It Was Hard to Be A Jew In England

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                          

Edward I was king of England in 1290.  Edward I, byname Edward Longshanks, (born June 17, 1239, Westminster, Middlesex, England—died July 7, 1307, Burgh by Sands, near Carlisle, Cumberland), son of Henry III and king of England in 1272–1307, during a period of rising national consciousness.                                 

For starters, England expulsed any Jews they had in 1290 and didn't allow any back in the country until 1655.  That means there weren't any Jews living in England for 365 years !  

The heavy tax was passed, and three days later, on 18 July, the Edict of Expulsion was issued. One official reason for the expulsion was that Jews had declined to follow the Statute of Jewry and continued to practice usury.

Now this is almost laughable because loaning money usually was asked of first by the royalty in a country.  Loaning money was the only profession allowed to Jews in most cases.  They weren't allowed to own land, for instance.  

Since the time of the Norman Conquest, Jews had been filling a small but vital role in the English economy. Usury by Christians was forbidden at the time by the Church of Rome, but Jews were permitted to act as moneylenders and bankers. That enabled some Jews to amass tremendous wealth, but also earned them enmity, which added to the increasing antisemitic sentiments of the time, due to widespread indebtedness and financial ruin among the gentile population.

Edward I returned from the Crusades in 1274, two years after his accession as King of England, and found that land had become a commodity, and that many of his subjects had become dispossessed and were in danger of destitution. Jews traded land for money, and land was often mortgaged to Jewish moneylenders. In January 1275 Edward's mother, the Queen Dowager Eleanor of Provence, expelled the Jews from all of her lands, a precursor to the Statute enacted later the same year.

As special direct subjects of the monarch, Jews could be taxed indiscriminately by the King. Some have described this situation as indirect usury: the monarch permitted and encouraged Jews to practise usury and then taxed the profit. 

In the years leading up to the Statute, Edward taxed them heavily to help finance his forthcoming military campaigns in Wales, which began in 1277. One theory holds that he had exhausted the financial resources of the Jewish community when the Statute was passed in 1275.Remember-by 1290 all Jews had to leave England.  

Provisions: Usury was outlawed in every form.1066 to 1290-

In 1066 Jews had entered with Norman Conquest-just a handful of financiers followed William the Conqueror from the Continent.  The Norman Conquest prompted the arrival of Jews to England for the first time. William I needed to borrow large sums of money to consolidate his position as the King of England and he turned to Jewish merchants from Rouen, Normandy to provide him with this much-needed income. Lending money with interest or ‘usury’ was forbidden to Christians and considered a sin. As a result, the English king paved the way for Jewish individuals to migrate and settle across the Channel. Jews and Christians now lived alongside each other in settlements across the country.

• Debtors of Jews were no longer liable for certain debts.
• Jews were not allowed to live outside certain cities and towns.                               
• Any Jew above the age of seven had to wear a yellow badge of felt in the form of Two Tables Joined on his or her outer clothing, six inches by three inches.
• All Jews from the age of 12 on had to pay a special tax of three pence annually.
• Christians were forbidden to live among Jews.
• Jews were licensed to buy farmland to make their living for the next 15 years.
• Jews could thenceforth make a living in England only as merchants, farmers, craftsmen or soldiers.

"Of the 12 million inhabitants of England in 1819, there were only 20,000 to 30,000 Jews;  at least 2/3rds of whom lived in London.  The 19th century Jewish population was undergoing a major shift from Sephardic to Ashkenazic leadership.  With growing numbers of Jews immigrating from Germany and Poland into England, the Ashkenazim (Jews with ancestors from Northern, eastern, and Central Europe) began to take over the reins of leadership that had been dominated by the Sephardim (Jews whose ancestors originated from the Mediterranean rim). "

           Oliver Cromwell-25 April 1599-September 3, 1658

"Wealthy Sephardi families had dominated the Jewish community since the 18th century when Oliver Cromwell,   an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of the British Isles came to prominence during the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially as a senior commander in the Parliamentarian army and latterly as a politician, and allowed Jews to resettle into England. " 

England passed the "Jew Bill of 1753 that allowed Jews to become natural citizens, but it was repealed the very next year, and there was a continued denial of equal rights to Jews.  

