"Brit-Am Now"-294

September 16, 2003
Contents:
1. Joan Griffith: Scandinavian Points
2. U.S, Presidents and Jews
3. Cyrus Gordon Extracts
4. Biblical Proofs no.22 Best Places should be
Biblical Proofs no.23 Best Places
5. Biblical Proofs no 24. Baal and Notsrim

1. Joan Griffith: Scandinavian Points
Subject: Re: "Brit-Am Now"-293--Scandinavia
Hi,
A recent book about the Basques indicates that they are the fishermen who
kept the West alive during the Middle Ages by fishing in the Grand Banks
off the North American coast. Their fishing secrets were closely guarded.

Also, I read a story last night about Swedish skiers. King Haakon died and
his 18-month-old son was sent to another part of the country (the poor part
where people wore birchbark shoes and therefore were called "birch leg",
which gained the connotation of stout, sturdy, firm in character) to be
kept safe from possible usurpation. To get him there, two of the best
skiers carried the infant on their backs, and to avoid enemies, took the
worst trails on the highest mountain, but I think they made the journey in
something like 7-11 hours. The infant grew up to be one of the great kings.
Until today they have  a ski race in which the contestants carry a 7.7
pound or kilo?? weight (7.7 pounds is the weight of a newborn...) to mimic
carrying a child.
Later on, during the time of Napoleon, one of his generals was offered the
crown of Sweden, and accepted it. So at least the royal family of Sweden is
Reubenite.

Joan
Celestial navigation is based on the premise that the Earth is The center
of the universe. The premise is wrong, but the navigation works. An
incorrect model can be a useful tool. - Kelvin Throop III

2. U.S, Presidents and Jews
Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2003 23:56:45 -0400 (EDT)
From: Johnstembridge1@aol.com
Subject: Fwd: U.S, Presidents and Jews
From: ANrosenheck@cs.com
Subject: Fwd: U.S, Presidents and Jews

 From George Washington to George Bush Who was the first President to
attend a synagogue service? To receive a Torah as a gift? To name a Jew to
his cabinet? You'll find the answer to these and other curious queries in
this non-partisan feature prepared by a lady who knows this subject well,
except who will be the first Jewish President of the United States.

GEORGE WASHINGTON was the first President to write to a synagogue. In 1790
he addressed separate letters to the Touro Synagogue in Newport, RI, and to
Mikveh Israel Congregation in Savannah, GA, and a joint letter to
Congregation Beth Shalom, Richmond, VA, Mikveh Israel Philadelphia, Beth
Elohim, Charleston, S. C. and Shearith Israel, New York. His letters are an
eloquent expression and hope for religious harmony and endure as indelible
statements of the most fundamental tenets of American democracy.

THOMAS JEFFERSON was the fist President to appoint a Jew to a Federal post.
In 1801 he named Reuben Etting of Baltimore as US Marshall for Maryland.

JAMES MADISON was the first President to appoint a Jew to a diplomatic
post. He sent Mordecai M. Noah to Tunis from 1813 to 1816.

MARTIN VAN BUREN was the first President to order an American consul to
intervene on behalf of Jews abroad. In 1840 he instructed the U. S. consul
in Alexandria, Egypt to use his good offices to protect the Jews of
Damascus who were under attack because of a false blood ritual accusation.

JOHN TYLER was the first President to nominate a U. S. consult to
Palestine. Warder Cresson, a Quaker convert to Judaism who established a
pioneer Zionist colony, received the appointment in 1844.

FRANKLIN PIERCE was the first and probably the only President whose name
appears on the charter of a synagogue. Pierce signed the Act of Congress in
1857 that amended the laws of the District of Columbia to enable the
incorporation of the city's first synagogue, the Washington Hebrew
Congregation.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN was the first President to make it possible for rabbis to
serve as military chaplains. He did this by signing the 1862 Act of
Congress which changed the law that had previously barred all but Christian
clergymen from the chaplainry. Lincoln was also the first, and happily the
only President who was called upon to revoke an official act of
anti-Semitism by the U. S. government. It was Lincoln who cancelled General
Ulysses S. Grant's "Order No. 11" expelling all Jews from Tennessee from
the district controlled by his armies during the Civil War. Grant always
denied personal responsibility for this act attributing it to his subordinate.

