“I am Yahweh; that is My Name!  I will not give My glory to anyone else, nor share My praise with carved idols.” (Isaiah 42: 8)

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Judah is One Tribe of Israel, Not All Twelve

Telling the truth in today’s world can be excruciatingly difficult.  This is one truth that needs to be told and understood.

Ira Stoll was managing editor of Forward and North American editor of the Jerusalem Post.  He begins an article published in The Algemeiner titled “New York Times’ David Brooks Offers Up a False Trichotomy” by saying,

One of David Brooks’s favorite column writing tricks is the false dichotomy — presenting two choices as mutually exclusive when in fact there is overlap between them.

In his latest New York Times column, though, Brooks has raised the stakes, offering up a false trichotomy.

Brooks writes, “Human beings can be rallied around one of three things: religion, tribe or ideals.”

That sentence stopped me in my tracks as a Jewish reader, because Judaism includes elements of all three rallying elements. It’s a religion that also includes ideals such as justice, truth, and freedom. The Jewish people of the Bible included 12 tribes, and the modern Jewish people are often described, accurately or inaccurately, as having some tribal aspects.

I don’t want to argue Stoll’s points relating to David Brooks’ article in the New York Times.  Instead, I want to zero in on his use of the phrase “the Jewish people of the Bible included 12 tribes”.

That’s blatantly false.

The 12 tribes of the Children of Israel are the people of the Bible.  They are Yahweh’s chosen people.  Judah is one of those 12 tribes, not all 12.

The Bible tells about Yahweh dividing the nation Israel into Israel and Judah in the 900s BC following King Solomon’s death.  Israel was the Northern Kingdom.  Israel rebelled against Yahweh, and He allowed the Assyrians to defeat them, take them captive, and scatter them among “the nations”, the goyim, in the 700s BC.

Together, the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom are known as the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, because they never returned.  They assimilated, and most of them lost touch with their identity as Children of Israel.

Judah, the Southern Kingdom, is a combination of Judah and Benjamin.  Because of its small size, Benjamin was absorbed by Judah and lost its identity as a separate tribe.  Judah rebelled against Yahweh, too.  In the 500s BC, Yahweh allowed the Babylonians to defeat them, take them captive, and move a large number of them to Babylon where they lived for 70 years.  When their exile ended, they returned to the Promised Land.  They never lost touch with their identity as Judeans, Jewish people.

This is not a semantic problem.  It’s central to the Bible.  Yahweh promised to awaken His children who were scattered among the nations and reunite the Northern and Southern Kingdoms. (See Ezekiel 37.)   That’s critical because it precedes Yahweh’s return. (See Zechariah 12.)

The awakening is taking place right now.  It’s a sign that Yahweh’s return is approaching.

Far too many Jewish people today make the same mistake that Ira Stoll made.  They see Jewish people alone as the chosen people, and they completely ignore the other 10 tribes.  Yahweh doesn’t ignore them.

Even worse, they have substituted Halacha for Yahweh’s word.  It comes from the Talmud.  It is not from Yahweh. (See The Trilogy.)

Interestingly, Ira Stoll was managing editor of Forward.  This article appeared recently in Forward: “Why Talmud Is the Way To Be Jewish Without Judaism”.  That’s like saying, “How to be Jewish without Yahweh.”

As I said, this truth needs to be told and understood.  It is a serious matter.

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“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17: 22-24)

See “His Name is Yahweh”.