Jews lost and found, in India

Dotted across villages on the slopes of mountains that make up the lower Himalayan ranges in northeast India, thousands of Indians are adopting and practicing Jewish traditions in the hope of one day officially converting to Judaism and immigrating to Israel. In the states of Mizoram, Assam, Manipur and Nagaland along the Burmese border, these Jews-in-waiting form a community that has come to be known as the Bnei Menashe - alleged descendants of the lost tribe of Manasseh that was exiled along with nine other Israelite tribes from Samaria when it was conquered by the Assyrians in 722 BCE.

Some 2,700 years later, the descendants of the tribe of Manasseh spend their weekends in dozens of synagogues, community centers and ritual baths in this remote region, thousands of miles away from present-day Samaria. Many of them pray three times a day, and there are children among them who can recite psalms and other prayers by heart.

Read the rest of this post   |  Comments (1)

Coloring the Bnei Menashe in orange?

KOLASIB, AND SHIFIR, Mizoram - We drive north to south through the Chin mountains into Mizoram. We're climbing along a ridge road which naturally winds from left to right in wide arcs, so every few minutes we can see the view from the right side of the mountain into the valleys below, and then the same from the left side. Even this far up the terrain looks tropical - lush jungles, this is because of the monsoons which bring over 2,000mm of rain annually [Israel has something like 300mm]. We're headed into Kolasib district, northern sector of Mizoram. And we're headed to Aizwol, the largest city in the state. Mizoram is roughly the size of Israel: 21,000 km squared in length, and it has small pockets of confused Jews. That's where the comparison ends.

Read the rest of this post   |  Comments (1)

Internalizing the meaning of this expedition to meet a lost tribe

SAJAL, MANIPUR - Another Shavei Israel Beit Shalom visit, this time in Sajal, Sadar Hills, Manipur. As usual, dozens of people wait outside to greet us, and as we disembark our group starts to sing: Hevenu Shalom Aleichem [We bring peace upon you]. My group is so cute: everything we give the Bnei Menashe "is from Israel": balloons "from Israel," chocolates "from Israel," embroidery with passages from the Tanach "from Israel."

Once inside the Beit Shalom synagogue, the usual routine takes over and everyone sings and dances, men at the front and women behind the mehitza [separation]. Even though we've done this a few times now, instead of getting tired of the routine, the group seems to be absorbing more information, and the contact with the Bnei Menashe becomes more informed, more intimate. I'm seeing more and more of our group taking longer talks with the Bnei Menashe, talking to them from a base of deeper understanding. I'm not surprised at this, as you cannot help but learn on this trip.

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)

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)

Government approves aliya of 150 Bnei Menashe from India

The Interior Ministry has granted permission to the Shavei Israel organization to bring a group of some 150 Bnei Menashe from northeastern India on aliya, a government source told The Jerusalem Post last week.

The Bnei Menashe claim descent from a lost tribe of Israel and some 7,200 of them reside primarily in the Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur, which border Burma and Bangladesh.

While there has been no decision to allow the remaining 7,200 Bnei Menashe to make aliya, Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit has allowed the 150 in on humanitarian grounds, as members of this group were previously promised their aliya would be approved, and thus many of them had sold their homes and most of their possessions.

Read the rest of this post   |  Comments (1)