Report from India: Reflections of a Bnei Menashe Rabbi
It's cold but we're ready to learn!
Rabbi Yehuda Gin, a member of the Bnei Menashe community in Israel, has been in India this month with other Shavei Israel staff members, where he is teaching classes on Judaism to the Bnei Menashe there. He has filed his own report on the trip and his experiences.
We noted in the previous “Update from India” that Rabbi Gin is teaching primarily from the book “Derech HaShem” – the Way of God – written by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzatto. Rabbi Gin adds that he also used that text to compile a smaller booklet, which he has given to all the Bnei Menashe students in his classes. He dedicated the booklet to his brother Shimon Gin Vaiphei, who died in a tragic car accident several years ago.
Rabbi Gin’s first stop, as we previously reported, was Moreh, which is located on the international border between India and Myanmar (Burma). As such, it is one of the most important business and commercial hubs in the state of Manipur, and the Bnei Menashe living in Moreh are particularly busy, much more so than in other towns and villages that also have substantial Bnei Menashe populations. That is why, Rabbi Gin writes, it has been so gratifying that many of the Bnei Menashe took time off from their work to participate in the classes.
A total of 75 students joined the classes from the two main Moreh synagogues – Moreshet Bnei Menashe with 280 members and Beit Shalom with 240 members.
In addition, 5-6 members of the Myanmar community crossed the border to participate in Rabbi Gin’s classes – a difficult task that requires several days walking and passing through a number of military checkpoints. 30-35 Myanmar Bnei Menashe were able to cross into Moreh six months ago during Rabbi Gin’s last visit to India. Shavei Israel also trained a Bnei Menashe “Fellow” who is now based in Myanmar – we wrote about that here.
After leaving Moreh, Rabbi Gin arrived in Kangpokpi. 70 Bnei Menashe participated in his classes each day, including students from nearby villages such as Gamgiphai (160 Bnei Menashe community members total) and Kaitheiman (80 members). Kangpokpi itself has a Bnei Menashe population of 250.
It was quite cold in Imphal, Rabbi Gin’s next stop (as you can see from the pictures where the students are bundled up in their winter coats while studying). Nevertheless “the community members are very warm,” writes Rabbi Gin. He was particularly impressed by the women in the community, who he says, “are praiseworthy for their open-mindedness to share with me their personal feelings and problems so that I could pray on their behalf.” The women also organized special women’s-only night classes with Rabbi Gin.
As with the other locations where Rabbi Gin taught, Bnei Menashe from farther flung communities made the trip to Imphal to study – these included the villages of Siakul, 70 kilometers away, and Sajal, 40 a kilometer journey. 45 students in total joined the program in Imphal.
We should also note that the Beit El synagogue in Imphal has taken upon itself a major project to build a “yeshiva/absorption center” in the town to provide shelter for some of the Bnei Menashe who, in recent years, have moved from remote villages to the city to prepare for and await aliyah to Israel. The project began in 2004 but is still under construction. Clearly, some of the Bnei Menashe in Imphal have been waiting for a very long time to join the 1,700 members of the community already in Israel. May they be reunited soon!
The largest concentration of Bnei Menashe in Manipur is in Churachandpur – 60% of the total Bnei Menashe community in Northeast India lives in the town. It is also the home of the Shavei Israel Hebrew Center. 120 Bnei Menashe (including all of the Shavei Fellows in India) attended Rabbi Gin’s classes each day.
Before the classes began Rabbi Gin made special mention of Gadiel Singson, “our beloved Shavei Fellow who passed away on his way back from his last mobile teaching mission to Nagaland [another Indian state]. May his Mesirut Nefesh [self-sacrifice] be remembered forever.”