“New Generation” of Bnei Menashe leaders to meet at India seminar
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This Thursday, August 1, a convoy of some 100 Bnei Menashe will set out from their homes in the northeastern Indian states of Manipur and Mizoram for a demanding 50-hour journey across the country. The buses will circumvent narrow mountain roads over the course of two days and nights, passing through picturesque villages with striking views of the Himalayas. The vehicles will stop only a few times for passengers to stretch their legs and grab a quick bite to eat as they make their way to their final destination: a retreat center in rural Sikkim, India’s least-populated state.
Despite the punishing itinerary, there won’t be any complaining. For this isn’t an ordinary group of Bnei Menashe. All 100 participants were handpicked by Shavei Israel to serve as the “new generation” of Bnei Menashe “Shavei Fellows,” part of a program that trains young Bnei Menashe men and women to be leaders and educators in their communities. These Shavei Fellows work long hours, on an entirely voluntary basis, in addition to their regular jobs. Sometimes, they will travel from village to village, leaving their families for as long as a month at a time, as they teach classes on Jewish topics and Hebrew to an eager and often isolated population.
Now, as the Bnei Menashe aliyah has resumed, it is time to reward the current crop of Fellows and bring them home to Israel as well. “They’ve been working for so many years, we felt it wouldn’t be fair to block them from coming too,” explains Shavei Israel’s Director for Bnei Menashe Aliyah and Absorption, Rabbi Hanoch Avitzedek. But if all the Fellows come to Israel, who will be left in India to work with the 7,000 Bnei Menashe still remaining?
That’s the goal of the seminar starting this week: to train a new group of leaders who will replace their friends and colleagues who have served tirelessly for so many years.
The seminar in Sikkim will last for over three weeks at considerable expense borne entirely by Shavei Israel. In addition to transportation, housing and food for the 100 Bnei Menashe participants, the costs include flying in teachers and facilitators from Israel. Well-known Bnei Menashe educators Rabbis Yehuda Gin and Gurion Sela will provide instruction in the two primary Bnei Menashe languages, Kuki and Mizo, respectively. Also shuttling in from Israel will be Rabbi Avitzedek, Tzvi Khaute, Shavei’s Coordinator for the Bnei Menashe, and a 27-year-old Israeli woman who will take care of the group’s social activities.
This is not Shavei Israel’s first intensive seminar for Bnei Menashe Fellows. Indeed, until last year, seminars were held annually. But last year, with the resumption of the aliyah, all of Shavei’s resources, both time and financial, were directed towards that more immediate task of bringing the first group of 274 Bnei Menashe to Israel. Another group is expected to arrive later this year and the wave of immigration will continue through 2014. As a result, now may be the last and only chance for a Fellows seminar of such undertaking.
The process of selecting the “new generation” of Bnei Menashe leaders has been ongoing for some time. In Mizoram, Shavei Israel concluded a 5-day seminar for 50 Bnei Menashe this past weekend. That seminar’s purpose was twofold: to help identify potential new Fellows from Mizoram and to provide participants with “strength, motivation and a positive experience,” Rabbi Avitzedek says.
For both the just-concluded seminar and the longer one coming up, the study topics will be on more of an introductory level than the content of previous sessions. “We’ve chosen some very good people, but they don’t have all of the knowledge of the current Fellows,” Rabbi Avitzedek says. “So we’re going back to basics: what is the rhythm of daily Jewish life, from waking up to going to sleep? How do you keep kosher, Shabbat, and family purity? There will be less philosophy than in the past and more focus on practical matters.”
The name for this year’s seminar – “From Earth to Sky” – came from Shavei Israel’s coordinator for the Bnei Menashe in India, Yochanan Phaltuel. It recalls the Biblical story of Jacob’s Ladder, which bridged the physical and spiritual worlds, Rabbi Avitzedek explains. “Our goal is to show in very concrete ways how one can connect the ‘normal life’ of the earth and with the spiritual domain of the sky – without leaving either one of them behind.”
Putting on a seminar of this size and duration is a major undertaking. The cost, including flights for the staff from Israel and accommodations at the Hotel Flora Fountain in Gangtok, comes close to $50,000. We are actively seeking donations to help support this seminar as well as future training for the new Bnei Menashe Fellows. If you are able to help, please visit our Support page and make a note in the comments that you are donating for the Shavei Israel “New Generation” seminar for Bnei Menashe.