A Jewish candidate, Lionel de Rothschild (1808-1879), was elected as one of the four members of Parliament for the City of London in 1847 but could not take his seat without taking a Christian oath of office. As a consequence, on Monday, 26 July 1858, Lionel de Rothschild took the oath with covered head, substituting "so help me, Jehovah" for the ordinary form of oath, and thereupon took his seat as the first Jewish member of Parliament; David Salomons was re-elected for Greenwich in a by-election and took his seat in early 1859. Two years later a more general form of oath for all members of Parliament was introduced, which freed the Jews from all cause of exclusion.That would be the day of emancipation for Jews of England, 1861 would be the proper date.  Ironically, 1861 is also the date when Abraham Lincoln took office as President of the USA.  He was assassinated in 1865 for his Civil War in freeing the slaves and emancipating them.  

 He had financed the English purchase of the Suez Canal shares in 1875 and was the first Jewish member of parliament in 1858.  His son, however, Nathaniel, succeeded him as head of the banking -house and was the first Jewish  peer in 1885 and one of the outstanding Jews in his time.  

During the period of overt anti-Semitism, many Sephardic families sought full entry into English life by adopting more extreme Hellenistic and Anglican ways, by abandoning the synagogue, even by raising their children as Christians. That is the most extreme form of Hellenization that I have run across, bar none.  Evidently they were already from such Hellenized families that conversion didn't mean much to them in a change of their lives.  One wonders if perhaps the family were already Marranos-secret Jews since 1492- from the Spanish Inquisition.  The most prominent example of this trend was the Disraeli family.  

Portrait by Cornelius Jabez Hughes, 1878

The Right Honourable

The Earl of Beaconsfield

KG PC DL JP FRS

As it was, Isaac D'Israeli had a son, Benjamin, who grew up to be Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield who was born in 1804 and died in 1881.  He had become a British statesman.  When he was 13, his father, who had become estranged from the synagogue, had him baptized.  The age of 13 causes me to think the argument was over his to be-bar mitzvah.  Perhaps he didn't want any Hebrew reading in it, and the synagogue expected it to be a normal bar matzvah.  Another resource mentions his conversion at 12, so it must have.  After unsuccessful ventures in business, he made a reputation by his brilliant novel, Vivian Grey that he wrote in 1826.  The catastrophe at the conclusion provides Vivian with a brutal but essential lesson in human behaviour. The novel offers a comment on the political and social temper of England in the early 1820s, and is specifically concerned with the question of personal advancement in a rigidly restrictive social structure. 

From 1828 to 1831 he traveled through the Mediterranean, spending some time in Palestine.  That's interesting.  Was he searching for answers?  At least he was curious about his heritage.  

On his return to England, he entered politics and after initial failure, was elected to parliament in 1837 as a Tory.  though at first howled down in the House of Commons, he became the spokesman of the inarticulate Protectionist right-wing when the official Conservative Party under Peel went over to Free Trade in 1845.  

In the course of the next few years, he revived the Party and became its official parliamentary leader.  Meanwhile, he continued his literary career, publishing a series of outstanding political novels.

In 1868  Disraeli became Prime Minister briefly before losing that year's general election. Disraeli became Prime Minister once again in 1874, aged 70. This was a successful premiership, though it has been said that the legislation of this time depended much less upon Dizzy himself than upon his Cabinet colleagues.The 1880 election was lost to the Liberals, a narrow loss in terms of votes cast. Disraeli threw himself into the job of Opposition, and was active until a month before his death from bronchitis in April 1881. On his deathbed, he is reported to have said: “I had rather live but I am not afraid to die”.

Throughout his career, he never ceased to proclaim his sympathy with and admiration for the Jewish people, to which he was proud to trace his origin.  He championed Jewish emancipation in parliament, almost identified himself with a medieval messianic pretender in his early work, Alroy, delineated an idealized Rothschild as "Sidonia," a principal character in his novels Coningshy and Tancred, spoke of Christianity as a development of Judaism, and ascribed exaggerated qualities to the Jewish "race."

