Ten Lost Tribes Challenge - India: 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].

As I get off the bus I notice that the other people in the village are looking at this scene with much curiosity, and even incredulity. This is something I've noticed before when we move with the Bnei Menashe or visit them somewhere, and the whole day we are with them in Kangpopki and a village outside it becomes totally inescapable: the villagers and townspeople who see us with the Bnei Menashe can't really make out what's going on. This thought lays heavy on me and won't let me go. I wonder what the neighbors of the Bnei Menashe are thinking right now, and what happens to the relations between them once we get back on the bus and leave. Right now the neighbors see a group of white people hugging their Bnei Menashe neighbors, singing and dancing with them, and giving them gifts. Are the neighbors jealous? Is this adding to the already delicate situation between the fervently Christian - Kuki majority and the isolated Judaism -practicing [I can't call them Jews because they have not undergone conversion yet] Bnei Menashe - Kuki minority?

These thoughts swirl in my mind as we are led down a broad, clean road into a little Bnei Menashe neighborhood just off the main street. All the homes along the road belong to the community, and there is a little Israeli flag attached to every front gate. I'm told later that the community took a big risk by doing this because hanging flags of foreign nations in residential areas is illegal in India. All the time we are walking down the road the group is holding hands with those coming to greet them, hugging and kissing the children, and there is a really sweet connection forming. As we get closer to the compound at the bottom of the road we start hearing the song David Melech Israel [David King of Israel] sung by dozens of children. When we get to the gate we see an amazing site: there are hundreds of people waiting for us, and in the front row some 50 little children dressed in white singing to us. Our group congregates at the gate and we walk in together, joining the children in song. The next song is Am Israel Hai.

The atmosphere is special, the group walks into the middle of the compound facing the large group of Bnei Menashe, with everyone singing and dancing, the men in a long line holding each other by the shoulders, the women separately in a circle. The next song is Shevet Achim Gam Yachad [a tribe of brothers united] and the moment is not lost on our group, some of whom are moved to tears - this is what they came for. The moment is full of song and elation. A big Israeli flag waves over the compound - we are at a home away from home, and our hosts have cherished guests. Moshe, our leader, has a huge grin on his face, he is 'mapsut' [very happy], he has been leading us to this moment. He, and the Bnei Menashe, have worked very hard to put this event together for us.

There are three hundred Judaism-practicing Bnei Menashe Kuki in Kangpopki, 62 families in all. Forty-four have apparently made aliya from here, but they all want to, as soon as possible. That's something I hear from all the Bnei Menashe I talk to: they want to get out of this land of goyim [gentiles] and move to Israel ASAP, urgently, immediately, yesterday. The more I look around the places we travel in India, the less I blame the Bnei Menashe. Life here seems like a chaotic mix of poverty, filth, thick and smelly air, little water and electricity, disease and death. This really is an underdeveloped part of the world, and when the Bnei Menashe think of Israel, they think of Paradise. Exactly who is feeding them this fantasy is a subject for another blog post.

A young member of the community, Zevulun [the name of another lost tribe] says he wants to come to the holy land so that he can pray three times a day. He says the non-Jewish neighbors disturb them in their prayer here and that they cannot perform the Shabbat properly. "The neighbors come and ask us what we are doing; and that we must not follow Judaism," he says, and adds that he was born a Christian and became Jewish at age 15 after undergoing a "brit mila". I didn't want to ask him if he meant Bar Mitzvah and not Brit Mila [ritual circumcision Jewish babies undergo eight days after birth] because for all I know he may have undergone a brit mila.

"We are dying to move to Eretz Israel," one of the leaders of the Kangpopki community says. They laid out a spread for us with fruit and water, and as they performed songs and dances for us, our group began to identify with these people, especially as the children continued singing Oseh Shalom and Ha'olam kulo gesher tzar meod [the world is a very narrow bridge]. Some in our group have already started asking an important question: do the Bnei Menashe really want to move to Israel to fulfill an ancient prophecy they believe in, one in which they rejoin their ancient brothers and their true identity affirmed; or do they just want to leave this place of suffering, where they are poor and unhappy?

I guess the real question is: Do we want them to be who they say they are? If we do, then how do we support them? And if we don't, then what are we doing here?

Next our hosts perform some tribal dances, which really take you back to ancient times as they imitate creatures and tell their stories through movement. Israel, our photographer, raises a good point: if these people do make aliyah to Israel, these ancient tribal dances will disappear as the immigrants are absorbed into Israeli culture.

After all the song and dance the men all move into the synagogue for Mincha [afternoon prayers], a large wooden structure built on top of dozens of brick pillars. Rabbi Porush, the Jackie Mason of our group, points out that the Bnei Menashe young boys have joined us. "You don't see that in Israel, where the boys are out in the afternoon or they pray at school. This is a miracle," he says. Amar, another of our group and one of the more fervently observant [he is always calling the others to prayer] feels so connected to this place that he tightens one of the bolts on a window in the synagogue, as if it's his local shul, his place.

Before we leave our hosts ask for our email addresses and phone numbers back home. Both sides promise to stay in touch and meet again, "next year in Jerusalem."

Someone from our group starts collecting a $10 from each one of us as a donation for the synagogue. I immediately become uncomfortable with the idea, but everyone else happily pulls out the cash. I'm half-told, half-asked to cough up ten bucks, but I have to refuse, politely. No matter how I feel about what's going on here, either way, I am still a journalist recording this expedition for The Jerusalem Post. I cannot donate money to a subject in a story I'm covering. The incident reminds me that I am part of the group, and I am also outside the group looking in. I have boundaries.

As I walk around the compound away from all the music and dance, I hear gunfire from beyond the range of mountains. It sounds very intensive, and I ask the retired Indian colonel who is accompanying us [he is coordinating our trip with the Israeli travel companies] and several other Bnei Menashe what is going on. It seems that Manipur is in a state of civil unrest, which flares up periodically. I'm told curfews here are quite normal. It's been like this for some time: there are a whole number of separatist groups fighting the government, as well as tribes and criminal elements fighting each other. That explains the huge amount of army units deployed all around the area - and not just regular infantry, but heavily armed crack units. These guys are armed to the teeth, wear flak jackets and helmets, and I've even seen some APCs. They look very menacing. It's not just Manipur that's unstable. The state of Assam not far from here has seen dozens of bombings in recent months.

What's interesting in this regard is that there is a large number of Kukis who have formed into a paramilitary or guerrilla group and are fighting to set up an independent homeland in this region. Their flag, by the way, has a green band on top, a big blue Star of David on top of a red band in the middle, and a blue band at the bottom.

Back at the top of the road, our hosts bid us farewell, and I look around me at the other people on this main street in Kangpopki. There are dozens of them looking at the scene we have created. The Bnei Menashe here tell me that they wouldn't dare wear their kippas outside of the Shavei Israel compound. They won't walk around advertising their faith in this town. This is a very Christian village, and the neighbors are already upset by the behavior of the Shavei Israel crowd. As we drive off I notice that on that on the plastered on the very next wall adjacent to the road we just came up a big poster reads: Thadou Christian Centenary 1908-2008. On the next block is the Kangpopki Christian Church with its shiny Glory to God entrance. The Shavei Israel compound and the little 'Jewish' neighborhood are something of a ghetto.

Amir Mizroch is the News Editor at The Jerusalem Post, a writer and an award-winning blogger. For all of Amir's blogs and articles, visit his personal blog Forecast Highs.

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