The Bnei Menashe could benefit from some secular influence

AIZAWL, Mizoram - The northern approach to the Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram state, is deeply deceptive. Driving in from the north just after sunset, we're hit by what seems like a city with no electricity - none of the houses have lights on and there are no street lamps. With no life on the streets, it feels like we're headed into a dark, doomed city, a city under lockdown where even the lights inside your home is off lest you be found out.

When it's dark in a city and the lights in the homes are out, you think people don't live there. Even Silchar, with its pandemonium and filth, still had a sense of life, light and sound.

Read the rest of this post   |  Comments (6)

Benny the editor

CHURACHANDAPUR, Manipur - This dusty, smoky and dark town is much smaller and quieter than Imphal, the capital of the North Eastern Indian state of Manipur, but it has a jewel in its crown  - a colorful monthly magazine called Cholla, Hindi for 'get a move on' [identical to the Arab 'yalla']. The magazine is bilingual - English and Hindi, and features stories and informative articles about life in Manipur and the region, news about the Kuki tribal people, international news, sports, entertainment and a personals section called Heart To Heart [with a logo of cupid's arrow through a heart]. It also features stories and news about the Bnei Menashe communities in Manipur, especially when someone is given permission to make aliyah. And it's all run single-handedly by a Bnei Menashe Judaism-practicing Kuki called Bennny Khongsai.

Read the rest of this post   |  Comments (1)

Danger and beauty

IMPHAL, Manipur - We leave Churachandupur and head towards the airport for our flight to Assam province, due west. We're not going to spend any real time in Assam or meet any of the Bnei Menashe there, but the road we were going to take to Mizoram for the next leg of our journey has been closed by the authorities, so we have to fly to Assam and then drive to Mizoram through a mountain range. The whole North East region is seeing sporadic violence between assorted militants and the security forces, who are on high alert everywhere. Leave it to Israelis to trek their way through a war zone. Last night two drivers from the Manipur irrigation and flood control department were found dead on the outskirts of Imphal.

'We are the descendants of Menashe, we are Jewish; we need to get to Israel, the land of our forefathers, immediately. Help us.'

CHURACHANDAPUR, Manipur - Friday morning we get up at 05:30! We leave Imphal with a tfilat haderech [prayer for the traveler] and a parasha about the life of Sarah, Abraham's wife. Amen. Yishar Koach. I didn't know that the first piece of real-estate the Jews bought in Canaan was a piece of land that Abraham bought so that he could bury Sarah. The first piece of land in Eretz Israel was a grave.

As we head out of Imphal we drive past an army base. On the base's entrance is a large sign: Prove your identity. I love the English here. The group is getting more disciplined with every passing day [I'm grudgingly becoming more disciplined too]. We are told to get up at 05:30, so we're up at 05:30. Shacharit [morning prayer] is at 06:00 [I do yoga]. By 6:30 the bags need to be packed and outside our hotel room doors. Breakfast is between 6:30 and 7:30, and in this time we also need to make sandwiches for lunch. For breakfast we have omelettes, salad, tuna, cereal and banana shake. This group is so disciplined that we're even shaving time off - everyone is ready to go before 07:30, and Mosh is happy.

Read the rest of this post   |  Comments (12)

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)