The Lost Tribes

                                                                        בס"ד

I mentioned last week that the Parashah of week was Vayigash and that Yosef coming together with his brothers was a prophecy of the lost tribes returning in the end of days. The Haftarah for Vayigash is the actual prophecy in the Bible that tells us of the return. Here is the Artscroll commentary on the Haftarah:

Haftaras Vayigash Ezekiel 37:15-28

A Sidrah that tells of the reunification of Jacob's sons is followed by a Haftarah that prophecies the eventual unification of the twelve tribes of Israel. The prophet Ezekiel, like Jeremiah, was one of the main prophets of the Destruction, and he actually joined his exiled brethren in Babylonia. The destruction of the Temple took place 140 years after the exile of the twelve tribes, so that the prophecy of this Haftarah was a source of great comfort to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, for if even their long-lost comrades of the Northern Kingdom were assured that they would again become part of the nation, surely the two southern tribes could be certain that G-d was not forsaking them.

According to Maharal (Gur Aryeh, Genesis 45: 14), the tears that accompanied the embrace of Joseph and Benjamin when Joseph revealed himself in Egypt were tears of joy, because the long-separated brothers foresaw the prophecy of Ezekiel. Joseph was the father of Ephraim, leader of the Ten Tribes, and Benjamin's descendants remained loyal to the Davidic dynasty of Judah; thus their reunion in Egypt was a precursor of that foretold by Ezekiel.

The Haftarah goes on to make clear what sort of unified nation the twelve tribes of the future would be. The prophecy speaks not of a mere political union, free from the wars and rivalry that marred the era of the First Temple. Rather, it speaks of an era under a king from the House of David, who will be a servant of G-d and who will unify the people in allegiance to the Torah. Idolatry will be gone and the Temple will stand; the standard of life will be obedience to the laws of the Torah and the result will be that the entire world will know that HASHEM is G-d.

All indications, from world events to the words of Hashem as we are receiving through the Rabbis and the Facilitated Communications individuals are pointing to the return of the tribes being in the near-term. Please Hashem may it all be fulfilled imminently.