Dan, Beta Israel and the Rabbis

I hope this message is not too wordy for most subscribers but the issue at hand is not one that a flighty answer will suffice. I've been waiting for the rabbis to tackle this but since they haven't...

For the parents wishing to raise their children by standards universal throughout the People Israel, with G-d's help, I write.

Hear now that in Sepharad (Hesperides or Spain) in the year 883 CE one Rabbi Eldad haDani (the Danite) came amongst the Jews there or so says Rabbi Hhisdai ibn Shapruth. Eldad had also been in Iraq and in Tunisia he was with Rabbi Y*hudah ben Qorash. The Karaite Rabbi Y*hudah haDassi says Eldad visited Egypt and returned to Ethiopia before travelling to the aforenamed countries. Read now what Eldad wrote to Jews of Spain in the 11th paragraph of his letter:

We have a tradition from father to son that we, the sons of Dan, were aforetime in the land of Israel dwellers in tents and among all the tribes of Israel there were none like us men of war and mighty of valour. And, when Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin and made two golden calves, arose over them, the kingdom of the house of David was divided and the tribes gathered together and said, "Come and fight against Rehoboam and against Jerusalem." They answered, "Why should we fight with our brothers and with the son of our lord David King of Israel and Judah? G-d forbid!" Then said the elders of Israel, "You have not in all the tribes of Israel mighty ones like the tribe of Dan," At once they said to the children of Dan, "Arise and fight with the children of Judah." They answered, "By the life of Dan our father, we will not make war with our brothers and we will not shed blood." At once we the children of Dan took swords and lances and bows, and devoted ourselves to death to go forth from the land of Israel, for we saw we could not stay, "Let us go hence and find a resting place but if we wait until the end they will take us away." So we took heart and counsel to go to Egypt to destroy it and to kill all its inhabitants. Our princes said to us, "Is it not written, ye shall not continue to see it again for ever? How will you prosper?" They said, "Let us go against Amalek or against Edom or against Ammon and Moab to destroy them and let us dwell in their place." Our princes said, "It is written in the Law that the Qodesh, Barukh Hu, has prevented Israel from crossing their border. Finally we took counsel to go to Egypt, but not by the way that our fathers went and not to destroy it, but only to go there to cross the River Pishon to the land of Æthiopia and, behold, when we came near to Egypt, all Egypt was afraid and sent to us asking, "Is it war or peace?" and we said, "For peace; we will cross your country to the River Pishon, and there we will find a resting place," and, behold, they did not believe us, but all Egypt stood on guard until we crossed their country and arrived in the land of Æthiopia. We found it a good and fat land, and, in it, fields, enclosures, and gardens. They could not restrain the children of Dan from dwelling with them, for they took the land by might and, behold, though they wished to kill them all, they had to pay tribute to Israel, and we dwelt with them many years, and increased and multiplied greatly and held great riches.

Having read this Ethiopian Danite's own hand written word, we continue on with the rabbis responsa. But first note that Eldad wrote on the location of all tribes. He said of the places he visited that Spain had Yehudah; barbarian Europe had Benyamin; Yissachar, Zebulun and Reuben in Iran; Ephraim and Manasseh in Saudi Arabia; Simeon and more of Manasseh in Iraq. He tells how Asher, Naftali and Gad escaped Syria/Iraq after Sennacherib's death and journeyed to Eritrea where they fight with the people of the land "unto this very day". The sons of Levi are also beyond the rivers of Kush.

The Tunisians asked the Gaon Rabbi Zemahh about Eldad and Ethiopian Jews. He bases his opinion on the wisdom of Rabban Yisshaq ben Mar and Rabban Simhha who both met Eldad. He bases his opinion on biblical passages. He bases his opinion on Hhazal (the Sages) who find no mention of Dan in any of the 10 exiles. the Gaon says: "But the tribe of Dan is not mentioned in any of the exiles because it went of its own accord to Æthiopia."

