Ten Lost Tribes Challenge - India: 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?

If the latter is true, then the whole story just got infinitely bigger and more complicated. One of the criticisms against those converting the Bnei Menashe and lobbying for their aliya is that these people are doing it because they want to settle the Bnei Menashe in Judea and Samaria and thus minimize somewhat the Arab demographic gap in the West Bank, i.e. using the Bnei Menashe as a tool for the political purpose of bringing more Jews to the West Bank.

Others say it is pure messianism - that the religious people behind the Bnei Menashes' push to 'reclaim' their Jewish heritage and move to Israel is part of the Christian Evangelical [Revelations] and Jewish [Prophets] prophecy that there will be an ingathering of the tribes in Israel, then a huge world war [Armageddon] will occur, after which the Messiah will come at which time peace will reign on earth. One of the younger Bnei Menashe told me today that Hashem told the Jews that after the Armageddon the Jews will rule the world.

If there really are 30,000 then that's going to represent a huge problem for the Israeli Ministry of the Interior to approve a program that allows them in. That's what former Interior Minister Avraham Poraz said when he closed the doors to the Bnei Menashe, and he was under the impression that there were only some 7,000 of them.

So I doubt very much whether the current government is going to allow that many people in for conversion and immigration, unless we end up with a right-wing religious government without the haredi parties [many ultra-Orthodox are opposed to the conversion and aliyah of the Bnei Menashe, disputing the ruling of the Chief Rabbinate which says these Indian people are descendents of the tribe of Menashe]. I'm not even sure that Shavei Israel, one of the groups working with the Bnei Menashe thinks it can get 30,000 people past the government to convert and immigrate, even if it really wanted to.

As we have already seen, the government of Israel has all but closed the door to Falashmura aliyah from Ethiopia, because that pool of potential converts and immigrants somehow always grows in number.

Another thing I noticed about our time with the Bnei Menashe of Kohima is that some of them say that there are "many innocent" villagers in the area who do not yet know they belong to a lost tribe of Israel and that the message will get to them eventually. So what does this mean? That the Bnei Menashe are going from village to village telling Kuki people that they are actually Jews and that they should start thinking about moving to Tel-Aviv?

Our presence here helps and harms their cause. When the other people of this state see a bunch of well-dressed foreign tourists with expensive hiking boots and flashy cameras walking hand-in hand with the Bnei Menashe [who are of the local Kuki tribe]; and who eat good clean food with them, and sing with them, and give them gifts, and promise to see them "next year in Jerusalem", these other people start asking questions; they become suspicious, and they become jealous. How does this help the Bnei Menashe?

We've already been told of stories of how they have been persecuted and shut out by their fellow Kuki tribes-people. You won't see a Bnei Menashe wearing a skullcap in Kohiman or other cities in North East India. They'll wear them at home or at special gatherings, but not out in the open. They're not directly advertising their Jewish faith because most of their fellow countrymen and tribesmen in this area are fervent Christians, and the Bnei Menashe's conversion to Judaism is seen by some here as an insult. Some families have even been ripped apart by this. It's not easy being a Bnei Menashe.

On the other hand, our presence here does provide them with hope that one day they will escape this place and move to their "homeland", the promised land, where there is opportunity, and much, much less poverty.

I mentioned in an earlier post that there is almost no tourist infrastructure in Nagaland. Well I'd like to clarify that: there is very little infrastructure of any sort in Nagaland. The roads are shoddy and extremely dangerous at best; most people live incredibly poor lives by Western standards; running water and electricity is not widespread; sanitation is relative, and you can buy dog meat from a hawker sitting on the dirt right near the main road. Finding a job is not always easy, and you have to jump through hoops if you don't have the right connections. University graduates drive taxis, I am told. Opportunities for a better life rarely present themselves here, so when the chance to move somewhere better arises, can you really blame someone for trying to take it? And can you really blame someone for asking for help from visitors he thinks can help him get out of a bad place and to a better one? All the Bnei Menashe that spoke tonight at our event at the home of one of the Bnei Menashe leaders in Kohima, at Ben Hur, said it quite plainly: help us fulfill our wish to move back to our homeland, to Israel. Don't let us die here.

The advisor to the Kuki welfare committee that I mentioned earlier was even more forthright in addressing us: "Now that you have discovered your lost brethren, what are you going to do about it? When you get back to Israel, what are you going to do about your lost brothers and sisters now that you've found them? When you go back to Israel find out what you need to do. Everyone here wants to know. And take with you our love and best wishes."

Bottom line is this: we are in a state [Nagaland] where 95% of the inhabitants are Christians. Be they Baptists, Catholics, Pentecostals and, increasingly, Evangelicals. There are some Muslims around here and there, but this place is more Christian than almost any other place on earth. There is a Church on almost every street. Many clinics, schools and other institutions bear the name St. Mary, or St. John or any other saint. Every few meters on the roads here somebody has placed a sign with all sorts of Christian messages. By appearing out in the open with the Bnei Menashe, we are increasing the antagonism towards them by the local population. By visiting with them, and praying with them, and giving them balloons and flags with the Star of David on them, we are giving them moral encouragement, we are showing them that there are real live people who support them and want to see them become fully Jewish and move to Israel. But how do we know that will ever happen? What if we're giving them false hope?

I think all of the people on our expedition understand this quandary, but choose to focus on the giving aspect. The expedition is all religious, except for me and Moshe, the main guide. Being pious people, they appreciate and honor piety and modesty. Whenever we are invited to a place to meet with the Bnei Menashe in their homes it is always a modest affair. These people are not wealthy, but they welcome us with great warmth and share their homes with us. The more modest the home is, the more it is appreciated by our group.

And finally, another serious question that arises from our presence here: Will this first expedition to see how the Bnei Menashe live in North East India pave the way for more expeditions? Should the Bnei Menashe become a tourist attraction? Should hundreds of visiting Jews "out" the Bnei Menashe even more than what they are now, and damn the consequences for them? Even though India's official policy allows for freedom of religion, religious tolerance in this area does not seem to be highly developed or benign. Will the moral support the Bnei Menashe receive from visitors outweigh the potential harm to them from the reaction of the majority?  One thing seems clear though, the Bnei Menashe are really happy to see us right now. Will that last?  

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.

PREVIOUS ENTRIES:

• Ben Hur loves Zion: Inside the home of a Bnei Menashe - Nov 19,2008
• How did a small tribe from Samaria get all the way out here? - Nov 18, 2008
• Conversation with a Bnei Menashe tribesman - Nov 18, 2008
• Indian airports spell chaos - Nov 18, 2008
• News from Amman - the first stop en route to India - Nov 17, 2008
• Dreams of reunification and travel preparations - Nov 16, 2008
• Meeting the lost tribe of Menashe - Nov 16, 2008
• Government approves aliya of 150 Bnei Menashe - Nov. 12, 2008