One very strange yahoo group. Includes mention of another "tribe" and assorted characters
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Judaokeekota/messages"The way I discovered my Jewish linage is from my mother's side, which
is Cherokee. "Cherokee!" You say? "American Indians aren't
Jewish!" Well, true, not all of them anyway. I cannot prove any of
this by hard cold facts, but by faith, circumstantial evidence, and
archeological artifacts, I'm personally convinced the Cherokee tribe
has Jewish ancestry. A Cherokee tribe in Missouri a few years ago
came out and proclaimed that they are Jews
(
www.forthegloryofyahshuahministries.org). The name Cherokee
means "the Chosen / Principle People"; we all know Israel is also
called "the Chosen People". One, who studies the Cherokee Tribe and
religion, will find uncanny similarities to Judaism. For instance,
they go by the lunar calendar as Jews do and all their festivals fall
on the same times and have essentially the meaning, they are just
called by different names. They had a priestly tribe with a high
priest and a lodge in the center of the camp which served as a
Tabernacle of sorts and a sacred chest with sacred articles with in
it just like the Ark of the Covenant. Their name for G-D has the
same consonants as the Hebrew name for G-D; transliterated it would
be YHWH, scholars pronounce it "Yahweh", and the Cherokee called
him "Yowah", Same consonants just different vowels! The Cherokee
called the Great Smokey Mountains "the Shekenah", very similar to the
Hebrew word Shekinah, both referring to the Glory Cloud of G-D.
Their wedding ceremony is as a reenactment of the prophecy of Ezekiel
37. The bride and groom both bring a stick to the wedding and the
priest binds them together making the two sticks one, representing
Judah reuniting and becoming one with Israel. They even get married
wrapped in a garment similar to what the Jews get married under; a
Tallit (prayer shawl). The Cherokee has many more customs and
traditions which parallel the Jewish people and Judaism.
Archeologist even unearthed a stone tablet from a Cherokee burial
mound under a chief's head in Bat's Creek Tennessee which had Palo
(Ancient) Hebrew writing on it!
So how did the Ancient Jews get to the America's? Two ways, 1. King
David and King Solomon had a great and vast navy which sailed the
globe. Some say they either were ordered here or shipwrecked. 2.
Josephus, a Jewish historian, records that a group of Jews held up in
the mountain fortress of Masada during a Roman revolt escaped by sea
and sailed away in this direction.
Ever since I was a teenager I have been drawn to Jews and Jewish
things. Even if I'm not genetically Jewish, I have officially become
Jewish through the Hatafat Dam Brit (ritual circumcision); hence the
reason for my Hebrew and Cherokee name together. My English name
Kristopher Scott Shoemaker means; the follower of Messiah, who bears
the mark, and makes shoes for the path. I named myself "Strange
Lion", because I'm a stranger in a strange land, I appear strange to
everyone around me, and I'm from the tribe of Judah, which symbol is
a Lion. I want to display the characteristics of a lion in my walk
such as royalty, bravery and leadership. But then at the prison I
ran into a Cherokee Medicine man named Gordon "Wide Wing" Smith, who
practices Netzari Judaism, and confirms the Cherokee and a Jewish
connection. He said before Sequoyah came up with the Cherokee
alphabet, the only clan with in the Cherokee Nation that could read
or write was the one which was made up of Priests and Medicine Men.
He said his grandmother had some ancient Cherokee writing which he
said was the same as Paleo-Hebrew script. He gave me the
name "Strong Bow" (U-hu-s-ti Ga-li-tsa-di) because he said when I
speak and preach, I "shoot straight", hard and strong. It is no
coincidence my Cherokee birth sign is flint, which was used in
arrowheads for bows and arrows. My Hebrew name is Yehudah, which was
bestowed upon me by my former Rabbi, makes sense because the best
that I can tell I'm from the tribe of Yehudah (Judah). I f you were
to translate my English name; Kris to Hebrew, it would be Mashiach
(Messiah), and I didn't want to go around being called "Messiah".
The rest of my Hebrew name is; ben Shomeyr; son of Bill, ben Avraham;
son of Abraham, because even though I was born Jewish through my
mother, I still converted to Judaism, and all converts are call, "ben
Avraham", because they have no, or can't trace their Jewish linage.
So being a Cherokee and a Jew, I suppose I am a Judaokee."