Jose is not Jewish!
my stay in Kibbutz Ramat Yohanan, where I volunteered on a kibbutz for five months between 1982 and 1983, blessed me with memories to treasure for a lifetime. One such experience occurred immediately after our volunteers’ trip to the Golan Heights. While we were there, near the old Syrian bunker overlooking the Sea of Galilee, I saw an eagle in the sky with a snake in its talons and I pointed it out to everyone in awe and oh and aaah! me love God’s good creation.
While having breakfast with about 10 other people, all kibbutzniks except a volunteer girl from France, in the kitchen of the matgeria – the chicken hatchery where the eggs were stored, the chicks were hatched, then inoculated and shipped to Europe (David, a Moroccan Jew, used to make the best shukshuka) – I used my very limited Hebrew to mention how the volunteers had just visited Ramot Ha Golan (the Golan Heights). I was very happy to have seen part of the Biblical heritage of Shevet Menashe ben Yosef (the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph), especially since Menashe’s descendants today are Americans. I said, “Yosef lo Yehudi”. Jose is not Jewish!
Immediately there was a stir, a conversational commotion, and I asked the French girl who spoke Hebrew what was going on. She said that everyone was debating whether Joseph was Jewish or not. They all started telling me: “You have to talk to Professor Karniel, you have to talk to Professor Karniel.” I said, “Who is Professor Karniel?” I was informed that he was a professor at the University of Haifa living in Ramat Yohanan and that he knew the Bible. He said, “If he knows his Bible, then he’ll know the difference between Joseph and Judah.”
Professor Tzvi Karniel’s wife happened to be there and said she would talk to her husband and make an appointment to meet. We met and Professor Karniel was very nice and he said that he understood the difference between Joseph and Judah, but he was curious why he thought that Joseph was not Jewish. I explained why and gave him a copy of United States and Great Britain in prophecy by Herbert W. Armstrong and The Plain Truth magazine. He said that his class was now discussing the story of Joseph, and knowing how God can work, I wouldn’t be surprised if he mentioned what I said about the United States being the only prophesied GREAT NATION of Menashe (Gen. 48:19). He said that he was welcome to come back for more talks.
Later I was also invited for coffee and a chat at the kibbutz home of a widower who was present at the breakfast and seemed angry and adamant that Joseph was Jewish. God blessed our meeting too.
Blessed be the God of Joseph and Judah! May the modern identity of our twelve tribes continue to be restored and the reconciliation process completed. I am happy to help in any way I can to let everyone know that, “I’m Jose, your brother!”
United States and Great Britain in Bible prophecy
The Plain Truth About the “Ten Lost Tribes” and Why You Need to Know!