Shalom Robert,

I was not so much disillusioned as disappointed. I had joined the
Jewish BoM group but I was skeptical of Rabbi Yosef's claims. He
said he was a Jewish scholar but had to hide his identity because
his status as a Jewish scholar would be in jeopardy if it became
known. Well, he indicated that he was living perhaps in Texas or
at least in the Western U.S. So what Yeshiva was he attending?
I know the chief Orthodox rabbis in the Western U.S., one in Denver
and one in San Antonio. There is really no Orthodox Yeshiva out
here except one for young men in Denver. Then Rabbi Yosef made some
bloopers that no Jewish scholar could possibly make. For instance he
said in one of our discussions that the Torah calls Jews "Am" but
non-Jews "Goy." Both words mean "People." He was using "Goy"
perjoratively to refer only to Gentiles. No Jewish scholar could
make that kind of mistake. Very early on in Bereshis (Genesis)
the LORD tells Abraham he will become a mighty "Goy," a mighty
Gentile or People. It just means an ethnic people, as does "Am."
The modern use of "Goy" has come to be applied to "Gentile" but it
is not the ancient or Torah usage. "Am" is used to refer to Gentiles
as well. The people of Sodom are called "Am" while Israel is to be
a "Goy Kadosh," a Holy People.

After several of these kinds of bloopers I sent him a personal
E-mail saying that I would give him the benefit of the doubt for
the purpose of the discussion, but I had serious misgivings about
his identity as a Jewish scholar, especially one trying to become
a rabbi. After that his participation dropped and the group seemed
to almost to die out. Then I later found out, after I had joined
the Two Sticks group, that because of the exchanges we had had, some
people wanted to know if this Rabbi Yosef was for real. If someone
really wants to know who you are in this Information Age, well I
suppose there are ways of finding out. Anyway, I was told that
Rabbi Yosef was not a Jewish scholar as he had portrayed himself
to be, but a so-called "Messianic-Jew" of Gentile origin. He had
represented himself as growing up in Judaism, then believing in
Jesus as Messiah, but keeping this quiet. Then finding that he also
believed in the Book of Mormon. But none of this was true, and so
it was disappointing to many who had been in the group.

As for the Los Lunas Stone, I have never personally seen the sight.
I have a sister who lives in Albuquerque and so one of these days
I want to go visit and drive to Los Lunas and see the stone. There
are photos on the Net and several Websites devoted to the stone. So
I have seen these photos and looked at the script. It is, indeed,
the Ten Commandments, a shortened version, written in ancient Hebrew
script. Three of the letters have a slightly Greek form or style.
Also, as I recall, there is a word or two where a SAMECH is used
for a SHIN or visa versa, or a consonant is used for a vowel, which
in itself lends authenticity to the thing.

There have been a number of inscriptions found in North America
that the late Barry Fell has identified as "Punic." Punic is an
ancient Semitic tongue that developed from Phoenician in North
Africa. Fell has been greatly criticized for over-reaching in
some of his conclusions and identifications. I don't know, but
it seems to me that what he has identified as Punic should be looked
into as possibly Late Nephite. These "Punic" inscriptions indicate
the practice of a form of Christianity. Dean.

>From: "Robert Frost" <iaoue@...>
>Reply-To: davids_outcasts@egroups.com
>To: davids_outcasts@egroups.com
>Subject: [888] Re: Jewishness Of The Book Of Mormon
>Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 16:49:29 -0000
>
>Hi Dean,
>
>I have a question for you, in the material that Sterling posted about
>you, you mention that you became disillusioned with Rabbi Yoseph when
>you found out that he was not Jewish. Please eloborate. I've been
>with him to a Jewish Shabbat service and find this assertion curious.
>
>You also mentioned Inscription Rock. Have you been there?
>
>BF
>
>P.S. to Lynn.
>Thanks for your hospitality, the chili was good.
>
>
>
>--- In davids_outcasts@egroups.com, "DJ Mansfield" <mansfielddj@h...>
>wrote:
> >
> > From: "L.M. Enterprises" <htrails@s...>
> >
> > Dean, Lynn here. Help me out. Are you the Dean that's researched
> > the Jewishness of the Book of Mormon? A subject that fascinates me!
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Shalom Lynn!
> >
> > I have been operating under the hypothesis that the Book of
> > Mormon is an English translation of an ancient Semitic record.
> > The book is not Jewish in terms of what Judaism is today. My
> > thesis is, however, that it may represent an earlier, more basic
> > strand of Hebrew religion that existed before the Babylonian
> > Captivity.
> >
> > I had been participating in the Two Sticks group. Sterling,
> > I believe, passed on some of my posts to this group. So you
> > are interested in this subject, eh? So am I. Dean.
> > _________________________________________________________________
> > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
>

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