600 years later, in 1434 CE, Italian Rabbi Eliyahu of Ferrara writes what he heard straight from the mouth of a Beta Israel. In 1488 another Italian Rabbi Obadyah of Bertinoro writes about Beta Israel and he met two of them in Egypt. He says: "They are somewhat black... They claim descent from the tribe of Dan...".

Rabbi Dawiyd ben-Zimra of Egypt in two seperate responsum says: "... she was Jewish, a member of the tribe of Dan ..." and "... among the kings of Kush, where there are three kingdoms ... one of Israelites of the tribe of Dan." "... the Kushites are undoubtedly of the tribe of Dan." Rabbi Ya`aqob Castro also ruled "... the Abyssinian Jews ... are of the tribe of Dan ..."

Now finishing up in our days, the former Sepharade Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yossef in 1973 ruled,

"I have therefore reached the conclusion that the Falashas are descendants of Israelite tribes which migrated southward to Ethiopia. The aforementioned authorities who determined that they are of the Tribe of Dan undoubtedly investigated the matter thoroughly and came to this conclusion according to the most reliable testimony and evidence."

We should know better that the Sepharade Rabbinate has through the ages stuck up for the darkest skinned of Jews whenever they've been attacked for reasons of color. Did they not force the White Jews of India to cease referring to the Black Jews of India as slaves and converts and to stop congregational and cemetery discrimination there in India? And though it may be irksome to certain Iberian and Syrian Jews, don't the Ashkenazis call all Sefardis blacks? I think we all here at AframJews List ought to know that Sefardiym are discriminated against in Israel exactly the way Afrikan descendants are here in the USA.

This short but careful examination has shown that;

1. nobody assigned the tribe of Dan onto the Beta Israel
2. the first historical notice of Beta Israel is from their own R' Eldad the Danite
3. since R' Eldad's time competent halakhic authority recognizes Beta Israel
4. nowhere is Hhushiym meaning 'fleet ones' (nor hhoshekh meaning 'dark') relied on as reasoning for dark and black skinned Jews origin
5. nobody was denigrating Afrikans as snakes and assigning them to Dan

What Danites have done

Ahaliab	master craftsman of holy appurtenances in the desert wilderness
Samson	redeems all Israel from Palestinian oppression
Hyram	Solomonic Temple's master architect,

Moshe Rabbeynu foretold us that Dan will be a guerilla fighter and our judge. All Israel will be judged by Dan. Jews will be judged by the way they treat Dan. They are making the prophecy to fulfil in our very day.

Anyone can become a Jew as a proselyte. But returning anusiym and conversos need know to be an Israelite your mother must be one, then your tribe comes from your father. Nobody assigns tribal membership. Either you are or you aren't. Nowadays few besides Levites know their tribe. Most assume it's either Y*hudah or BenYamin. When Messiah son of David comes, he will tell you your tribe if you don't know it. And the righteous proselytes (may they know comfort under the sheltering shadow of the Shekina's wings) will be adopted by Hebrew families and share their patrimony.

We have born the the heavy weight of the lie of race for so long that nothing we think or do is seperated from racialist philosophy. We have been geared to think by our oppressor(s) only in terms of race for so long that we can no longer think clearly without making up our own racialist hypothesis before delving the depths of scholarly investigation. Would be returness are beginning to realize who they are now and must diligently study and find their ancestry. Learn what they believed and practiced. There is no need to make things up as you go along or to elevate any others to a supreme status and relegate yourselves to impotency and powerlessness. We must learn who our relatives are and join hands with them and stop these jealousies over hair type and texture, complexion, facial features, language and all the rest.

May the Qodesh, Barukh Hu, remove these beams from our eyes so we can stop merely talking bad about others or seeking acceptance from others and begin building the life supporting institutions that we rely on those others for. At that point we will be recognized by all and others will seek our acceptance.