Welcome to Shaar-Israel
A place to start returning to your identity by
Returning to the Covenant
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Welcome to Shaar-Israel A place to start returning to your identity by Returning to the Covenant |
Shalom “Ten Tribers” and welcome to Shaar-Israel’s Welcome Page!
We are calling you visitors “Ten Tribers,” for we assume that most of you are of the Ten Tribes and have been directed here one way or another for you were seeking your brothers and sisters just as Joseph was seeking his brothers, (Gen. 37:16). If by any chance you are not of the Ten Tribes, you are mentioned in Ez. 37:16 as Joseph’s “companions”, and also might be in mentioned Isa. 56: 8 as one of the “others” gathered by God unto the prophesied regathering of Israel in the “last days.” As such, you may be here due to one these reasons. In any case, you are in one of the “gathering camps of Joseph.” Please find below a brief description of who we are, where we come from and where we are going.
If by any chance you just stumbled on this page and are looking around and wondering what this site is about, read the About page first, and go to http://www.uniteourheart.com to find out the basics of what the Ten Tribes movement needs to know. Then come back to this site and find out more. Above all, ask God for understanding of the Scriptures on which these sites’ contents are based. The reason for this is that this site is not proselytizing anyone, nor trying to establish a new denomination. Rather, it is dedicated to the restoration of the nation of Israel’s Ten Tribes to the Covenant they have abandoned. Isaiah calls Israel “a covenant of people, a brit am” / לִבְרִית עָם (Isa. 42:6, 49:8). How amazing it is that the Almighty defines the collective Israel as a brit/covenant, “a covenant of people.” Like a herd of cattle, a flock of sheep, a pride of lions, a school of fish, Israel is defined by its collective name, as a covenant, “a covenant of people.” Therefore, it is imperative that the people who lost their identity because they left the Covenant, regain that identity by returning to that covenant that defined them as a people, as a nation, “the people of the Covenant.”
We do not proselytize, for the restoration of the Ten Tribes from their “lost” status is a matter of Divine calling, not our calling or the calling and persuasion of any man. We aim to gather only those whom the Almighty has awakened from their 2700-year-old anonymity in non-Israelite identities. This awakening is depicted in Ezekiel’s vision of the Valley of Dry bones, (Ez. 37). Those whom the Almighty is awakening from centuries-old forgetfulness of their identity, are likened to being resurrected from the dead. This awakening from the dead is done only by Divine command not by man. These tribes of Israel are instructed by their father Yaakov to “gather themselves together,” (Gen. 49:1-2, Isa. 49:20). Of course, if you do not identify as one of the called-ones of Returning Israel, you can always join Israel. This way was always open to non-Israelites in the past and is open now as well, (Ex. 20:10, 12:49, Lev. 24:22, Num. 15:29,). It is written that when the appointed time of the regathering of the Tribes of Israel comes, “others” whom the Almighty calls, or those who call on Him, will be gathered to Israel, (Joel 2:32). The Torah and its extension, the Prophets say that there will be only one-way for all to return for the returnees or for the “others” to join the returnees. That is by taking on the Covenant (Isa. 56:1-8). That time has arrived. The gathering of all twelve Tribes by the Almighty is going on at “the end of days.”
The testimony to that time is the awakening of many to the call of the Hebrew Scriptures as the definers of Biblical, Abrahamic faith. Subsequent to this are the proliferations of many organizations, Bible studies and fellowships of those who are on their way out of the churches or have come out of the churches. The numbers of those who do not fit anywhere are growing in many places. They are realizing that those churches are not following the Words given to the Patriarchs, the commandments or even the teachings of Jesus’ /Yeshua of Nazareth that these churches professed to follow. These called out ones, are discovering that these organizations have been serving up on their tables Truth mixed error, which are contrary to the tenets of the everlasting Covenants.
Shaar-Israel therefore is a gathering place for such souls. It is a place where those who want to regain their identities by returning to the Covenants made with Patriarchs. As such, we hope to be a part of the Redemptive process of the Almighty in the prophesied “latter days” when all the Twelve Tribes of Israel will be regathered to their identity as “Israel.” Furthering that goal is our mission.
In short, our mission is our identity [Israel] and our identity is our mission. We are gathering those whom the Almighty has called from the so-called “Lost Ten Tribes of Israel” to return to their lost heritages enumerated in the Torah. We understand that there are two elementary pointers to this “mission” that we, returnees of the Ten Tribes are to have. The first pointer is that of “gathering those” who are called to return home:
“And Jacob called unto his sons, and said: 'Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the end of days.[1] Assemble yourselves, and hear,[2] you sons of Jacob; and hearken[3] unto Israel[4] your father.“ — Gen. 49:1-2
Jacob then tells us what the identifying signs of the Tribes will be in the latter days, so we can recognize and gather ourselves together. Moses adds more identifying signs, and descriptors of the Tribes in Deut. 33. The second pointer is to “draw near to each other and learn and unlearn” in the gatherings:
Here Isaiah tells us that it is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who opens the doors of our millennia-old prison houses and causes us to escape from them. Further, we are directed to gather ourselves together to benefit from group instruction and “unlearn” to get the idols out of our systems. Group teaching and learning in our networks and gatherings facilitates this process. Our primary effort is to foster returning to the Covenants the best way we can, looking to Divine Guidance to liberate us from long ingrained patterns of thinking that is in our collective consciousness for the last 2700 years, where we misunderstood the Words of God, and viewing the world accordingly. Ezekiel prophesied that when the Almighty will deal with us to correct us:
“Then I shall scatter you among the nations and disperse you among the lands and remove all your contamination from you. Then you shall be caused to re-inherit yourself in the sight of the nations, and you shall know that I am YHVH.” —Ez. 22:15-16 (Stone Chumash p. 1175)
Yes, our inheritance of People of the Covenant” status we will have to re-inherit, for it was our name intrinsically connected to the Covenant we made with the Creator. We have cast it away for the ways of the other nations we set out to imitate.
