JEWISH CUSTOMS AND NATIVE AMERICANS

We are a little behind in our goal of finishing the Book of Mormon before the end of the year, but in 3Nephi we just read about the restoration of the people to their lands after the Gentiles pee it all away (going on right now....).

I find this article interesting:

https://kehilanews.com/2017/02/23/native-american-couple-visits-israel-as-ambassadors-of-indigenous-peoples/?fbclid=IwAR0oxiu-GQcl5sDV8llHcnr8zB7ioXcxbM97IYOoDx_FBPg3gpUeQSUOvTE

Here is a taste of it:

Messianic stream of faith

Despite the fact that their faith and support of Israel may be somewhat unpopular and perhaps even controversial among Native Americans, the RiverWinds note many commonalities between Jewish and Native American customs.
“For example, we had cities of refuge, we didn’t eat swine, we celebrated seven festivals a year and the new moon and had a seventh day of rest,” Laralyn said, referring to her tribe, Cherokee.
The Cherokee also built booths, called arbors, for one of the festivals (similar to the Feast of Tabernacles, Sukkot) and carried an ark into battle.
More similarities include another tribe called, Tzitzitza, which means “people of the fringe” and sounds like tzittzit, the fringe or tassels worn by observant Jews. Another tribe is called Shoshoni, whose national symbol is a rose, strikingly similar to the Hebrew word for rose, shoshan.
One of the main names for God in Cherokee tradition is Yohaywa. Also, the Anikituwahyah tribe means The Principle People of Yah. One of the tribe’s pre-missionary stories passed on from generations included building a large canoe to avoid the flood.
Joseph was born and raised in Puerto Rico in Las Indieras (which means the Indian lands). The mountainous region is populated by the Taino tribe and is considered the indigenous capital of the island. He has Sephardic heritage through both his mother’s and father’s sides and remembers his grandmother sang Jewish songs in Ladino. Some of his most prized possessions are his family heirloom Cephers from the 1800s. He has photographs of his relatives celebrating bar mitzvahs and other Jewish customs.
Laralyn is a descendent of the Cherokee and Muskogee tribes and also has Celtic, Irish and Scottish blood. Her tribal and personal customs in many ways also reflect biblical and Jewish traditions.