"Benjamin 'Dizzy' Disraeli was the son of Isaac, a Jewish Italian writer, and had an Anglican upbringing after the age of 12. With Jews excluded from Parliament until 1858, this enabled Disraeli to follow a career that would otherwise have been denied him. He was Britain's first, and so far only, Jewish Prime Minister."

At the start of World War II (WWII), the Jewish population in the United Kingdom (UK) was approximately 370,000-390,000 people.

Going into the 19th century, the Jewish population was small, likely no more than 20,000 individuals. However, the population quadrupled in just a few decades after 1881 as a large number of Jews fled oppression in the Russian Empire. The population increased by as much as 50% between 1933 and 1945, with the United Kingdom admitting around 70,000 Jews between 1933 and 1938, and a further 80,000 between 1938 and 1945. The late 1940s and early 1950s proved to be the high point, numerically speaking, for British Jewry. 

In 1990, the Jewish population of Great Britain with N. Ireland was estimated at 330,000.  

Portland, Oregon in 1980 had  366,373 population.

  

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

Pioneer Rabbi of the West by Rabbi Joshua Stampfer-the life and times of Julius Eckman

https://www.gov.uk/government/history/past-prime-ministers/benjamin-disraeli-the-earl-of-beaconsfield#:~:text=Benjamin%20'Dizzy'%20Disraeli%20was%20the,far%20only%2C%20Jewish%20Prime%20Minister.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Cromwell

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disraeli_(1929_film)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edict_of_Expulsion#:~:text=The%20heavy%20tax%20was%20passed,and%20continued%20to%20practice%20usury.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statute_of_the_Jewry#:~:text=The%20Statute%20of%20the%20Jewry,outlawing%20the%20practice%20of%20usury.

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/jews-in-england-1290/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Jews

 

May Is Jewish American Heritage Month

 Nadene Goldfoot                                             

The whole month of May has been selected to remember our Jewish generations who helped to form the USA.  Tomorrow is the day to recognize those who participated in the Civil War.   

The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of Jewish Americans who helped form the fabric of American history, culture and society.

         Union Army Brevet Major General Frederick Salomon

Jewish Soldiers in the Civil War (April 12, 1861-April 9, 1865) examines when and why Jewish people decided to enlist, explores their encounters with fellow soldiers, and describes their efforts to create community within the ranks. This monumental undertaking rewrites much of what we think we know about Jewish soldiers during the Civil War. Adam D. Mendelsohn draws for the first time upon the vast database of verified listings of Jewish soldiers serving in the Civil War collected by the Shapell Roster, as well as letters, diaries, and newspapers, to examine the collective experience of Jewish soldiers and to recover their voices and stories.

Judah P. Benjamin served as the second Confederate States Secretary of War from September 17, 1861 – March 24, 1862.

Mendelsohn asserts that beneath the intoxicating myth of the heroic Jewish soldier observing Yom Kippur on the battlefield is a far more complicated and fascinating story. Never before had Jews joined a mass volunteer army—itself a relatively new historical phenomenon—in such numbers and with such enthusiasm.

Previous scholars sought to demonstrate sameness: Jews were as brave and loyal as any other volunteers, and they served in numbers at least equal to their fellow Americans. But in ways visible and invisible to their fellow recruits and conscripts, the experience of Jews was distinct from that of other soldiers—other ethnic minorities included—who served in Blue and Gray. From pork-heavy rations that necessitated many forgo eating Kosher, to the impossibility of having a Jewish burial on the battlefield, there are many parts of the Jewish experience during the Civil War that had yet to be  uncovered, until now.