“Then men shall say: 'Because they forsook the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them forth out of the land of Egypt; and went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods that they knew not, and that He had not allotted unto them;’” —Deut.29:25
The offense of casting away the Covenant-relationship with the Almighty has led us to become “Lo Ammi/ Not-my-People” (Hos. 1:9) and the so-called “Lost Ten Tribes of Israel.”
Our brothers and sisters are awakened by the Almighty in many places, in the midst of the prophesied “latter days” and the time of “Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7 looming on the horizon. Because we are the returning “Ten Tribes,” our voice is new, different and unique, just as a person’s voice is part of his unique “identity.” It has to be so, for it is the “voice of Joseph.” It has to be distinct from the “Jewish” voice and the “Christian” voice. These voices have their historical places, but the returning Ten Tribes are not called to join them in tradition, doctrines, voice or practice. As Ten Tribers, we are not to dissolve our identities by taking on the Jewish identity through conversion to Judaism. Neither are we to take our former identities from our prison houses of the Churches with us. The voice of the returning Ten Tribes is to be a Torah-connected, distinctive voice that is based in the Torah, yet fortified and updated with the corrective, repentance-urging voice of the Prophets. For us, the “Lo Ammi /Not-My-People” to regain our identity, our name, the designation of “Israel, a covenant people,” is to return to the Covenant.
“I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and have taken hold of thy hand, and kept thee, and set thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the nations”; — Isa. 42:6
“Thus saith the LORD: In an acceptable time have I answered thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee; and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;” — Isa. 49:8
Dear Visitor, if you are joining us, not just the Shaar-Israel group, but more importantly the greater congregation of the Camp of Joseph, you will join in the pioneering task that this prophesied generation is to do (Isa. 49). Isaiah summarizes this task, in that if we look to Abraham and Sarah, as our physical and spiritual ancestors, then we are to trumpet to our people that they are to “hearken /shama” as a “nation” to YHVH. If we are among the first contingents to awaken of this prophesied lot of pioneers, in whose heart is the Torah, we are not to fear those who disagree and put us down. Rather, we are to alert and muster all of our people to cry “Awake, awake, and put on strength, O arm of YHVH!” We are to blast this message out to Zion, “THOU ART MY PEOPLE!” that the captive exiles of our nation/s may hasten out of their prison houses of the mind-forged manacles (Isa. 51). These are self-made psychological restraints, which keep people trapped and keep them from breaking out of false philosophies, doctrines, beliefs and mindsets. These verses evidence a profound atmosphere of URGENCY that characterizes the tasks we are to do in the latter days. That time is here now. Come in and learn and work with us.
May the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob guide you in understanding your homeward journey.
“Only Torah, prayer and repentance will unify the Tribes of Israel.”
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[1] Jacob is about to tell them what will happen to them, i.e. what the conditions will be “in the latter days.” Jeremiah tells us that the latter days will be a time of Jacob’s trouble”, a time of YHVH’s anger manifestly revealed to the world, (Jer. 30:7, 23:20). At that time Jacob’s “Israelite” descendants will intensely research, study and consider their legacy’s tenets YHVH has preserved for them, (Jer. 29:13 30:24). In the latter days, they, in the times of a particular and special generation, will resolve to serve YHVH, (Psalm 22:30, 78:6). Jacob refers to the “the latter days” by which time they will have lost their identities. Therefore Jacob gives them their identifying, characteristic signs by which they will recognize themselves.
[2] Jacob spells out the purpose of these groups: “They are to “hear” an instruction, something to KNOW and LEARN.”
[3] These descendants are to do something very special. They are not just to listen with their ears, as their twelve ancestors did by Jacob’s deathbed. They are to “hearken”/v’shimu in these gatherings expressly made to have the listeners take to heart something exceedingly important. They are to “shama” to their father “Israel.” Here Jacob referring to himself as “Israel” indicates that the sons and daughters of Jacob are to heed his command, if they are to also “prevail” as he did with YHVH, before he was renamed “Israel.” The imperative form (as well as all the other forms) of shama, are rooted in the basic idea of “hearing and perceiving a message.” It is extended into “paying attention” with an orientation of “obedience,” to a “commandment,” for “understanding” and “hearing critically.” The word shama has the very connotation of “gathering in order to hear”, (TWOT #2412).
[4] The distinction of the different ways Jacob refers to himself is a clue as to what his progeny is to KNOW AND LEARN “at the end of days”. The use of the name “Jacob” refers to their actual genetic ancestry of which they are to be aware. They are to “know” that they are the actual descendants, the children’s children, of the actual historic personage of the Biblical “Jacob,” son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham, with whom the Covenants were made. They are to be made aware and know that YHVH actually kept His side of the Covenant, and “preserved” Israel, that they may be mercifully regathered “in the latter days”, (Isa. 49:6, Hos. 1:10, 2:23, Amos 9:9, Micah 5:7-8).