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Mystery of the Ten Lost Tribes
Afghanistan
by
Rabbi Marvin Tokayer |
The Bible mentions the city of Medes as one of the locations of the
Assyrian exile of the Ten Tribes of Israel. Most explain and understand
this area to be the region in Northwest Persia called Kurdistan. It
is an accepted tradition that the people of this area are from the
Assyrian exile.
When one considers the possibility of the people of this exile
wandering north and east, then this would apply to the Tribes of
Israel living in the Caucasian Mountains between the Caspian Sea
and the Black Sea which includes the areas of Armenia, Georgia,
Azerbaidzhan, and Daghistan (areas of Khazar in old days). An eastern
expansion beyond the Caspian sea includes the areas Uzbekistan,
Bukhara, and Turkemistan. From these areas it is very easy to move
south to Afghanistan, India, Pakistan as well as to get to China.
If one travels from the area of Medes or Hamadan to farther east,
crossing the Khayber Mountains or the Khayber Pass, he comes into
the frontier of Afghanistan today. There I personally found an amazing
sight. There are so many of a tribe with names that had Yusuf in
the name as Yusufzai, Yusufuzi, Yusufzad, etc., who claimed origin
from the Lost Tribes and I personally believe it.
Yusuf means Joseph and Yusufzai means children of Joseph. The tribes
of Joseph are the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh who are a part
of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. They also call themselves Bani-Israel
meaning children of Israel. Their tradition is that they were carried
away from their ancient homeland. Formerly they were shepherds in
search of pasture but they gave up their nomadic life and settled
into village communities.
 Israeli
Tradition in Afghan Royal Family
Not only the Pathans, but also the Afghan Royal Family has a very
well known tradition placing its origin in ancient Israel, they
came from the Tribe of Benjamin.
This tradition was first published in 1635 in a book called Mahsan-I-Afghani
and has often been mentioned in the research literature. According
to this tradition, King Saul had a son called Jeremiah who had a
son called Afghana. Jeremiah died at about the time of King Saul's
death and Afghana was raised by King David and remained in the royal
court during King Solomon's reign.
About 400 years later in the time of disorder of Israel, the Afghana
family fled to a land called Gur which is in central Afghanistan.
They settled and traded with the people of the area and in the year
662, with the arrival of Islam, the sons of Israel in Gur converted
to the prophet with 7 representatives of the Afghan. The leader
of the sons of Israel was Kish like the name of Saul's father.
According to this tradition Muhammed rewarded them and Kish's Hebrew
name was changed to Arab-A-Rashid by Muhammad and was given the
task of spreading Islam among his people. This is the roots of Afghan
Royal Family.
So Afghan Royal Family has the tradition of ancient Israel - Benjamin
Tribe of the Southern Kingdom of Judah.
Overview
Afghanistan
Burma
Pakistan
- The Pathans
Kashmir
Japan
Ecuador
China
Reprinted
from "Nihon-Yudaya, Huuin no Kodaishi" by Rabbi Marvin Tokayer,
translated from Japanese by Arimasa
Kubo. Following his ordination, Rabbi Tokayer served as a U.S.
Air Force Chaplain in Japan, and upon his discharge from the military,
returned to Tokyo to serve for many years as rabbi of the Jewish Community
of Japan as well as Vice President and Director of Culture, Religion
and Education for the Jewish communities of the Far East.
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