After nearly 15 years of research, the Shapell Manuscript Foundation will be releasing the Shapell Roster to the public. Adam D. Mendelsohn, author,, through early access to the Roster, used these findings in his masterfully-written new book, Jewish Soldiers in the Civil War: The Union Army. The book is the first of what will be a two-volume set, which will be released by NYU Press this coming fall. NYU Press issued the following press release announcing the publication:

One academic estimate was that at least 8,000 Jewish soldiers fought for the Union and Confederate during the Civil War. Donald Altschiller estimates that at least 10,000 Jews served, about 7,000 for the Union and 3,000 for the Confederacy, with some 600 Jewish soldiers killed in battle.

In the first half of the nineteenth century, Jewish immigrants came mostly, though not exclusively, from Central Europe. In addition to settling in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, groups of German-speaking Jews made their way to Cincinnati, Albany, Cleveland, Louisville, Minneapolis, St. Louis, New Orleans, San Francisco, and dozens of small towns across the United States. During this period there was an almost hundred-fold increase in America's Jewish population from some 3,000 in 1820 to as many as 300,000 in 1880.

Most of my father's line of Goldfus in 1860 still lived in Lithuania.  Jews immigrated from Lithuania to England, then moved on to Dublin, Ireland, and most from there traveled to South Africa.  My grandfather held out for the USA so came  over and made it on the 1910 census but not before. I've found Goldfus descendants of our line in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Chicago, Illinois as well as Portland, Oregon where we resided.                            

Just before the Civil War in USA, , The Crimean War was fought between Russia and the forces of Britain, France, and the Ottoman Empire, later joined by the army of Sardinia-Piedmont. The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire against an alliance of French, British, Ottoman and Sardinian troops. The war broke out in the autumn of 1853 and came to a conclusion in March 1856 with the Treaty of Paris. The Crimean War was a conflict resulting in a large death toll and for many had far-reaching consequences. Jews of Russia would have been forced to fight.  And who came from Russia?  My grandfather was from Telsia, Lithuania but on the 1910 census, was said to have come from "Russia."  It was the blanket answer for anyone from the Pale of Settlement.  Once in a while you'll find the name of the place-usually written so fast and sloppy that it's unreadable anyway.  

In January 1863 to 1864 another Russian rebellion going on.  Russian troops were in Warsaw, Poland during the uprising.  It was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at the restoration of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last insurgents were captured by the Russian forces in 1864.  It was the longest-lasting insurgency in partitioned Poland. The conflict engaged all levels of society and arguably had profound repercussions on contemporary international relations and ultimately provoked a social and ideological paradigm shift in national events that went on to have a decisive influence on the subsequent development of Polish society.

Major General Maurice Rose from WWII, He must be a direct relative of Rabbi Rose of Portland, Oregon.  Major General Maurice Rose (1899–1945) was a United States Army general during World War II and World War I veteran. The son and grandson of rabbis, Major General Rose was at the time the highest ranking Jew in the U.S. Army.

Rabbi Emanuel  Rose of the Reformed Temple was one of the three founders of the Oregon Board of Rabbis in 1961, which helped to establish an atmosphere of cooperation and sharing among the different Jewish congregations in the state. He is credited with bringing together members of the Jewish, Catholic, and Muslim communities.

Jews, especially those on the East Coast, are being very wary these days of exposing the fact that they are Jewish.  The anti-Semitism here is running deeper than that found in Germany in the late 1930s.  It's nice to know we're being recognized as an important element of the USA's make-up;  2% of the population, actually.

Resource: 

https://www.shapell.org/historical-perspectives/shapell-roster-articles/a-new-book-by-adam-d-mendelsohn-jewish-soldiers-in-the-civil-war-the-union-army/

https://www.archives.gov/calendar/event/jewish-soldiers-in-the-civil-war-the-union-army

https://www.historic-k.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Timeline-Crimean-War/  

https://www.britannica.com/event/Crimean-War

https://www.ojmche.org/oral-history-people/rabbi-emanuel-rose/#:~:text=Rabbi%20Rose%20was%20one%20of,%2C%20Catholic%2C%20and%20Muslim%20communities.

ngress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of Jewish Americans who helped form the fabric of American history, culture and society.

