A Kyrgyz asked me sincerely how I came up with the theory that Kyrgyz descended from Israel. I didn’t develop the idea. I simply followed a voice that led to a treasure. Here is an answer to an honest question:
I grew up offended by religion but knew that God was real. When I was in high school, I was given the Script (a bible). I didn't understand it, but was encouraged to read three chapters a second time. During the second reading, I felt God's spirit. That sense of God’s love continued the more I read and applied what I read. I became a grassroots devotee of the book's message, not a devotee of religion or a religious teacher or sect - just the Script. Yes, people of faith were important and helpful in my journey, but I didn’t follow any of them. After a few years, I was moved by the Protagonist's life and message, and I bowed my knee to the Great Script's Author. Again, this was not in a religious institution, but on a mountain by myself.
The Script is like a puzzle. Older sections give pictures of what the Messiah would be like. Those sections were written before the common era (BCE). When Yeshua (Isa or Jesus) was born, the Common Era (CE) was born. His life is recorded in the CE sections of the Script. Readers who read about Isa, are challenged to revisit the older (BCE) sections of the Script - the Torah, Psalms, Wisdom Books, and Prophets - to see if Isa’s life matches the former clues. There is no end to this puzzle, linking BCE writings with the Protagonist. I found Isa (Yeshua/Jesus) is an exact fit with the Script’s prophecies and typologies and symbols.
(Unconsciously, I applied this Torah-to-Messiah pattern to Kyrgyz culture when I started a seed project in the high mountain region of Narin. I saw the culture’s similarities to the Torah, and a parallel to the Script’s Messianic Hero. I have written books about how Isa perfectly fits all the messianic symbolism in Kyrgyz culture: flag, yurt, kalpak hat, holidays, кыдыр-машаяк (wandering messiah), Lordson, etc. Isa’s fulfillment of Kyrgyz symbols, sayings, culture, and typologies is amazing.)
I had grown up as a surfer in California, but as I read the Script, I knew I would live in a country without an ocean. A few years after my encounter with the living messiah, I was again, by myself with the book. I felt Isaiah 49:1-6 jump out at me and “speak” directly to me. "Bring Jacob back to me." I felt like God was saying that to me. But I did not think "Jacob" represented my Jewish friends and neighbors in Santa Monica. One day, as a student at the University of California at Santa Barbara, I closed my Chemistry book and read from Luke (Uluukman) in the Injil (Celebratory News). I was moved by the passage and walked around the library praying. While praying, I walked by a map of the world. The mountains of Central Asia jumped out and grabbed my heart. I didn’t hear a voice or see a vision, but I knew the mountains were calling me, so I dropped out of university and tried to get to Central Asia. (Interestingly, in Kyrgyzstan, I was often accused of being CIA. When asked why I was in Kyrgyzstan, I shared this story about the map and the mountains, Kyrgyz often said something like, “If our mountains called him, so be it.” And they let me go. The call that brought me to Kyrgyzstan syncs perfectly with Kyrgyz values. Only God could do that.)
I moved to Kyrgyzstan when I was 28, the same age the foreigner Almanbet was when he came to live with the Kyrgyz. Like Almanbet, I experienced all sorts of antagonism from the nation I love. And like Almanbet, I didn’t come with a sponsor or organization backing me from home. Without an organization, I was free to love and listen to the Kyrgyz people, and make my own conclusions about everything I saw and heard. Others who were sponsored or backed had to “tow the company line” and were not theologically or ideologically free.
Shortly after moving to Kyrgyzstan, a famous Kyrgyz translator translated the Script into Kyrgyz. A friend gave the Good Book as a gift and wrote Isaiah 49:1-6 in the front cover. I was shocked. “Why did you write this?” I asked. I felt like I needed to write it for you,” was the answer.
“Bring Jacob back to me,” the Prophet Isaiah says on God’s behalf.
When I lived in Kyrgyzstan and worked with rural farmers, I started seeing countless customs and traditions among Kyrgyz that mirrored what I had read in the Script. At this time, I had no understanding or knowledge of Israel’s lost tribes, but my list of similarities between Kyrgyz and ancient Israelites grew from 20 to 50 to 70. When the list got to 70, I prayed and asked God, “When in history did the Kyrgyz and ancient Israelites live side by side or interact?” I revisited the Script and looked at all of Israel’s neighbors for a clue, but couldn’t find enough evidence to build an argument. I talked with Kyrgyz historians and learned that there was some evidence Kyrgyz had been in Egypt and Syria, but the evidence was not robust. My list of similarities grew from 70 to 100, but I still couldn’t find the link between Kyrgyz and Israelites. God seemed to be silent. A year passed and no answer.
One day I stopped on the Dolan Pass for some kimis (fermented horse milk). I didn’t want the kimis that was sold by the road, so I hiked up a hill to a lone yurt, met the shepherd, got my kimis, and sat down to relax. The shepherd started telling me the story of Manas. Manas was a shepherd boy who killed a giant and became khan, like David in the Script. His best friend, Almanbet, was the son of the king who wanted to kill Manas. Like Jonathan. The Kyrgyz exodus from Altai was with 600,000 men, like Moses’ exodus from Egypt. Wow! The cultural similarities I had seen in the village continued into the Manas Epic.
