form only part of the picture.
Remember, Israel consists of twelve distinctive tribal groups.
With the total population of the world standing at around six billion this
means that a full ten percent of the worlds population is of Israelite
descent. According to the Bible the Israelites are God's 'chosen' people,
and it would appear therefore that in the 600 million combined population of
the Twelve Tribes of Israel, God has got Himself His tithe. This by
definition cannot be a coincidence, as according to the Law of Moses, the
first ten percent belongs to God!
Of the total population, the two sons of Joseph, the inheritors of the
'birthright', are by far the most populous. If one takes the population of
the USA into account, deducting from it the non Israelite Hispanic and black
sections, and adds this figure to the British populations around the world
including those of Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa, one
comes to a figure not far short of 300 million. Here yet again we have the
most wonderful confirmation of prophecy, as the two tribes of Ephraim and
Manasseh between them have a population nearly half as large as that of the
other ten tribes combined. Six hundred million Israelites in the world today
certainly is a staggering statistic and it surely can be described as a
"great multitude!" From this evidence, I think we can safely say that God
has well and truly fulfilled His covenant promise to Abraham. It must also
be a most comforting thought for the Jews to realise that after all this
time their fellow brother tribesmen have been located, and that they are not
alone in the world.
Shalom Shalom
from Stephen Spykerman
stephen@i...

3.

http://www.foxnews.com/
First Wave of Homeschoolers Comes of Age
Date Posted: April 05 2002
Playground bullies and prom-night jitters. Lunchroom hijinks and
locker room humiliations.
The necessary stuff of cherished school memories, or traumas best
left behind in the hallways of high school?
Or maybe something else entirely. Maybe they are completely
irrelevant to a happy and fulfilling life.
That's what Ben Kniaz, a 20-year-old American college student now
studying in Italy, would say. Kniaz missed out on all that
because he was schooled entirely at home and says he didn't miss
a thing.
Ben Kniaz, 20, runs the Web site (http://www.apricotpie.com) as a
forum for other homeschoolers.
"It was more that I was spared a lot of the stuff that goes on in
high school," Kniaz says from Rome. "I felt pretty turned off by
some of what I'd see."
"People say you need to experience it to deal with it later, but
you can just miss out on it and deal with it when you're more
mature. I got to focus on the things I wanted to do and liked to
do," Kniaz says.
Kniaz's gratitude for being spared some of the more dangerous and
corrupting influences of school life may be why anywhere from
850,000 to more than a million children are being homeschooled in
the United States now.
Legal in all 50 states since the 1980s, homeschooling has often
been criticized as a paranoid practice of right-wing religious
fanatics that stunts children's emotional growth.
But as that first generation of homeschoolers settles into young
adulthood, the criticism is proving unfounded. If anything, some
experts say, the homeschoolers are proving to be better prepared
for adulthood than their traditionally schooled peers.
Self-Reliant and Focused
Many homeschooled young adults say that being freed from the
rigidity and conformity of high school allowed them to explore
their individuality, creativity and independence.
"My parents felt that elementary school was traumatic for an
intelligent child and that in high school, you don't really learn
anything," explains Aletheia Price, a 19-year-old sophomore at
Thomas Aquinas College in Orange County, Calif., who was schooled
entirely at home until age 15.
"I think a lot of this stuff [about high school] is mythology,
that maybe we've got a whole lot of falsehoods associated with
schooling," says J. Gary Knowles, a University of Toronto
researcher who has extensively interviewed adults who were
homeschooled. "We have all these weird rites of passage that are
deemed important and many are quite dysfunctional."
Knowles has found homeschoolers to be more self-reliant and
focused.
"They're able to move into adulthood with a much better sense of
self and have a very good sense as to what they want to do," he
said.
If he has any concerns, they are about socialization. Children
schooled within a rigid social view may not be well equipped to
live in a diverse culture, he says.
"They may have had very little exposure to the cultural
complexities of society, to a range of ideas," Knowles says. "I
am very concerned about families with very narrow views on what
is appropriate preparation for citizenship."
Overall, though, Knowles has found homeschooled adults to be no
more or less engaged socially or politically than those with
traditional educations.
Branching Out
To get past the socialization issue, many homeschooling families
join with homeschooling groups in their area or turn to town
athletic programs, scouting and other youth groups.
"Your peers are not the people the same age as you, they are
people who share your interests," insists Patrick Farenga, a
consultant with Holt Associates, a homeschooling advocacy group.
Or as Knowles put it: "Where did we ever get the idea that 2,000
13-year-olds were the ideal people with which to socialize other
13-year-olds?"
Curiously absent from homeschoolers as a group is something many
presumed to be a part of every childhood - youthful angst and
alienation. The burning desire to isolate and separate themselves
from their parents just doesn't seem to be there, researchers
say.
Kniaz, for example, recalls fondly enjoying two-hour conversations
with his father every night, and both he and Price describe
close, honest relationships with their parents and siblings.
"Alienation between generations is a product of schooling," says
Knowles. "There's no reason for teen-agers to be alienated."
Kniaz said his parents gave him choices, so he never felt under
their thumb. "I always felt that I was in charge of my life with
my parents guiding me," he says. "I never felt anything was being
hammered down my throat."
"That problem was sort of solved itself because [my parents]
turned me loose when I was 16," says Price, who began taking
college courses and studying her self-designed curriculum at the
library at that age. "I was out of the house all day."
Price's initiative is not uncommon. Many homeschooled teens
supplement their education with community college classes, taking
over the direction of their education much earlier than other
kids their age. Whether that is good or bad remains a subject of
debate.
Knowles has expressed concern that homeschooled kids are pushed
too hard to achieve, and that some are finding themselves in
college much too early. Price and Kniaz, both of whom attend a
traditional university, said dorm life, and the behavior of some
of their classmates and roommates, was jarring at first.
Once over that, though, the homeschoolers seem to have the
discipline and maturity to quickly develop college-level study
habits. They are not as easily distracted and are already
accustomed to taking responsibility for themselves.
"I wouldn't say homeschoolers are better educated, but they are
better equipped to learn," Knowles says.
Both Kniaz and Price credit their parents for creating a
successful, creative and positive homeschooling experience, and
according to the experts, the main concern about homeschooling is
that some children will be trapped with bad parents as bad
teachers.
"I know some homeschoolers who probably would have been better off
in high school," Kniaz said, perhaps putting it best. "It all
depends on your family."
 

http://www.britam.org/
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"And I will make of you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your
name great.
And you shall be a blessing.
"And I will bless they who bless you, and curse him who curses you.
And in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
(Gensis 12;2-3).

The Principles of Brit-Am require:
1. Acceptance of Prophecy.
2. Self-Respect (no hatred of fellow Israelite groups, no antisemitism)
3. Acknowledgement of The Israelite Identity of many people amongst
Western Nations.

The aims of Brit-Am are to encourage:
1. The spread of Identity Awareness.
2. Increased Identity research and clarification.
3. Association of members together for the sake of mutual-empowerment,
learning and fellowship.

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