Land of Each Tribe of Our 12 Tribes of Israel

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                                                                              

The Promised Land was 17,500 sq miles of which 45% was Transjordan reaching from the arm of the Nile Delta , the Gulf of Elath, and the Euphrates River opposite Aleppo in the East.  It included most of Syria, covering 58,000 sq. miles.  This entire area was occupied by the Israelites under kings David and his son, Solomon.  There were generally gentile enclaves within Jewish territory.  By 1949 in today's world, the armistice agreements left Israel with 8,000 sq miles with complicated borders.  

    1967 War of Egypt attacking Israel led to Israel's win (a repeat) By beating the odds and winning, they won land that was eluded to be theirs in the first place.  

          1973 and Yom Kippur War with Sadat trying again

The 12 tribes of (Jacob/Israel) left Egypt after living there for 400 years. That's 16 generations of families that had lived in Egypt.  Mostly, they were Egyptians after living there for all these years but a special group that had been isolated in slave quarters.  They were a people breaking away from their "mother" country who had used them, such as Ukraine has done with Russia. 

Parting of the sea for Israelites being chased by Egyptian soldiers

 They left a life of slavery and had to learn to adjust to depending on themselves. They were a people deprived of education; only Moses, raised as a prince of Egypt, was educated and could read and write. They followed the teachings of Moses, which have remained with the Jewish people for the past 4,000 years.   They must have been bilingual, speaking Egyptian and Hebrew.   

Moses leading the way, over 80 years old and walking.  That's why he's so capable.  Sandals are horrible for walking. However did they manage without hiking boots?   Sand can be so hot!  

 Moses, son of Amram and Jochebed of the tribe of Levi,  led the way with Hoshea/Joshua of the tribe of Ephraim.  Joshua was the commander and successor of Moses.  

Joshua and Caleb were the only ones out of the 12 that brought back an encouraging report when on a scouting mission in Canaan. 

    Joshua and Caleb saw huge grapes, luscious fruit being carried 

They tried to convince the Israelites that they could conquer the land: Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it." Caleb was a member of the Kenizzite family (possibly a  central Syrian people mentioned in Egyptian and Hittite inscriptions.  ;  one of the leaders of the tribe of Judah. He must have married into the Kenizzites, an ancient nation in Canaan. Caleb would have been a slave in Egypt as well.   

Joshua was the leader in the war against the Amaleks, nomads who attacked the Israelites in the desert near Rephidim, preying on the weak and weary of the 603,550.  Amaleks became their eternal foe, perhaps a sign that there would always be someone who resents their presence. Haman was an Amalek.  Hitler was an Amalek.  

 Joshua's father was Nun of the tribe of Ephraim.  Nun /ˈnʊn/ (Hebrew: נוּן Nūn, 'Perpetuity'), in the Hebrew Bible, was a man from the Tribe of Ephraim, grandson of Ammihud, son of Elishama, and father of Joshua (1 Chronicles 7:26–27). 

We know very little about Joshua’s early life, except that he was born in Goshen, in the land of Egypt; he was the son of Nun, an Ephraimite; he was in the twelfth generation from Joseph; and he was about forty years old at the time of the Exodus. He is styled as the ‘servant of Moses’, and following Moses’ death is appointed by God to lead the children of Israel into the Promised Land. In the call and commission of Joshua, God gives him two promises: (1) that he would possess the land of Canaan, and (2) that God would be with him and would never forsake him. The Lord directs him (Josh. 1:8) to the secret of success—meditation in the Word of God. It was this more than any other single thing that made Joshua the great leader he proved to be.

It was Joshua who divided the land for the 12 tribes by lot, not by the size of the tribe.    Moses had asked Joshua, laying his hands on him,  to lead the Israelites in the Conquest of Canaan.  He was successful, capturing most of the land except for the valley areas and the coast.  Joshua had all the responsibility of leading, winning in battles to get there, and in selecting land for them to live in.  

