Richard Hewitt (Risbek)

Richard Hewitt (Risbek) is a researcher, author and speaker with the Lost Tribes Institute, a California nonprofit that studies the scattering of ancient Israel's northern tribes and their impact on the nations.

His interest in the lost tribes began during nearly 20 years in Kyrgyzstan (1994–2013), where he was given the name Risbek and found striking parallels between Kyrgyz tradition and the Bible. That work led to Lost Tribes of Israel Found in the Kyrgyz Epic and to invitations to speak at symposiums hosted by Kyrgyzstan's Ministry of Culture.

His research has since followed Israelite-descent traditions across Asia, from Central Asia to India, Southeast Asia and Japan. Through the Lost Tribes Institute he has taken part in symposiums with the Mikir (Karbi) people of India, in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and in Tokyo, Japan, and has published their proceedings.

His books explore where biblical history, anthropology and cultural memory meet, including Iran's Biblical History, Come Home: Extending the Jewish Template to All Nations, India's Most Popular Man and the Semetey books. A common thread runs through them: the Messiah of scripture is not foreign to any culture, but surprisingly at home in every one.

The grandson of California farmers, Richard has no formal theological training, yet he is regularly invited to speak on the Bible's influence across cultures and religions.