By Sheila Orysiek
SAN DIEGO –Suppose Moses had turned west instead of east after leaving Egypt?
Suppose the Ten (Lost) Tribes swept off to slavery in Assyria eventually escaped and continued eastward all the way to Japan?
In the realm of all things are possible – both are interesting posits. In The Japanese and the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel by Joseph Eidelberg, Gefen Publishing House, 2014 (orig. published 1980), the author presents both possibilities.
The turn to the West into the Sahara Desert by the Hebrew tribes fleeing from Egypt answers many questions which remain unanswered in the history as now written. The overflow of the Nile leaves behind many shallow reed filled lakes. Forty years is more easily consumed in wandering through a desert as large as the Sahara. There is enough gold to supply the ton or so needed for the furnishings of the Tabernacle.
Eidelberg matches the place names mentioned in the Torah with those still extant in the Sahara of today. I checked a few of them through Google, and yes, the place names of today do match very closely with those given in the Torah.
No archeological evidence has been found in the Sinai – maybe its time to look elsewhere. Eidelberg writes that after the sojourn in the Sahara, the people went through Ethiopia, crossed over to Yemen and came north to Moab. This would account for the early contact with those countries. There is also some volcanic activity in that area which would provide the fire by night and the smoke column by day.
Several reasons are given for going west: the Sinai was heavily fortified by Egypt, a direct southern route was blocked by mountains, while the Sahara was fairly unoccupied but did supply oases.
In his second posit regarding the ten tribes conquered by Assyria, Eidelberg cites many otherwise improbable coincidences between Japanese history and culture and that of the Hebrews: language (both written and spoken), rituals, religious practice, symbols and culture. He compares the written alphabets (not the borrowed Chinese ideographs) of ancient Hebrew and Japanese. He also compares words having the same meaning used in both languages, as well as words and phrases which have no meaning in Japanese but do translate in Hebrew. Shinto Temple design seems to mirror the Tabernacle design described in Exodus.
Apparently, much of Japanese early history is shrouded in mystery. Written language came relatively late (compared to the Asian continent) and the homogeneity of the people suggests a single immigrant source. While the question of what happened to the ten tribes has intrigued historians for millennia, Eidelberg presents yet another possibility.
Read the book with an open mind – and just maybe you will agree.
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Orysiek is a freelance writer who specializes in the coverage of the arts. She may be contacted via sheila.orysiek@sdjewishworld.com