The Lost Tribes of Israel: The History of a Myth [Paperback]

Tudor Parfitt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2003

The quest for the Lost Tribes of Israel, like the quest for the Holy Grail, is one of the enduring motifs underlying Western views of the wider world. It has spawned legends that have been used to explain the origin of myriad people around the globe, from ancient times until the present. Each tribe of Israel claimed descent from one of the twelve sons of Jacob, and the land of Israel was eventually divided up between them. The tribes disappeared from history centuries before Christ, but the Bible foretold that one day they would be reunited in the final redemption of the people of Israel. Their subsequent history became a tapestry of hearsay, and the belief persisted that they had been “lost” in some remote part of the world. In his new book, Tudor Parfitt travels the world to trace the history of this compelling myth. Tudor Parfitt is the author of Operation Moses and Journey to a Vanished City.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“One of the ‘enduring motifs underlaying Western views of the wider world’…” -- Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Tudor Parfitt is Reader in Modern Jewish Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, and Director of its Centre for Jewish Studies.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Phoenix (November 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1842126652
• ISBN-13: 978-1842126653
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,440,496 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good new addition to lost tribes history, October 25, 2004

By 

Seth J. Frantzman (Jerusalem, Israel) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Lost Tribes of Israel: The History of a Myth (Paperback)

This is the newest manifestation in writing on the Lost Tribes of Israel. When the ten northern tribes of Israel were gobbled up they became `Lost' and for more then 2000 years people have been speculating as to their whereabouts. This book traces the development of the `myth' of the Lost tribes, trying to show the various claims and hoaxes that have struggled to `discover' the tribes. Tracing this history from the New World to China, India, Africa and beyond the author shows expertly how missionaries and later Jewish researchers came to regard certain tribal peoples as descendants of the ancient Hebrews. The major flaw here is that this is a fascinating subject which this book actually makes boring. Here is a subject encompassing all the world and hundreds of interesting tribes with varying customs and traditions, many of which have been manufactured to appear Jewish in origin. Some of these tribes are practicing circumcision whereas some were shown to have merely `Jewish countenance'. This book immediately disregards that the Ten Tribes even exist, which obviously ethnically they probably do, although they probably are no longer Jewish. Who is to say the Bedouin or the Kurds are not some ethnic remnant of the Tribes of Israel? This book also makes dull a subject by focusing inordanently on the claims of various Baptist missionaries rather then going out and researching and describing the actual tribes themselves. SO while this is a great new addition to the last tribes literature it is by no means an enjoyable read.

Seth J. Frantzman

24 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but has a SERIOUS agenda, February 17, 2005

By 

Chajm-Gideon (Cleveland, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lost Tribes of Israel: The History of a Myth (Paperback)

Mr. Parfitt obviously did a lot of research to write this book - and it IS a fine one, well worth a read... but his agenda is clear from the start: he doesn't believe in the tales. Period.

The problems with his work are that some of the 'best' claims - the Pathans of Afghanistan, and the modern Peruvian and Bolivian tribes, are glossed over or mentioned only in passing. He also rather sneeringly glosses off any suggestion that the Falashas could possibly be of Jewish descent - though the Rabbinical Authorities in Israel, who are NOT known to be liberal in any way, shape, or form clearly accepted their claim. Falashas don't claim to be a 'lost tribe' - yet Mr. Parfitt devotes an entire chapter to an attack on their Jewishness. Even his quotations from other sources - so rich in other parts of his book - are glaringly missing from this chapter.

Another problem is that in the chapters, his date jumping is jarring; one sentence he'll be speaking of some event which happened in the 20th century, zoom back to the 1700s, then back to the 1800s... and give conflicting stories which take place in the same era.

As I said, this book is well worth a read - but he DOES have an agenda, and the book is clearly slanted to fit it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Cognitive bias, September 12, 2010

By 

R. Hewitt "Risbek" (Kyrgyzstan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Lost Tribes of Israel: The History of a Myth (Paperback)

Tudor Parfitt, a professor at the University of London, believes the 8th century BCE marked the end of lost tribe history and the start of their myth.1 But Parfitt's myth theory focuses on quack scholars and religious speculations. Unfortunately his research ignores comparative ethnographic analysis. Parfitt's conclusion seems more like a negative gut response to his interviewees' religious sentiments. Additionally, he mentions secondhand accounts of similarities between Solomon's temple and Shinto shrines, but makes no firsthand observations about the shrines. He references scholars who found Israeli-Japanese links, but discredits them because they were Christian or "alienated" locals educated in the West. Parfitt did not bear in mind that such people might be among the few who knew both local and biblical traditions well enough to make a serious analysis. In one comical section Parfitt recognized research linking old Japanese songs to Hebrew, but he rejected all parallels because he could not understand the Hebrew of one traditional Japanese singer. I also cannot understand some Japanese who speak English, even though they are speaking English.

Parfitt never lets his readers glimpse the original research linking Japanese songs to Hebrew. He also completely avoided Arimasa Kubo's fantastic analysis and Joseph Eildeberg's lingusitic research on Japanese and Hebrew. Scholars like Parfitt tragically conclude that theories about Israel's lost tribes are nothing more than religious conjecture. A less biased and more anthropological approach to these spectacular reports is needed to further our understanding of Asia's past.