"The many points of resemblance in feature, general customs and manners may enable us to discover in the widely spread Polynesian race, a remnant of the long-lost tribes of Israel." ~ Richard Taylor in Te Ika a Maui, or New Zealand and its inhabitants (1855)
"The Hau Hau's sense of Jewish solidarity led them to spare any Jews they came across in the settler towns they captured. In March 1781, Eclipse berthed in Opitiki, on the north-east coast of the North Island. Some of the passengers including the Reverends, Carl Volkner and T. S. Grace were captured by the Hau Hau under the command of their arch-priest Kereopa. The owner and captain of the Eclipse was a Jersey-born Jew, Captain M. Levy (1821-1901). Both he and his brother, as Jews and thus 'akin to the Hau-Hau' were freed. On 2,March 1864, however, Volkner was taken into the local Church of St. Stephens, stripped of his clothes and allowed to pray in front of the altar before being hanged. An hour later he was decapitated and the Hau Hau allegedly crowded around the altar to drink his blood from the communion cup while Kereopa recited the prayer 'Hear O' Israel , this is the word of God, of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We are the Jews who were lost and have been persecuted!' Kereopa then gouged out Volkner's eyes and gave orders that his head be smoke cured." ~ Parfitt, Tudor. The lost tribes of Israel; History of a myth. Phoenix Press, 2003 pp. 151-152.
""Coincidentally", the Maoris also share some genetic diseases known as "typical" of Ashkenazic origin.
Maoris shares basically the same mitochondrial haplogroup as Navajos, Cherokees and Andean people. Even more interesting is that there are people among those groups which ALSO claim an ancient israelite conection.
The Maori and Native American tradition of Totems may resemble the ancient israelite cult of Ashera, practiced before by some of the northern tribes." ~ Illana
"Here are some of the facts of our culture (Maori) that I know. We take our dead back to their ancestral lands like Joseph did for his father Jacob and as Pharoah did for Joseph when he passed into the next life.
We have a purification process after visiting our deceased or graveyards where we will always sprinkle ourselves with water as a cleansing ritual after we leave the graveyard or the deceased's location.
We have always believed in a rest day on the 7th day even before the first non maori arrived or first christian arrived teaching about the sabbath.
We had a similar dietry code to the ancient hebrew.
Every 7 times 7 or 49 years we celebrate a jubilee year.
We have a sacred month given over to thanksgiving for the harvest that corresponds with the Hebrew month of Tishri and the Festival of Tabernacles.
We have a strong emphasis on geneology as a part of our identity process. And we always link our selves to our land through a prominent mountain and river from the area where we were born and raised
Our social organisations are tribes sub tribes organised along blood lines.
Our greeting to each other is to Hongi or Press foreheads and noses together in the practice of sharing a breath. The breath of life that god gave to adam
Every tribe and sub tribe had a Priest called a Tohunga
We had our own prophets who foretold of things to come. Some prophecies have manifested some haven't
Our Sun god is Ra
I am not sure if all or any of these are enough to convince you that there are a number of similarities that point me to believe that either we came from Ancient Israel or somewhere in our history we met a people of Israelite origin that had a significant influence on Maori that have shaped the traditions that we have today.
That said it all could be a big coincidence but as a Maori I don't believe it is a coincidence. I can go to Central or South America and people think I am a local, I can go to the middle east and people think I am Egyptian or of Middle east descent I was in Malaysia and people started talking to me in Malaysian thinking I was a local. I believe that we are all connected in some way and that Maori come from one of the tribes of Israel." ~ Anonymous
"I am a maori jew(sarphardi), and most maoris dont consider them as any tribe of israel, but with eyjptian & jewish simalarity both in costom and dialect , I am convinced maoris were either desended from joesph or came out of eyjpt as eyjptians whom marriaged into the jewish faith." ~ Anonymous
