I remember when I was in Hebrew School, we would often wonder whether anyone would ever find the lost tribes of Israel. In hindsight, it seemed highly unlikely. Where could they be hiding? Wouldn’t we know about a tribe of Jews in a foreign land by now? Wouldn’t we have even known in 1970? Of course we would.
Or so I thought. It looks like we may have found a lost tribe in Africa. The Lemba are a black African tribe that have many semitic traditions. They claim Jewish ancestry and observe Jewish traditions such as kosher-like dietary restrictions, slaughter practices, male circumcision, rules against intermarriage and have Semitic sounding clan names. Now, research shows that they are related to other Jews genetically and that their priestly class is related to the Kohanim. They even have a replica of the Ark of the Covenant. According to radioactive dating it is 700 years old. Hardly 3000, but apparently the oldest replica known.
I can’t get my mind around this. Here’s a childhood fantasy come to life. One I haven’t thought about in 30 years. But, the evidence looks solid. I wonder if Israel will give them right of return?
