# 10 Lost tribes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [June 18, 2007, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-lost-tribes/408467 "2007-06-18T15:16:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e95f7d/32.png) [@Rain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rain)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-lost-tribes/408467/1 "2007-06-18T15:16:47Z")
One minor point to add/correct here is that The Jews of Ethiopia do not generally claim to be descendents of the Lost Tribes but rather of King Solomon (tribe of Judah) and the Queen of Sheba. They say that Sheba converted to Judaism, which had been a sticking point to some in determining their authenticity since there is no official record of her conversion. In general, they themselves do not often claim to be of the lost tribe of Dan although others attribute this heritage to them. [http://www.mindspring.com/~jaypsand/ethiopia2.htm](http://www.mindspring.com/~jaypsand/ethiopia2.htm) > **[Ethiopia Virtual Jewish Tour](https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ethiopia-virtual-jewish-tour)** > > Encyclopedia of Jewish and Israeli history, politics and culture, with biographies, statistics, articles and documents on topics from anti-Semitism to Zionism. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-lost-tribes/408467/2 "2007-06-18T18:40:03Z")
Welcome to the SDMB, **Rain.** It’s customary to give a link to the column you are referencing, so we all know what you are talking about. Here, I’ll do it for you: [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtentribes.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtentribes.html) ---
**Author:** ![coffeecat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coffeecat/32/3405_2.png) [@coffeecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffeecat)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-lost-tribes/408467/3 "2007-06-20T11:24:40Z")
Similarities between their [salute](http://www.moveleft.com/vegontv/images/spock_giving_vulcan_salute_286x215.jpg) and the [gesture made during the Jewish priestly blessing](http://www.search.com/reference/Kohen) have led to the suggestion that the ten lost tribes went on to colonize the planet Vulcan. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-lost-tribes/408467/4 "2007-06-28T21:55:10Z")
[QUOTE=coffeecat] Similarities between their [salute](http://www.moveleft.com/vegontv/images/spock_giving_vulcan_salute_286x215.jpg) and the [gesture made during the Jewish priestly blessing](http://www.search.com/reference/Kohen) have led to the suggestion that the ten lost tribes went on to colonize the planet Vulcan. [/QUOTE] Actually, Leonard Nemoy, who is Jewish and attended the same synagogue as I when I was a kid, came up with the Vulcan sign from the Cohenim blessing. ---
**Author:** ![coffeecat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coffeecat/32/3405_2.png) [@coffeecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffeecat)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-lost-tribes/408467/5 "2007-06-29T11:58:08Z")
Whoosh! ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-lost-tribes/408467/6 "2007-06-29T16:12:30Z")
[QUOTE=coffeecat] Whoosh! [/QUOTE] Wait, what? I’m confused. Who’s been whooshed, and how? -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-lost-tribes/408467/7 "2007-06-29T23:48:56Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] Wait, what? I’m confused. Who’s been whooshed, and how? -FrL- [/QUOTE] **hajario** offered an explanation of what **coffeecat** was joking about. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2007, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-lost-tribes/408467/8 "2007-06-30T03:37:01Z")
[QUOTE=C K Dexter Haven] **hajario** offered an explanation of what **coffeecat** was joking about. [/QUOTE] That I knew, and I’m still not understanding where the “whoosh” is supposed to have happened. **Coffeecat** made a joke, and **hajario** chimed in explaining that not only is there a joking conncetion, there’s a real connection. Who was whooshed? To my understanding, one is whooshed when one has misunderstood a joke, thinking it not a joke but serious instead. Who did that happen to? -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2007, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-lost-tribes/408467/9 "2007-06-30T04:27:27Z")
AFAIK your understanding of whooshing is correct. And it appeared to me that **Hajario** did not, in fact, realize that **coffecat** was making a joke. I am, of course, open to correction from **Hajario**. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2007, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-lost-tribes/408467/10 "2007-06-30T05:05:37Z")
Okay but… I can’t understand how **Hajario** ’s post could _not_ be understood as taking **coffeecat** ’s joke into account. I mean… do you really think **Hajario** thought to him/herself “Huh! **Coffeecat** thinks the ten lost tribes colonized the planet Vulcan! I’d better set her straight in the interests of fighting ignorance.” :dubious: -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2007, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-lost-tribes/408467/11 "2007-06-30T07:59:28Z")