                       Egyptian army on the march after Israelites

 7.Gad        8.Asher,     9.Issachar, Zebulun, 11.Joseph   12.Benjamin   

Judah , (4th son of Jacob and Leah), was the largest most populous tribe to enter Canaan with Joshua.  This tribe started in Egypt with 74,600.  By the time they arrived, they had 76,500, a gain of 1,900.  In 933BCE after the death of King Solomon, they were left alone except for most of Benjamin and  it presumably absorbed the tribe of Simeon as well.  They are the remaining tribe to this day, now called the Jewish people.  

The tribe of Dan* (5th son of Jacob, and Bilhah, handmaid of Rachel), was 2nd largest starting with 62,700.  They ended with 64,400, a gain of 1,700.  They were allotted a portion south of Jaffa. The Amorites forced them into hill country so only part of the tribe remained along the coast.  Most were forced north  and took land from the Phoenicians around Laish.  Then the Philistines arrived, causing them to lose land.  Their northern land was the site of a Temple, a chief cult center for tribe of Ephraim.  By 900 BCE, Syria had taken their land.  The great hero of the Danites was Samson, who, until his betrayal by Delilah, used his mighty strength against the Philistine invaders.

The 3rd largest tribe was Simeon, (2nd son of Jacob and Leah),  with 59,300 members.  By the time they arrived, they were almost wiped out having lost 37,100.  They were left with 22,200.  Their lot was 2 areas within Judah in the Negev Desert.  During Hezekiah's reign, they took land from Arabs of Seir.  Some settled in the mountains of Ephraim.  It had been Simeon and Levi attacked Shechem for sister Dinah's name, overly zealous young men.  

The 4th largest tribe was Zebulun,(6th son of Jacob and Leah)    with 57,400. They had 60, 500 when they arrived, having gained 3,100.   They had a central but  small northern piece from the lot, the Valley of Jezreel.  Their descendants were into trade.  The tribe supported the scholars of Issachar.  

The 5th largest tribe was Issachar, (5th son of Jacob and Leah)  with 54,400.   By the time they arrived, they had 64,309 and were the 3rd largest tribe.  Their lot was land between Mt. Tabor and the Jordan River including much of the fertile Valley of Jezreel.  Evidently some of the tribe was saved from the Assyrian exile in 721 BCE and the men answered Hezekiah's summons to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem.  

The 6th largest tribe was Naphtali*, (6th son of Jacob with Bilhah) with 53,400.  When they arrived, they had lost 8,000 leaving them with 45,400.  Their lot was in the northern section of Canaan including the entire East Coast of the Sea of Galilee.  The tribe fought in the war with Sisera and Gideon's campaign against the Midianites.  The land was overrun by the Arameans during the time of Baasha.  Many were exiled by Tiglath-Pileser in 721 BCE.  The survivors lived in the Galilee during 2nd Temple Times 597-538 BCE.  

The 7th largest tribe was Reuben (1st son of Jacob and Leah)  with 46,500 .  They had lost 2,770 by the time they arrived with 43,730.  Reuben had opposed all his brothers in the plot against Joseph.  Another sign of leadership was that he volunteered as surety for Benjamin during the latter's visit to Egypt.  Reuben's tribe had requested and received  land in Moab (Transjordan) which was fertile but came with political problems, eventually in Moabite and Ammoniate hands.  They were one of 10 tribes exiled to Assyria in 721 BCE.  Because of their isolate position, Reuben played little part in the history of the Israelite tribes after the settlement in Canaan.  

The 8th largest tribe was Gad* (son of Jacob and Zilpah) with 45,650 who lost 5,150 and arrived with 40,500.  Their lot was to settle in Gilead and Central Transjordan where they gained a warlike reputation.  They flourished during the rule of Saul , and their position was consolidated under David.  Gad then belonged to Samaria, the northern kingdom and suffered severely from Syrian attacks.  In 732 BCE, the region was devastated by the Assyrians and most of its inhabitants were exiled, later was occupied by the Ammonites.  

The 9th largest tribe was Asher* (8th son of Jacob and Zilpah's 2nd) with 41,500 and  gained 11,900 in the 40 year trek, arriving with a whopping 53,400.  Their lot was fertile territory extending from Western Galilee to the Southern part of Carmel.                                       

       Joseph and Asenath, daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On. 