ULYSSES S. GRANT was the first President to attend a synagogue service
while in office. When Adas Israel Congregation in Washington D. C. was
dedicated in 1874, Grant and all members of his Cabinet were present.

RUTHERFORD HAYS was the first President to designate a Jewish ambassador
for the stated purpose of fighting anti-Semitism. In 1870, he named
Benjamin Peixotto Consul-General to Rumania. Hays also was the first
President to assure a civil service employee her right to work for the
Federal government and yet observe the Sabbath. He ordered the employment
of a Jewish woman who had been denied a position in the Department of the
Interior because of her refusal to work on Saturday.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT was the first President to appoint a Jew to a
presidential cabinet. In 1906 he named Oscar S. Straus Secretary of
Commerce and Labor. Theodore Roosevelt was also the first President to
contribute his own funds to a Jewish cause. In 1919, when he received the
Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts while President to settle the
Russo-Japanese War, Roosevelt contributed part of his prize to the National
Jewish Welfare Board.

WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT was the first President to attend a Seder while in
office. In 1912, when he visited Providence, RI, he participated in the
family Seder of Colonel Harry Cutler, first president of the National
Jewish Welfare Board, in the Cutler home on Glenham Street.

WOODROW WILSON was the first President to nominate a Jew to the United
States Supreme Court. Standing firm against great pressure to withdraw the
nomination, Wilson insisted that he knew no one better qualified by
judicial temperament as well as legal and social understanding,
confirmation was finally voted by the Senate on June 1, 1916. Wilson was
also the first President to publicly endorse a national Jewish
philanthropic campaign. In a letter to Jacob Schiff, on November 22, 1917,
Wilson called for wide support of the United Jewish Relief Campaign which
was raising funds for European War relief.

WARREN HARDING was the first President to sign a Joint Congressional
Resolution endorsing the Balfour Declaration and the Palestine Mandate
supporting the establishment in Palestine of a national Jewish home for the
Jewish people. The resolution was signed September 22, 1922.

CALVIN COOLIDGE was the first President to participate in the dedication of
a Jewish community institution that was not a house of worship. On May 3,
1925, he helped dedicate the cornerstone of the Washington, D. C. Jewish
Community center.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT was the first President to be given a Torah as a
gift. He received a miniature Torah from Young Israel and another that had
been rescued from a burning synagogue in Czechoslovakia. Both are now in
the Roosevelt Memorial Library in Hyde Park. The Roosevelt administration's
failure to expand the existing refuge quota system ensured that large
numbers of Jews would ultimately become some of the Holocaust's six million
victims. Fifty-six years after Roosevelt's death, the arguments continue
over Roosevelt's response to the Holocaust.

HARRY S. TRUMAN, on May 14, 1948, just eleven minutes after Israel's
proclamation of independence, was the first head of a government to
announce to the press that "the United Stated recognizes the provisional
government as the de facto authority of the new state of Israel." Truman
was also the first U. S. President to receive a president of Israel at the
White House - Chaim Weizman, in 1948 and an Ambassador from Israel - Eliahu
Elat in 1948. With Israel staggering under the burdens of mass immigration
in 1951-1952, President Truman obtained from Congress close to $140 million
in loans and grants.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER was the first President to participate in a
coast-to-coast TV program sponsored by a Jewish organization. It was a
network show in 1954 celebrating the 300th anniversary of the American
Jewish community. On this occasion he said that it was one of the enduring
satisfactions of his life that he was privileged to lead the forces of the
free world which finally crushed the brutal regime in Germany, freeing the
remnant of Jews for a new life and hope in Israel.

JOHN F. KENNEDY named two Jews to his cabinet - Abraham Ribicoff as
Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, and Arthur Goldberg as
Secretary of Labor. Kennedy was the only President for whom a national
Jewish Award was named. The annual peace award of the Synagogue Council of
America was re-named the John F. Kennedy Peace Award after his
assassination in 1963.

JIMMY CARTER in a number of impassioned speeches stated his concern for
human rights and stressed the right of Russian Jews to emigrate. He is
credited with being the person responsible for the Camp David Accords.

