Search For ‘Lost Tribes Of Israel’ Goes Digital

By Sam Kestenbaum May 18, 2017

If you believe you’re a distant descendant of a “lost tribe of Israel” and want to reconnect to this ancient past, all you have to do is go online — where you’ll now find a detailed course on the popular myth. You’ll even earn college credit.

“Discover the past, present and future of the world’s most dispersed people,” reads the website for the new course, “The Lost Tribes of Israel.”

Rabbi Harry Rozenberg, the Israeli-American founder of the school, joins a lineage of Jewish seekers who are trying to bring about the “prophetic reunion” of “lost tribes” with modern Jews.

The course is made up of ten modules, designed by Rozenberg, which include audio, video, and written content. The Theological Research Institute is accredited by the National CCRS Recommendation Service, which evaluates nontraditional educational programs.

As part of his work, Rozenberg has also organized a page where communities can register, plot themselves on a world map and network. “This is for people who already know something about how they may be connected to Israel,” Rozenberg said in an interview with the Forward, “but don’t know how they fit into this.”

Email Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum

Sam Kestenbaum is a contributing editor and former staff writer for the Forward. Before this, he worked for The New York Times and newsrooms in Sana, Ramallah and Beijing. Contact him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum and on Instagram at @skestenbaum.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO