A 'Jewish' ghetto in a Christian village

KANGPOPKI, Manipur - We visit the Beit Shalom Synagogue set up by the Shavei Israel organization at the Bnei Menashe compound in Kangpopki. As our bus pulls up to the top of the street dozens of kippa-wearing Bnei Menashe come out to greet us. Our group gets off the bus and a big celebration starts on the street, as we all greet each other. They are waving small Israeli flags, each one of them extends both hands to us and shake our hands saying Salom Salom [they can't pronounce the Sh in Shalom so well; which means they also pray to Hasem not Hashem].

Read the rest of this post   |  Comments (10)

'So, how is Ariel Sharon?'

IMPHAL, Manipur - This city's entrance looks like a shanty town, and the rest of the city is not much better. There are heaps of garbage on most street corners which can't be burned fast enough before they're refilled. We are the only tourists here, and the locals make us aware of that; I don't think many of them have seen people like us around here before. There are toilets outside, horses and dogs eating from trash, people picking through the garbage, and a thick, stifling, smelly air in this, the state's capital. The Bnei Menashe here tell us that they are fed up with life here and want to immigrate to Israel as soon as possible. I don't blame them. The Indian government clearly does not view this place as a priority region for development.

Read the rest of this post   |  Comments (2)

Stories from the bus

From Nagaland we head south into the state of Manipur, bordered on the east by Burma. We enter Manipur at the Mao border crossing. It takes about 3 hours to drive 25km on these roads, which are incredibly bumpy and windy. We're heading towards Imphal, the capital of Manipur state. Manipur is crossed by a large mountain range and we're heading down it towards the lowlands. We drive past forests and rice terraces [our guide says that if we are not used to eating a lot of rice, we'll get some stomach problems, but that some chocolate helps]. Manipur was described by India's first prime minister as the Jewel in India's crown because of its beauty. It is filled with mountains, forests and rivers. Just in case I haven't mentioned it before, there are 21 people on this expedition - eight men with their wives, three men who left their wives at home, a single woman and me.

Read the rest of this post   |  Comments (1)

The plot thickens

Until 100 years ago the Bnei Menashe, like other peoples in the North East of India were animists, i.e. they believed that nature and animals had spiritual qualities. They practiced their own ancient religions and had their own time-honored customs, including ritual sacrifice. At the end of the 19th Century Christian missionaries got to them, and with these missionaries came evangelical fervor. According to the story here, in the 1950's two men from the Kuki clan each had separate visions telling them that they were the lost Israelite tribe of Menashe and must return home to Israel. When they awoke from their sleep, they started spreading their vision amongst the Kuki, and slowly people started calling themselves Bnei Menashe and the practice of Judaism started competing with Christianity.

Read the rest of this post   |  Comments (2)

Under my purple shawl

This is going to be a very personal blog post.

As the ceremony at Ben Hur's home was winding down and the last songs were sung, Eyal the guide suggested we should all sing Hatikva. The group didn't need much convincing and we all turned to the right, to what Ben Hur said was the direction of Jerusalem. I love my anthem, and it almost never fails to move me. This time, and in this setting, it was even more so. Hatikva brings tears to my eyes and strength to my heart, and I let myself feel the hope in the song, the happiness of singing it knowing how hard it is to live as an Israeli, what an absolute miracle we are every day; and I let my eyes well up with tears.

Read the rest of this post   |  Comments (1)

So how many Bnei Menashe are there?

So much has happened today, both for me personally and for the group.

A lot of new information has come my way, and with it many more questions. For instance, experts back home in Israel say there are about 7,200 Bnei Menashe in Nagaland and that the vast majority of them want to convert to Judaism and immigrate to Israel.

Well, today I heard from a retired Nagaland government spokesperson, and who is now the advisor to the Kuki Cultural Committee, who said that there are some 30,000 people belonging to the Kuki tribe in this area who are Bnei Menashe, and that they all want to come. So who's right, how many are there?

Read the rest of this post   |  Comments (3)

Ben Hur loves Zion

Today we went to visit Ben Hur Kaoki, a Bnei Menashe man who is one of the most important figures in the community here in Kohima. The dilemmas and challenges that arose from this visit are described in my previous entry.

Ben Hur is an interesting character. He wears a large knitted kippa and tsitsit. He traveled for three days to meet Moshe, our guide from Shai Bar Ilan tours, when Moshe was here on his own planning our trip. Ben Hur wasn't even in direct contact with Moshe, he had heard through the grapevine that an Israeli tour guide was in Nagaland setting up a trip for Israeli travelers to meet the Bnei Menashe. Not knowing exactly where Moshe would be, Ben Hur traveled to several villages and asked about Moshe until he finally caught up with him. He is really, genuinely excited that we are here. And, as he says all the time, he really hopes he can move to Israel soon.

Read the rest of this post   |  Comments (3)

How did a small tribe from Samaria get all the way out here?

We board "the best bus we could find" in Dimapur and take the long winding road up the mountain range towards the Kohima, the capital of Nagaland. This is a fascinating and beautiful part of North East India. It is here that British and Indian forces stopped the advancing Japanese army in 1944. We are heading up into the Naga Hills on the one side and the Chin Mountain Range on the other. The Chin is an extension of the Himalayas.

The group's spirits are up - finally we are out of all these airports and in the open country. Quite often the group will spontaneously break into song. Although I don't know all the words, I recognize the religious songs, and it's amazing to hear these Hebrew verses in the rain forest of Nagaland, North East India. Also, one of the participants says it's good to be praying and singing when driving along a mad, winding, back-road where trucks, buses, cars and cabs all mingle because there are no lanes, and there is no order [it feels like a video game: every time our bus passes a truck I feel like we've won ten points and get to play on, until game over].

Read the rest of this post   |  Comments (1)

Conversation with a Bnei Menashe Tribesman

Our group has now flown from Israel to Amman, from Amman to Delhi, from Delhi to Calcutta, and from Calcutta to Dimapur, the commercial capital of Nagaland in the North East.

I have to say that for a group of twenty middle-aged and older religious folks I'm amazed at the energy and spirit of this group. Everyone is helping everyone else. Friendships have been formed and the atmosphere is really upbeat, despite the long haul out here and the delays.

Indian airports spell chaos

The airport has been overrun by paramilitary forces. Oh wait, no, these soldiers actually work here.

I'm used to seeing civilians working at airports worldwide, with police and army units providing security. Well, at Indian airports, the soldiers do everything. There are soldiers printing out your boarding pass, other soldiers checking your boarding pass, still others ushering you from place to place, frisking you, soldiers at the scan machine, metal detector, and there was even an officer who offered to write down my name and address on the little tag you tie to your hand luggage. What beautiful handwriting for a colonel.

Read the rest of this post   |  Comments (1)