An Obsession Begins

The search for the Ten Tribes has become a lifelong obsession for Rabbi Chinagel. He relates that during his childhood in Tzfas, he once came across the sefer Eldad HaDani, written approximately a thousand years ago by a traveler who introduced himself as Eldad from the tribe of Dan. He describes the kingdom he originated from, writing that the tribes of Dan, Naftali, Gad, and Asher live together in that land with the Bnei Moshe. He also mentions the Sambatyon River. This sefer is known to be a reliable source quoted by many Rishonim, including the Rashba and the Ran, who clearly respected him, even though they argued with some of his rulings.

Eldad was an outstanding talmid chacham, and we can rely on his descriptions of his childhood home and his life with the other tribes. The kingdom he came from clearly knew the Oral Torah, because he was well-versed in Talmud Bavli. There was one issue that raised suspicions among those who read his sefer, however: He has many chumros in the area of shechitah — insisting, for instance, that if an animal is slaughtered by a shochet who has not first immersed in the mikveh, the animal is considered a neveilah, and that this “was taught by Yehoshua, who heard it from Moshe, who heard it from Hashem.”

Since this practice is clearly a chumrah, it is odd that Eldad should attribute it to Yehoshua. Rav Tzemach Gaon suggests that since Eldad suffered greatly at the hands of cannibals and fire-worshippers on his journeys, he might have become confused and mistaken a tradition for halachah.

“When I finished reading the sefer,” says Rabbi Chinagel, “I began to wonder what happened to these shevatim after Eldad HaDani’s times, and where they are today. As the years passed, I decided to research the topic. Gradually, I gathered a large amount of information on the whereabouts of the Ten Tribes.

“Interestingly, many of the tribes know that they have Jewish roots, and that they were forced to convert to Islam hundreds of years ago. I cannot travel to Pakistan and Afghanistan to visit these tribes because Israelis are barred from entering those countries. But citizens of other countries have gone to investigate in recent years, and have returned with proof from these people’s daily lives that they know that they are Jewish. I myself have met three such people — the two that I met at the northern border of China, and one in London, of all places.”

“My Mother Told Me So”

“When I was in London several years ago, I met a mashgiach of a kosher restaurant in the area. This mashgiach shared my intense interest in the Ten Tribes, and he told me that his restaurant employed an Afghani boy who acted like a Muslim but claimed to be Jewish.

“I went to the restaurant to speak to this boy. I posed my questions to him in Yiddish, and the mashgiach translated them into English.

How do you know you are Jewish?’ I asked him.

‘My mother told me so,’ he answered.”

The boy went on to explain that all the members of his tribe know of their secret origins. He told Rabbi Chinagel which “beis av” he came from, and related that as a child, he had even had long peyos. All the young boys in the tribe have peyos, which are cut when they reach adulthood so that the Muslims around them won’t suspect that they belong to a different nation (or religion). The Pashtuns account for the children’s peyos by explaining that they are grown to ward off the ayin hara — a concept that the Muslims also believe in.”

Reb Amir Dromi, one of the people who accompanied Rabbi Chinagel on a trip to China, relates that deep in the recesses of Afghanistan, there are adults among the tribes who also have peyos.

Inside the Amulet

The Afghani teenager in London also showed Rabbi Chinagel his amulet. He explained that all the members of the tribe have such an amulet, written by the elder of the tribe. He is the only one who knows what is written on it, and opening it is forbidden.

“We know what is inside,” Rav Chinagel says. “A sefer that I read on the subject, Ohr Chadash LeTzion by Rav Sonnenschein, relates that he met a group of Pashtuns and asked them what was in their amulets, and they didn’t know the answer. One rav managed to open such an amulet, and he found the pasuk of Shema Yisrael written inside in k’sav Ashuris.

“It would seem that the sanction against opening the amulet stems from fear that the local Muslims will discover what is inside. Having or wearing an amulet doesn’t raise any eyebrows, because the Muslims have their own amulets and good luck charms. The amulets are one of the clearest proofs that these people are indeed the children of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, lost tribes who will be gathered and returned to the Holy Land with the coming of Mashiach.”

The two Pakistani teenagers that Rabbi Chinagel met two years ago in China and the Afghani youth he met in London were divided in their views on religion. Both readily admitted that they have Jewish roots, despite the fact that they were in the midst of observing the forty-day Ramadan fast. But whereas one said that he yearns for his past and would liked to return to authentic Judaism, the other claimed that his ancestors’ decision to convert to Islam had been a spiritually uplifting move, and that he wasn’t interested in returning to Judaism.

Like the Afghani teen, both Pakistanis had amulets, and both refused to open them. They, too, described the young boys in their tribes with peyos. They provided Rabbi Chinagel with another indication that their tribe has Jewish roots: Their custom is to circumcise their sons when they are eight days old, rather than at thirteen like the mainstream Muslims. They also have a concept of shmiras einayim (guarding one’s eyes from seeing improper sights), which none of the Muslims around them observe.

