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.

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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.

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'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.

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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.

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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.

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