GEORGE BUSH I in 1985 as Vice President had played a personal role in
"Operation Joshua," the airlift which brought 10,000 Jews out of Ethiopia
directly to resettlement in Israel. Then, again in 1991, when Bush was
President, American help played a critical role in "Operation Solomon", the
escape of 14,000 more Ethiopian Jews. Most dramatically, Bush got to the U.
N. to revoke its 1975 "Zionism is Racism" resolution.

3. Cyrus Gordon Extracts
http://users.cyberone.com.au/myers/gordon.html

Cyrus H. Gordon on the East Mediterranean Culture Common to Greek and
Hebrew Civilisations.

Extracts Only:

"The Greeks perfected a new type of civilization that had been inaugurated
by the Phoenicians" - Bertrand Russell, Authority and the Individual,
London, Unwin Books, 1970.

A maverick scholar, Cyrus Gordon cannot be blamed for the names (Cyrus
Herzl) his Zionist parents gave him, in memory of Cyrus the Persian
Emperor, and Theodor Herzl.

An interview with Gordon, a few months before his death, (Biblical
Archaeology Review, November/December 2000 Vol 26 No. 6):
http://users.cyberone.com.au/myers/science.html.

  More than a quarter of a century ago, Franz Dornseiff called attention to
the ancient Near East stratum underlying Greek and Hebrew literatures, and
to the fact that the two literatures (specifically from 10OO to 200 B.C.)
were never really isolated from each other.

The Greeks viewed the Mediterranean not as a barrier but as a network of
routes connecting the people who dwelt along its shores. This is familiar
to any student of Greece. But what is not so well known is that the Hebrews
express themselves similarly in passages like Psalm 8: 9 ("crossing the
paths of the seas"). Sea-lanes connected the East Mediterranean peoples
including Hebrews and Greeks, thus accounting for much of the cultural
interchange.

Just as Mycenaean civilisation is a development of the Minoan, so too the
Philistines who came to Palestine from Caphtor were an offshoot of the same
general Aegean civilisation.

Thus the Achaeans, Trojans, Philistines and Hebrews during the closing
centuries of the second millennium belonged to the same international
complex of peoples, sharing many conventions and institutions, specifically
in military matters.

The customs of both Greeks and Hebrews in that heroic age were often alien
to their respective descendants in the classical periods. We shall have to
bear in mind that the gulf separating classical Israel (of the great
Prophets) from classical Greece (of the scientists and philosophers) must
not be read back into the heroic age when both peoples formed part of the
same international complex.

One of the major channels of cultural transmission was the colony or
enclave. Whole communities were often transplanted to look after their
nation's interests in far-offplaces. Sometimes these colonies were of a
military character to secure the borders of a large empire. For example,
the Egyptian Empire (which reachcd its maximum limits during the reign of
Thothmes III), and later the Hebrew Empire of David and Solomon, seem to
have planted colonies on their northern frontier, just east of Cilicia. In
any case, the northern districts called Musur ("Egypt") and "Judah"
("Ya'udi" in the native inscriptions) may well have been named after the
homelands of the colonising powers. Indeed, we have to be on the look-out
in the texts we read, to know whether Musur and "Judah" designate the
homeland or the colony. In addition to military duties, such colonies often
had commercial functions as well.

Some colonies were primarily commercial, others military. For example, it
is quite likely that the Third Dynasty of Ur, in Sumer, established around
2000 B.C. a number of colonies called Ur in tablets from Nuzu, Alalakh and
Hattusa. The Ur of the Chaldees, where Abraham was born, seems to have been
one of the northern Urs.

Then again in 525 B.C., when Cambyses conquered Egypt, he found an already
established military colony of Aramaic Jews guarding the fortress island of
Elephantine far up the Nile. This military colony continued to function for
a long time under the Achaemeniad rulers of Egypt. It is normal for people
to continue their way of life even though new masters control their land.