“I told them that a Jewish rabbi had once opened an amulet and found the verse of Shema Yisrael inside,” Rav Chinagel relates. “Their response was in line with their earlier split on the basic issue of religion. The boy who proudly declared his ties to the Jewish nation was excited, and said that even though he himself would never open his amulet, he would like to see an open amulet if there was one. His companion, on the other hand, claimed that there were probably several types of amulets, and it was only by coincidence that the one that had been opened contained the verse of Shema Yisrael.”

On the Road to Nisa

It is the elusive Bnei Moshe tribe that most interests Rav Chinagel, and that is what brought him to China two years ago. He wanted to locate the mysterious Sambatyon River, because the assumption is that the Bnei Moshe live on the other side of it. The Sambatyon is referred to in Torah literature as the raging river that is untraversable during the week and tranquil on Shabbos. The Ten Tribes, it is written, were exiled beyond the Sambatyon. The trip was inspired by the sefer Kol Mevaser by Rav Shimon Horowitz, one of the founders of Yeshivas Shaar HaShamayim in Jerusalem. The sefer suggests that the Sambatyon River is located in a desert region in northern China.

Rav Chinagel discussed this possibility with a group of Americans who searched for the Ten Tribes and the Bnei Moshe about thirty-five years ago. That group possessed two maps, one of German origin that delineated an area in northern China as “Moshe,” and another of American origin which labeled the same area as “Moses.” These maps would serve as the basis for Rabbi Chinagel’s search as well.

“We headed out knowing that the Chinese had probably changed the name of the area in the interim,” recalls Rabbi Chinagel. “The area is extremely primitive, and there is no airport nearby. We landed in Kazakhstan and traveled by car, over rough terrain, for a day and a half.

“We met these two Pakistani boys in a city called Oronchi. A local travel agent named Abdul escorted us through the area, which is mostly inhabited by Muslims. We approached a group of elderly men sitting around a Muslim imam and asked if any of them had ever heard of a place called Moses or Moshe. They had not, but they did hear of a distant settlement called Nisa, which they said was named after Moshe Rabbeinu.

“We asked the imam for more details, but it was difficult for him to answer because of the Ramadan fast. He told us to come back in the evening, after the end of the fast.

“We returned later that night and asked him whether he had ever heard of the Sambatyon.”

“He hadn’t, but he did tell us a little more about Nisa, whose residents, he explained, do not seem to be Muslims, because they never attend services at the mosque. ‘They claim that there is no need to believe in the prophet Muhammad, since they had a prophet called Moshe Rabbeinu who preceded him by many years,’ the imam said, without having an inkling that that was exactly the information we sought.”

Suddenly the imam spoke up again. “There in the mountains,” he said, pointing in a general direction, “there are people who are exceptionally tall, and have glowing faces. They appear every so often during market day to sell animals and merchandise. We try to speak to them, but they don’t respond; they won’t tell us who they are or what they do. They only speak about their merchandise, and even then, only when there’s no other choice.”

This description greatly excited Rabbi Chinagel and his companion, since it matched the description of the Bnei Moshe they were seeking.

“Do you know about the unusual noise that comes from the hills?” he asked the imam. He was wondering whether the sound of the Sambatyon River churning up rocks during the week could be heard by the locals.

The imam nodded. “Yes, I have heard an unusual noise not far from Nisa several times. I heard it, but I didn’t see what caused it …”

This testimony inspired Rabbi Chinagel and his companion to press on with their search. It seemed that there was still a long journey ahead of them, in a sparsely populated, mountainous area. They prepared themselves for a journey up the mountain on donkey back.

As they were about to embark on their journey, they suddenly realized that their visas had all but expired. Apparently they hadn’t calculated the length of the trip properly; it was time to retrace their steps and cross back over the border in Kazakhstan. “We were happy that we had made significant progress,” Rabbi Chinagel says about his first trip. “We gathered important information and felt we were close to the goal.”

Not Time Yet

Approximately a year after the first journey, Rabbi Chinagel and another companion returned to China, prepared to continue where he had left off. Preliminary investigations yielded similar reports to what they had heard from the imam on the first trip — that tall people who rarely spoke, except concerning commerce, lived in the mountains.

Eagerly, they headed toward the mountains. Their journey was brought to an abrupt halt, however, by an uprising that had broken out. The government was in the process of clamping down on the demonstrations. Hundreds of people were killed, and foreigners were barred access to the region.

“We claimed that we had come to the area to study the local agriculture, but to no avail. Cell phone reception was blocked, and we couldn’t call anyone. Finally we placed a call through a land line to Rabbi Yirmiyah Cohen of Paris, and he told us not to endanger ourselves and to return to Eretz Yisrael.

“Apparently,” he surmises, “it’s not time for us to find the Bnei Moshe quite yet.”

Awaiting the Day

What possesses a talmid chacham to keep chasing down these elusive tribes?

