The Lost Tribe

Most of us have heard of the 10 lost Jewish tribes that will be re-discovered when Moshiach comes. However, I believe that there are more than 10. I think that all 12 tribes are still lost.
 
“Like, helloooo, lady, I’m Jewish and I’m right here!” you might argue. Yeah. I’m Jewish, and I’m here too – it doesn’t mean that I’m not lost. Wait – my nonsensical point actually makes sense…
 
The Jewish People have suffered the greatest blow to their spiritual status with the passing of the Gadol Hador, the spiritual leader of our generation, Maran Rav Ovadia Yosef zatz”l. It is unquestionable that he possessed a brilliance and breadth of Torah understanding that was unparalleled. He was also known for his sincere love and care of each and every Jew. Many other Tzaddikim referred to him as the Moses of our generation.
 
I am a simple person. I did not personally know of his amazing abilities to make halacha – Jewish Law – more understandable and practical for the average Jew, nor have I ever met him to have the merit of getting a blessing and experiencing for myself how much indeed he loved all of us. Even if I did, I wouldn’t have understood a drop in the ocean of who he was.
 
Rav Ovadia’s passing left me wondering: why did Hashem choose to take him back when the world is on the verge of such chaos? Wouldn’t it have been easier for us if He had left Rav Ovadia on earth?
 
It seems to me that Hashem used Rav Ovadia’s passing as a last-ditch effort to shake us out of our spiritual comas. How better to wake us up than to take out our top guy?
 
To me, that’s not even the biggest concern. The greatest tragedy in this is that many Jews have not even heard of Rav Ovadia, or any of the Tzaddikim for that matter. I used to be one of those Jews. And I was raised with a Jewish identity!
 
It’s not that having heard of him is the main issue – it’s what it stands for. Many Jews are so far from Judaism, and this is just one of the painfully obvious ways in which we can see this.
 
How many souls don’t understand the first thing about Judaism? There are so many Jews who don’t know that Hashem is the Creator and Ruler of everything in existence. What about all the Jews who, even though they know they’re Jewish, live like the rest of the world? To them, the Torah lifestyle and wisdom is nice, yet antiquated and not applicable in today’s modern world.
 
Even the religious Jews are not exempt from “lost tribe” status. Much of the religious communities also live a non-Jewish type of lifestyle; they also pursue the American Dream of a fancy house, fancy cars, fancy wigs, fancy everything. Sure, they keep Shabbat and keep kosher, but aside from the kosher certifications at the entrance to the five-star steak house, does it really look or taste any different from a non-kosher restaurant?
 
It is very sad that we have so completely lost our direction; our sense of purpose in this world of illusions. The Torah states very clearly that our purpose is to serve Hashem through learning Torah, doing mitzvot, ad leading spiritually-oriented lives.  Through doing so we can achieve an incredibly exalted connection with Him while still in our physical bodies.
 
How many of us actually live with this intent in mind? How many of us think this is fantastical and unrealistic? How many of us think of this at all?
 
It’s like Hashem is literally screaming at us: “My children! I just took away your leader! Why aren’t you searching for Me? Come back to Me! Why are you not living the way I intended for you?”
 
It’s time to stop being blinded by all of the nonsense in the world. The question each one of us must ask ourselves is: “What am I living for? Am I achieving my spiritual purpose in this world? Do I have any idea who I really am?” Opening our eyes to the reality that Hashem intended for us is the way we can find ourselves and reclaim who we once were- the same souls that were at Mount Sinai, who agreed to live as a Holy nation- not a lost nation.