The best-documented colonies are the Old Assyrian commercial settlements in
Asia Minor, particularly the one at Kultepe. The establishment of such
centres usually implies that the founding nation was stronger than the
nation on whose soil the community was planted. At least such was the case
subsequently when the Arameans of Damascus took cities away from Omri of
Israel and established commercial agents in Samaria; whereas, when Omri's
son Ahab vanquished the Arameans, he recovered the lost territory and
posted his commercial agents in Damascus (I Kings 20:34). However, military
supremacy did not always have to precede commercial expansion. The long
Mesopotamian tradition of business, book-keeping and law was welcome

Ugarit provides us with the clearest picture of what was happening in the
Near East during the Amarna Age. The community might be called Semitic,
because the official local language (Ugaritic) is clearly Semitic. However,
there was an influential Aegean enclave there, attested by Cypro-Minoan
texts, Mycenaean art objects, and the presence of a Caphtorian god in the
Ugaritic pantheon. Hittites, Hurrians, Alashiyans and other segments of the
community are mentioned in the tablets. Assyrian and Egyptian enclaves are
recorded side by side, though Ugarit certainly did not belong to either the
Assyrian or Egyptian kings. While King Niqmad of Ugarit paid tribute to the
Hittite sovereign (Suppiluliuma), Ugarit was a member of the Hittite
defensive alliance, rather than a conquered territory. The fact that
Assyrian and Egyptian enclaves flourished at Ugarit shows that Ugarit
enjoyed enough freedom to have peaceful relations with all nations, near
and far. What we see at Ugarit is the interpenetration of commercial
empires. At that important city, at the crossroads of east-west and
north-south traffic, representatives of the Aegean, Hittite, Hurrian,
Mesopotamian, Canaanite, Egyptian and other populations met to conduct
their affairs in an international order.

Genesis 14 portrays Abraham as the commander of his own company of troops,
augmented by those of his Amorite allies. Moreover, he is successful in
overtaking and defeating a coalition of invading kings. It is significant
that in this chapter, Abraham is called a "Hebrew." This raises an
interesting question, because many scholars are inclined to identify
"Hebrew" with Apiru (written in Akkadian: ha-pi-ru).

Abraham the "Hebrew" has a combination of qualities that fit the Apiru
well: outsider, trader, official, warrior.

When Solomon dedicated the Temple in Jerusalem, he is represented as saying
to God: (I Kings 8: 41) "And also to the alien, who is not of Thy people
Israel, but comes from a distant land on account of Thy fame; (42) for
hearing of Thy great name and Thy strong hand, and Thine outstretched arm,
he comes to this house to pray. ... (43) do Thou listen in the heavens, the
place where Thou dwellest, and perform all that the alien begs of Thee, so
that all the peoples of the earth may know Thy name, to fear Thee like
Thine own people Israel, and to know that Thy name is proclaimed over this
house that I have built."

Sumer, the most southerly part of Mesopotamia, is of recent geological
formation. The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers deposit a vast quantity of silt
each year so that the shore line of the Persian Gulf keeps moving
perceptibly southward. At present, the Twin Rivers join to form the Shatt
el-Arab, which flows into the Gul£. In Sumerian times, the Euphrates and
Tigris emptied into the Gulf separately at points that are now far inland.

Sumer, formed of fertile silt and favoured with an abundance of water from
the Rivers, had enormous potentialities requiring only the right human
factor to develop them. The Sumerians arrived on the scene, and never was
there a better combination of land and people. Where the Sumerians came
from is still disputed. Typologically, the language of Sumer resembles
Chinese, which suggests an eastern origin.

Cultural connections between Sumer and the lands to the north (and
north-east and north-west) tip the scales in favour of a land route for the
advent of the Sumerians.

Excellence in the working of stones for seals, and of gold, silver,
electrum and copper for jewellery, implements and weapons, indicates early
connections with, and exploitation of, the mineral resources of Western and
Central Asia. 

 From the Minoan [i.e. the Island of Crete] centre, bull-f1ghting spread to
different parts of the Mediterranean. No one will question that the
different schools of bull-fighting in Spain, Portugal and Southern France
are reflexes of one tradition. By the same token, a common origin for
Sumerian and Minoan bull-grappling is indicated by historic connections
between the two peoples in

In the 24th century B.C., a new dynasty got hold of Mesopotamia. Sargon, of
the city of Akkad, established a Semitic Empire that reached out into the
Mediterranean. From his time on, southern Mesopotamia came to be known as
Sumer and Akkad; Sumer designating the more Sumerian south, and Akkad the
more Semitic north. His success marked a turning point in history. From his
time down to the present, Mesopotamia became a predominantly Semitic land.
Sargon claimed dominion over the entire world;


The most familiar and swiftest form of ethnic impact is military invasion
and conquest. The first Semitic empire, namely the Akkad Dynasty in
Mesopotamia (ca. 235O-2150 B.C.), could boast of conquests up to, and even
beyond, the shores of the Mediterranean. Seal cylinders of the Akkad
Dynasty have been found on the island of Cyprus, making it quite likely
that Sargon, who founded the Dynasty, reached Cyprus and brought it under
his sway. Other Mesopotamian monarchs whose operations reached the
Mediterranean in early times, include Naram-Sin of the Akkad Dynasty,
Sargon the First of Assyria, and Naram-Sin of Eshnunna.

