[Avodah] Moshiach Ben Yosef

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Thu, Mar 03, 2016 at 08:53:53PM -0500, RnTK via Avodah wrote:
: Is there anyone alive today who knows that he is from the tribe of Ephraim, 
: Menashe or Binyamin? ...                   So does Eliyahu Hanavi have to 
: come  before Moshiach ben Yosef can come, so that people will actually know 
: they're  from Yosef?  Or is it the case that Moshiach ben Yosef does not have 
: to  know that he's from Yosef, and does not even have to know that he's  a 
: Moshiach?

Malkhus Yehudah included Yehudah, Shim'on and Binyamin, as well as most
of Levi (they tended to prefer proximity to Y-m). Shim'on only got lost
in the sense that as they only held a constellation of cities within
Yehudah's territory, they assimilated into Yehudah. But they should be
among today's Jews. I do not know how we get "10 lost tribes" rather
than 9, but the count is in the Bavli.

So even non-Leviim have a chance of being from Binyamin, Shim'on, or
patrlineally from a geir. For that matter, a many may have a better
chance of descending from a refugee from one of Yoseif's shevatim than
from Shelomo. And yet, you aren't asking the same question for the
mashiach ben David.

Pet peeve: Capitalized "M" in "Moshiach". Would you write, "...does not
even have to know that he's a King?" with a capital "K"? To my jaundiced
eye, it smells too much of Notzrim thinking it's a term for deity.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             A wise man is careful during the Purim banquet
micha at aishdas.org        about things most people don't watch even on
http://www.aishdas.org   Yom Kippur.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                       - Rav Yisrael Salanter