“Searching for our lost brothers brings the Geulah closer,” Rav Chinagel explains. “Throughout the generations, many messengers risked their lives to find the lost shevatim and the Bnei Moshe on the other side of the Sambatyon.

“In addition, if we succeed in finding shevatim who were not influenced by the locals during the many years of galus and have retained the ancient mesorah, we may be able to solve many of the questions that plague us today. Take techeiles as an example. Even people who wear techeiles today disagree as to the correct source of the dye. Someone from the Ten Tribes might be able to answer this question — among many others.”

Would remnants of the lost tribes who are discovered be accepted as Jews without any further questioning?

The answer depends on how the tribe’s Judaism manifests itself. Many of these tribes claim that they haven’t intermarried with the surrounding non-Jews throughout their years in exile. However, since they have forgotten many fundamental halachos, each group must be examined by a beis din, and most would require giyur l’chumrah, conversion as a stringency. The Beta Israel Ethiopians, for example, were required to undergo giyur l’chumrah. The conversion of the Bnei Menashe of India was much more substantial, because they came in with much less knowledge regarding their roots.

Rabbi Chinagel’s ultimate goal is to find a tribe that knows the entire Torah and observes it fully, without having made any changes during their exile. So far, no such tribe has been discovered. But he remains optimistic, citing Rav Yisrael of Shklov’s belief in the existence of such a tribe.

And although he plans to continue his quest, he’s not sure that he’ll travel again to the Far East. “I believe that I may have received a message from Heaven that it’s just not time yet,” he concedes.

In the meantime, he’s keeping his eyes open and his hopes raised for the day when we will discover our brethren on the other side of the Sambatyon, the day of the ingathering of all the exiles, when Hashem’s Sovereignty will be accepted by all.

A Messenger to Shaar HaShamayim

Exactly one hundred years ago, in 1910, a man dressed like a Bedouin appeared near Petach Tikvah. Looking for Jews, he stumbled upon an Arab village. The Arab sheikh directed him toward Petach Tikvah. Following his directions, the man went off, but returned a short time later. “I asked for Jews, and you sent me to Christians!”

The sheikh convinced him to return to Petach Tikvah and talk to the Jews there in lashon hakodesh. Sure enough, the man was thrilled to discover Jews who observed Torah and mitzvos. He later explained that the Jews he’d seen initially were dressed in a very modern fashion and were clean-shaven; it was hard for him to believe that they were actually Jews, because he had never seen anyone like them in his hometown.

When he was asked where he came from, he revealed only that he lived far away and had gotten lost in his travels.

The lost Jew requested a job so that he could support himself. He was assigned to guard the fields from marauding bands of Arabs who would steal tools and crates of produce. He patrolled the fields on horseback each night. One day, he saw a group of robbers approaching. Overtaking them on his horse, he grabbed the leader and strangled him with his bare hands. The rest of the robbers fled in panic.

The local Jews realized that this strange man was different in some mysterious way. Not only was his physical strength beyond compare, but his yiras Shamayim was also on an outstanding level.

After a while, the man began to ask where he could find people who learned Kabbalah. He was directed to the Shaar HaShamayim yeshivah in Jerusalem. Once there, he related that he was descended from the bnei hareichavim and a messenger of the Bnei Moshe, one of whom had crossed the Sambatyon. He had arrived in Eretz Yisrael to bring the Geulah closer. He journeyed to many kivrei tzaddikim and spent much time speaking to the kabbalists in the yeshivah, but the subjects he discussed were kept secret. The only details he allowed them to publicize were that his name was Yosef ben Achim HaReichavi, and that he came from a place near the Sambatyon to speak to the mekubalim in Eretz Yisrael.

MISSION UNACCOMPLISHED

Among the gedolim who searched for the Ten Lost Tribes was Rav Yisrael of Shklov, a disciple of the Vilna Gaon who moved to Eretz Yisrael in the first half of the nineteenth century. Rav Yisrael wrote an impassioned letter to the Aseres HaShevatim, detailing the chain of Torah transmission through the ages and the travails of the galus. He entrusted this letter to Rav Baruch, a great talmid chacham from Pinsk who had moved to Eretz Yisrael many years before, and instructed him to seek out the lost tribes and give them the letter.

Rav Yisrael noted in his letter that Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai writes in the Zohar that the Ten Tribes would be revealed during the ikvesa d’Meshicha. “We therefore turn to you and ask you to increase your prayers and tears and enter the inner courtyard, to bring close the Geulah.…”

Rav Yisrael’s second goal in writing to the Bnei Moshe was to request that dayanim semuchin, judges with true smichah, be dispatched, for the Geulah is dependent on having dayanim semuchin in Eretz Yisrael.

Rav Baruch accepted the mission and went in search of the Ten Tribes, with instructions not to involve himself in anything else along the way. But he ended up being called upon to help an ailing king in Yemen, and was later killed by the same king in a fit of anger. The letter was never delivered.

Rav Chinagel has collected a vast amount of information about the various people who went in search of the Ten Tribes, some of which he has published in Mevakshei Torah journals.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 326)