The King of Battle epic tells of Sargon planning to march over the
difficult road to Bursahanda, in Asia Minor. Inasmuch as we do not possess
all of the text, and what we have is incomplete (with the opening signs of
each line lost), it is hard to give a full translation. But "the chief of
the merchants" (obverse, 1. 13) mentions the campaigns of Sargon, his
suzerainty over the four quarters of the earth, and control over "the
throne-rooms from the rising of the sun to the setting of the sun"(11. 14-15).
The basic Indo-European vocabulary in Akkadian is due to a process called
linguistic alliance. This means only that when two different linguistic
groups of people live together, their languages will interpenetrate each
other.

Since the Akkadian records start around the middle of the third millennium
B.C., the formation of the Akkadian language in linguistic alliance with
Indo-Europeans in Anatolia must have taken place still earlier.

I first discovered that the Minoan language was specifically Northwest
Semitic, of a type that the ancient Greeks would have called "Phoenician".

No competent Semitist is likely to oppose the Northwest Semitic character
of the Minoan language. The evidence, especially of Eteocretan, is too
clear for that. There will probably be some difference of opinion as to
whether "Phoenician" is the right label. I am using "Phoenician" in the
broad sense that the Greeks used it. For reasons that I shall explain in a
more technical study, I mean by "Phoenician" in this context all the
Northwest Semitic dialects used along the Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian
coastline, including biblical Hebrew.

To the end of his life, Cyrus Gordon maintained, like Thor Heyerdahl, that
the Phoenicians had sailed to the Americas. Being such an eminent scholar,
he was a thorn in the side of the Dogmatic Sceptics. An interview with
Cyrus Gordon, a few months before his death, (Biblical Archaeology Review,
November/December 2000 Vol 26 No. 6):
http://users.cyberone.com.au/myers/science.html.

4. Biblical Proofs no. 22 Best Places should be
Biblical Proofs no.23 Best Places.
Sorry for the continued confusion in numbering posts and articles.


5. Biblical Proofs no 24. Baal and Notsrim

             They shall worship the Baal (Hosea 2:8, 2:13, 2:16) like the
Celts in Britain and Gaul once did. Baal was a god who died and was
resurrected.  They shall mistake Baal   for the God of Israel (Hosea 2:16).
[Hosea 11:12] EPHRAIM COMPASSETH ME ABOUT WITH LIES, AND THE HOUSE OF
ISRAEL WITH DECEIT: BUT JUDAH YET RULETH WITH GOD, AND IS FAITHFUL WITH THE
SAINTS.

They shall be called "Notsrim" in Hebrew. This term later came to be
applied to Christianity
and from the beginning had religious connotations.

In our book "Ephraim" we spoke of this point at length. We probably made a
mistake in speaking too bluntly and in mixing known fact with
speculation.  We should not have needlessly given cause for offence.
Most of our supporters and many of our friends are Christians.
We consider (in line with Maimonides concerning Christianity and Islam in
general) that Christianity is a tool
of Divine Providence through which the gentiles will become more acquainted
with Biblical Truth.

Specifically it is the means by which most of the Lost Ten Tribes will
first become acquainted with their Israelite
Identity and its significance.
As such Christianity is our ally and not our adversary.
A good portion of those Christians who support emphasize the Hebrew roots
of their religion while recognizing the paganism that has been adopted by
mainstream Christianity.

At all events the point is that the Lost Ten Tribes must be sought for
amongst Christian nations.
They are not amongst the Jews, neither are they muslims, or pagans.
They must be sought for amongst those Christian nations that emphasize
Biblical truth.
Whether one agrees with us or not on religious matters this claim of ours
has Biblical and historical
substance and is an additional powerful  proof when impressing  "Judah" as
to who the Lost Ten Tribes
are and where they are to be found at present.

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