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While most of us remain unaware of ourselves, it is because self – knowledge is painful, and we prefer the pleasures of self – esteem. illusion. -Aldous Huxley
During my years in Uruguay, I met several people who had discovered, some quite recently, that they had Jewish ancestors. Many of them were descendants of the crypto-Jews of Spain, this important part of the Jewish community who chose to convert to Christianity centuries ago, rather than being exiled from the country. Kingdom of Ferdinand and Isabel. They kept their Jewish identity and practice secret, especially from agents of the Inquisition. I have heard estimates that up to 20% of people of Spanish origin are of Jewish origin. We are talking about tens of millions of souls.
However, this was not the only source of new Jews. There were a number whose grandparents had hidden all traces of their Jewishness during the Holocaust, who turned out to be Jews on their death beds, or even after. My friend, Rabbi Avi Baumol, active in the Jewish community of Krakow, confirms that there is a growing phenomenon of young Poles discovering their Jewish pedigree and returning to their roots.
Rabbeinu Bechaye on Numbers 26:51 (Pinchas) analyzes the census that Moses led at the end of the forty-year Jewish journey through the desert. He then calls upon the prophecy of Isaiah (chapters 54 and 49), which calls for something surprising for a nation that was always the smallest, the weakest, the most insignificant in terms of population. The assertion is that at the end of days, the Jews will be the largest nation on the planet and they will return en masse to Israel.
Have we seen the initial net of what could prove to be a flood? Are Ethiopian Jews a further sign of the African continent? Are the Bnei Menashe of India an omen of a larger influx of the subcontinent? Do the resurfaced Jews from all over America and Europe have a hint of a lot more under the surface?
What about rumors and older theories of the ten lost tribes? Are the Celts and their offspring somehow our long-lost cousins? Do the Jews of Kaifeng, China, really predate the Tang Dynasty (618-907), and are they perhaps only the tip of the iceberg as to the part of the truly Jewish Chinese population?
The possibilities are intriguing and exciting. What would it mean for the world to suddenly have hundreds of millions of people, perhaps over a billion souls, identify as Jews, and show solidarity with Israel? This is one of the possible scenarios of the Messianic Age
May we be welcoming to all who seek us and show kindness and kindness to make us a tribe worthy of To be joined.
Shabbat Shalom,
Dedication:
To Ethiopian Jews. You are our brothers, no matter what any bureaucrat says.
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