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Where and who is Israel? It's a huge topic one that has many answers from many people, some whacky (from Native American to Japan among the stranger) but who and where the lost Tribes of Isreal, are, since the bible speaks about the House of Isreal's return, is the question which may not be answered definitively any time soon... Since the Jews are predominantly two tribes + Levi ie descendants of the Kingdom of Judah, where the other ten tribes are is the key question Rabbis ask. Israel is then a name of hope for the Orthodox because they are looking forward to the return of those lost into the gentile nations, lost to history, Assyria carried off the Northern Tribes. Eze 37:15  The word of the LORD came to me: Eze 37:16  “Son of man, take a stick and write on it, ‘For Judah, and the people of Israel associated with him’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ Eze 37:17  And join them one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. Eze 37:18  And when your people say to you, ‘Will you not tell us what you mean by these?’ Eze 37:19  say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, that they may be one in my hand. Eze 37:20  When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes, Eze 37:21  then say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land. Eze 37:22  And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. It's further complicated prophetically because Ephraim, the half-tribe, (Joseph gets double portion) carries the birthright, so where God says Israel is my firstborn son to Pharaoh, he says Ephraim is my firstborn, but the Sceptre ie King is with Judah, and David, so Jesus. More liberal views of course view the bible as largely fictional, and believe it was written in Babylon and redacted (means pretends to be older) to Moses etc. In short reading the prophecies you have to parse which house the bible is talking about (post divided Kingdom after Solomon) Israel, is the Northern Kingdom, Judah the Southern. Isa 58:1  “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. House of Jacob = Judah + Israel. ( 12 sons, 12 tribes) Isa 46:3  “Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; So "House of Israel" is not the House of Jacob but a subset of it.