Sephardic Chief Rabbi Recognizes Bnei Menashe as ‘Jews’
Press Trust of India
Jerusalem, (PTI) : The Bnei Menashe, a community found in India’s north-eastern states of Manipur and Mizoram, may now be able to immigrate to Israel with the Shephardic Chief Rabbi, Shlomo Amar, formally recognising them as “descendants of Israel”.
Rabbi Eliyahu Birnbaum, a dayan (rabbinical court judge) and spokesman for Rabbi Amar said that the decision was taken after careful consideration and study of the issue.
“The Chief Rabbi sent a delegation of two dayanim to India last year to conduct a thorough investigation of the community and its origins. After a thorough review of their findings, it was decided that the Bnei Menashe are in fact descendants of Israel and should be drawn closer to the Jewish people,” Birnbaum said.
The Chief Rabbinate has also agreed to send a beit din (rabbinical court) from the Chief Rabbinate to the region to formally convert the community to Judaism, he said.
The immigration of the members of the community – Bnei Menashe (literally sons of Menashe) – was put on hold by the former Interior Minister, Avraham Poraz, in June 2003 to “review the issue of their Jewishness”.
Shavei Israel, the organisation which was earlier known as Amishav and has been instrumental in bringing “the lost tribes’ to Israel, hailed the decision.
“This is a momentous day, and we are very grateful to the Chief Rabbinate for the openness and sensitivity that they have demonstrated in addressing the issue of the Bnei Menashe”. PTI