<P> Historians generally concluded that the groups referred to as the Lost Tribes merged with the local population . For instance, the New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia states: </P> <P> In historic fact, some members of the Ten Tribes remained in Palestine, where apart from the Samaritans some of their descendants long preserved their identity among the Jewish population, others were assimilated, while others were presumably absorbed by the last Judean exiles who in 597 - 586 BC were deported to Assyria...Unlike the Judeans of the southern Kingdom, who survived a similar fate 135 years later, they soon assimilated...</P> <P> The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter - day Saints (LDS Church) believes in the literal gathering of Israel, and the LDS Church actively preaches the gathering of people from the twelve tribes . "Today Israelites are found in all countries of the world . Many of these people do not know that they are descended from the ancient house of Israel," the church teaches in its basic Gospel Principles manual . "The Lord promised that His covenant people would someday be gathered...God gathers His children through missionary work . As people come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ, receiving the ordinances of salvation and keeping the associated covenants, they become' the children of the covenant' (3 Nephi 20: 26)." </P> <P> The church also teaches that "The power and authority to direct the work of gathering the house of Israel was given to Joseph Smith by the prophet Moses, who appeared in 1836 in the Kirtland Temple...The Israelites are to be gathered spiritually first and then physically . They are gathered spiritually as they join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter - day Saints and make and keep sacred covenants...The physical gathering of Israel means that the covenant people will be "gathered home to the lands of their inheritance, and shall be established in all their lands of promise" (2 Nephi 9: 2). The tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh will be gathered in the Americas . The tribe of Judah will return to the city of Jerusalem and the area surrounding it . The ten lost tribes will receive from the tribe of Ephraim their promised blessings (see D&C 133: 26--34)... The physical gathering of Israel will not be complete until the Second Coming of the Savior and on into the Millennium (see Joseph Smith--Matthew 1: 37)." </P>

Where are the ten lost tribes of israel today