Jacob couldn't marry Rachel until 14 years had passed after marrying Leah as he had to wait for 7 years to gain Leah when he thought he was marrying Rachel, then had to work another 7 years for Rachel.  By the time Joseph's older brothers sold him to the passing camel caravan, the brothers were older teenagers, jealous teenagers to have done such a horrible thing to Joseph, their father's pride and joy.     

The 3rd smallest tribe was Ephraim (2nd son of Joseph and Asenath) with 40,500 but they lost 8,000 and arrived with only 32,500, and their lot was for  the more northern of the 2 Israelite kingdoms of Ephraim and Israel.  Ephraim included the hill-country in central Eretz and was noted for its fertility.  In the period of the Judges, Ephraim claimed priority among the Israelite tribes, partly because their religious center was situated at Shiloh in its territory. 

The prophets later spoke of the House of Judah and the House of Ephraim, as representing the two branches of the Hebrew people.  What happened to such an important historical group?  The Samaritans claim that some of their adherents are descended from this tribe, and many Persian Jews claim to be descendants of Ephraim.Further afield, in India the Telugu Jews claim descent from Ephraim, and call themselves Bene Ephraim, relating similar traditions to those of the Mizo Jews, whom the modern state of Israel regards as descendants of Manasseh.

The Pashtuns have a proud oral history that talks of descending from the Israelites. Their tribal groupings have similar names, including Yusufzai, which means sons of Joseph; and Afridi, thought by some to come from Ephraim. Some customs and practices are said to be similar to Jewish traditions: lighting candles on the sabbath, refraining from eating certain foods, using a canopy during a wedding ceremony and some similarities in garments.

In 930 BCE,  the tribe of Ephraim led the 10 northern tribes in a successful revolt against the south and established the Kingdom of Israel in (933-912), with Jeroboam I, an Ephraimite, as king. He was Solomon's superintendent, no relation to Solomon.  He had led the revolt, so became their king.   Actually, Solomon died 10 years later.  At the same time,  Rehoboam (son of Solomon of the tribe of Judah  and his Ammonite wife, Naamah) was crowned king of Judah (933-917) which was now on its own in this split from Israel. Judah and Israel even fought against each other at times.  The split was all over high taxes and being forced to labor on the Temple without pay. These reasons were real, but Solomon  was frantic to finish the Temple before he died and this was his only way.  Rehoboam had kept these unreasonable demands on the people.  

The 2nd smallest tribe was Benjamin (the 12th son of Jacob and Rachel's 2nd and last) with 35,400 and arrived with 45,600, a gain of 10,200.  There was a strong connection between Jacob and Benjamin which ended with Jacob's migration to Egypt.  The tribe of Benjamin occupied territory between Ephraim and Judah which included Jerusalem.  On one occasion, it was almost exterminated in a war with the other tribes.  Saul, 1st king of Israel was  Benjamite.  The territory was a bone of contention between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah after the division of the kingdom and eventually, was partitioned between the two.  The land was so small.                                       

                       Joseph, Viceroy of Egypt, son of Jacob all due to understanding others' dreams 

The very smallest tribe was Manasseh (1st son of Joseph and Asenath) with 32,200 and arrived with 52,700, a gain of a whopping 20,500.  The trek agreed with them!  The tribe was divided into 7 families.  One was Machir and the other 6 claimed kinship with Gilead.  Half the tribe with Reuben and Gad asked for territory in Transjordania, which was granted by Moses on condition that they go with the remaining tribes in the conquest of the land as scouts preceding the main body.  This half-tribe received Gilead, Gashan, and Argob.  After the conquest of Canaan, the other half received land in the west of the country around the Valley of Jezreel.  Both these areas were highly fertile.  The Assyrians exiled much of the population from both sections but part remained.  A Jewish population (partly descended from the tribe of Simeon) still existed in the West Manasseh region in the earlier 2nd Temple Period.  

Resource:

Tanakh, Stone Edition

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Israel_(Samaria)