Then the shepherd stopped speaking, leaned toward me, and asked with big eyes, “Do you know the name of Manas’ father?”
“No,” I said.
“Jakyb” he said.
Jakyb? Jacob?
My whole life converged on that one name - that one moment.
When I got back to the city, I got the Script and reread it. The one place I hadn’t looked for a Kyrgyz-Israelite link was from within the 12 tribes of Israel. I reread the section about Jacob adopting his grandson Manasseh, so Manasseh was known as the son of Jacob, not the son of Joseph. I felt like I was reading a book I had never read before. I was reading an ancient Kyrgyz book. Many sections and prophecies about Joseph’s descendants, the northern 10 tribes, came alive to me. Yes, the Jewish descendants of Judah are important, but so are the descendants of Joseph.
I got online and researched the topic of Israel’s tribes. I then came in contact with the theory of Israel’s Lost Tribes. Most of what I read was racist, weird religious material. I hated what I was reading. It felt cultish. Then I found an article by Arimasa Kubo, a Japanese scholar who found that ancient Israelites came to Japan and shaped Japanese beliefs and traditions. His material was scholastic and his research sound. I wasn’t insane.
In the Manas Epic, Kyrgyz kin lived on “the other side of the Himalayas” where I had read about other Lost Tribes. In 2006, I went to interview a scholar from that region. I could verify a solid connection between Kyrgyz and the Script. He could verify a solid connection between the tribes of northeast India and the Script. Would we find a connection between the northeast Indian tribes and the Kyrgyz tribes? We met for three days in Assam, India and found many similarities. Assam India even has a beautiful river called Manas and a park named Manas. And Assam fits the Manas Epic’s description of “the other side of the Himalayas.”
After returning from Assam, I started speaking on this topic. In the U.S. I needed about 1.5 - 2 hours to convince a Western audience that Kyrgyz were from the Tribe of Manasseh. At a Kyrgyz university, it took me about 45 minutes to an hour to convince my audience. Once I saw some young Orthodox Jews and asked if I could ask them a question. They said sure. “I live in Kyrgyzstan where the Kyrgyz have an oral epic about their hero, Manas son of Jakyb,” I said. They interrupted me and said, “Oh, the descendants of Menashe, in the former Soviet Union, on the old Silk Road! Right where we expect to find them.” Ten seconds to convince an audience of young Orthodox Jews! Why? Because they read the prophecies.
In 2006, I was invited to present my ideas at Kyrgyzstan’s 1st International Symposium on World Epics with Chingis Aitmatov and the Ministry of Culture. Since that festival, I have successfully defended the theory that Kyrgyz are from Israel’s Manasseh Tribe and that the Kyrgyz hero, Manas son of Jakyb, is the tribal forefather, Manasseh son of Jacob. Not one scholar has presented a scholastic rebuttal since then. Many Kyrgyz tell me it can’t be true. They all have a variety of emotional reasons, but none are scholastic. Kyrgyz guardians try to discredit me the same way Jewish guardians tried to discredit those sent to them. In the meantime, those who are searching for truth, find more and more evidence supporting this theory about Kyrgyz history. To date, I believe Kyrgyz and Japanese are the best documented examples of Lost Tribes in the world.
There are nuances to this research that are important for Kyrgyz. First, I do not believe Kyrgyz are Jews from the Tribe of Judah. Kyrgyz are from Joseph. Judah and Joseph are very different. Their roles are different.
Likewise, I do not advocate for religious conversion, because I believe Isa, the Protagonist, is the beginning and end of every nation, culture, and faith. (Of course, there are conversion exceptions. That is another article.)
Because I don’t advocate religious conversion, Christians and Jews accuse me of not converting Kyrgyz to Christianity or Judaism, and-but Kyrgyz accuse me of converting them to Judaism and Christianity. Ha ha. I don’t convert people, I just want Kyrgyz to Come Home and be Kyrgyz. Actually, one of my favorite scriptural sayings is, “May Kyrgyz be Kyrgyz!”
Russian has an unfortunate symantec; the word Hebrew (Еврей) is used for Jew in Russian, but Hebrew actually means anyone from any of the 12 tribes. Kyrgyz know they aren’t Jewish, but because Russians use “Hebrew” instead of Jew, there is confusion distinguishing between the tribe of Judah and the tribes of Joseph. Distinguishing the difference is pivotal in this discussion.
Another quirk: Christians quote a verse saying I am not supposed to be caught up with myths and endless genealogies because such genealogies promote speculations and not the kingdom of God, which is by faith (1 Timothy 1:4). I agree, no one is saved by being descended from Mohammed, Moses, Buddha, the Patriarchs, Manas, or any other sage or prophet. We’re saved by faith in the Кыдыр-машаяк (the Messiah) sent by God. Having said that, when nations have lost their national identities, they adopt false identities and hurt their own people.
I believe this Lost Tribes theory reminds the “prodigal” Kyrgyz nation who they are and where their home is. When Kyrgyz come to their senses and return home, older brother Judah might not welcome them at that moment, but the Kyrgyz will find their ancient Теңирата (Father-Lord) waiting for them with open arms and welcoming them to their divine place among the nations.
