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<DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>From: Micha Berger <micha@aishdas.org><BR>i<BR><BR>>> The
gemara asks what about the descendents<BR>of the daughters of the 10
shevatim?<BR><BR>Answer 1: There is a mesorah that they went
sterile....<BR><BR>Answer 2, given by R' Yehudah besheim Shemu'el: Chakhamim at
the time<BR>declared them non-Jews....<BR><BR>....But in any case, chazal know
as from a pasuq that they are non-Jews. There<BR>is no hidden identity here to
be revealed.<BR><BR><BR><BR>-- <BR>Micha
Berger
<BR>micha@aishdas.org <BR></FONT></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV>There is a mesorah that [some? many? most?] converts to
Judaism are people who were really already part of the Jewish people, they
just didn't know it. Their neshamos want to be Jewish. Someone
could be Jewish by matrilineal descent going back centuries and not be aware of
it. They could even go all the way back to the Ten Tribes, theoretically,
or they could be descendants of forced xian converts from the Spanish
Inquisition or from any one of many countries in many centuries.</DIV>
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<DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><B><BR>--Toby Katz<BR>================</FONT><FONT lang=0 color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"></B><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>_____________________ </DIV>
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