**hajario** was obviously whooshed. Beginning the sentence with “actually” implies that **hajario** thought that **coffeecat** (a) didn’t already know that and (b) needed the explanation. Explaining the joke to those ignorant of ST:TOS lore would have started “For those who didn’t already know…” ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2007, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-lost-tribes/408467/12 "2007-06-30T08:26:18Z")
[QUOTE=Nametag] **hajario** was obviously whooshed. Beginning the sentence with “actually” implies that **hajario** thought that **coffeecat** (a) didn’t already know that and (b) needed the explanation. Explaining the joke to those ignorant of ST:TOS lore would have started “For those who didn’t already know…” [/QUOTE] Why do you assume that **coffeecat** already knew about the connection to the Cohenim? I am really, really really confused here. (As you can see.) I repeat: Do you really think Hajario thought to him/herself “Huh! Coffeecat thinks the ten lost tribes colonized the planet Vulcan! I’d better set her straight in the interests of fighting ignorance.” :dubious: I mean, _really_? Anyway, I read the “actually” in **hajario’s** post as meaning “hehe, nice joke, but anyway, did you know that actually…?” At the very least, that’s reading an amount equal to or less than the amount you read into it by saying it means “You don’t know the origin, and you’d like to know it, so I’ll tell you:…” -FrL- Regarding “actually,” I read it in -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2007, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-lost-tribes/408467/13 "2007-06-30T12:23:08Z")
There’s no reality, only perceptions. **coffeecat** obviously thought **hajario** was whooshed. Whether **hajario** or anyone else agrees is sorta irrelevant, si? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2007, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-lost-tribes/408467/14 "2007-06-30T12:37:19Z")
Look, it’s perfectly clear: the Ten Lost Tribes ended up in Cimmeria, where a descendant of Aaron became the famed hero Cohen the Barbarian. 😃 In all seriousness, Paul of Tarsus, the first great traveling Christian evangelist, makes it clear in some of his sermons and writings that he traces his ancestry to the Tribe of Benjamin. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2007, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-lost-tribes/408467/15 "2007-06-30T13:48:16Z")
Since Benjamin and Judah were the two tribes of the southern kingdom, which maintained its Israelite/Jewish identity even after the Babylonian exile, it’s not surprising that a few people, even six hundred years later, might maintain some tribal identity. The tribe of Benjamin was not “lost” as were the ten northern tribes. Modern-day Jews are from the tribes of Levi (still maintained as a patrilineal tribal distinction), or the tribes of Judah or Benjamin (not typically maintained as a separate identity, but just called “Israel” nowadays.)\* - The kohanim, descendents of Aaron and the priesthood, still maintain that identification, but that’s not a “tribe.” ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2007, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-lost-tribes/408467/16 "2007-06-30T14:24:42Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] Look, it’s perfectly clear: the Ten Lost Tribes ended up in Cimmeria, where a descendant of Aaron became the famed hero Cohen the Barbarian. 😃 [/QUOTE] “Actually”, the Greeks thought circumcision _was_ barbaric! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2007, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-lost-tribes/408467/17 "2007-06-30T14:25:10Z")
[QUOTE=C K Dexter Haven] There’s no reality, only perceptions. **coffeecat** obviously thought **hajario** was whooshed. Whether **hajario** or anyone else agrees is sorta irrelevant, si? [/QUOTE] I… umm… I… I go away now. You’ve gone nuts. 😛 -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2007, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-lost-tribes/408467/18 "2007-06-30T18:15:43Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] Anyway, I read the “actually” in **hajario’s** post as meaning “hehe, nice joke, but anyway, did you know that actually…?” [/QUOTE] Exactly correct. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2007, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-lost-tribes/408467/19 "2007-07-01T04:22:59Z")
[QUOTE=hajario] Exactly correct. [/QUOTE] Yeah, I read it the same way – “Actually, there’s something about that joke that you don’t know.” Which I find absolutely flabbergasting, and not a little insulting. I can’t IMAGINE making that joke and NOT knowing that. It’s why the joke was funny, for chrissake! ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2007, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-lost-tribes/408467/20 "2007-07-01T04:40:08Z")
[QUOTE=Nametag] Yeah, I read it the same way – “Actually, there’s something about that joke that you don’t know.” Which I find absolutely flabbergasting, and not a little insulting. I can’t IMAGINE making that joke and NOT knowing that. It’s why the joke was funny, for chrissake! [/QUOTE] I didn’t know about the Cohenite thing, and I found **coffeecat’s** joke to be a little funny. Knowing about the Cohenite thing hasn’t made it seem any more funny, either. When I first read it, I read the joke as “ha ha, turns out the vulcan salute is the same as a gesture used by an actual religion.” Not hilarious, just pointing out a slightly absurd coincidence. Then I read **Hajario** ’s post as perfectly legitimately pointing out that, it turns out, it’s no coincidence at all. -FrL- [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-lost-tribes/408467.md?page=2)