For the first time, Bnei Menashe in India bake their own matzah
Workshop participants and their matzah
For nearly a decade, Shavei Israel has shipped up to 60 kilograms of matzah a year to India for the Bnei Menashe to use during the week of Passover. That has now come to an end: the Bnei Menashe no longer need our assistance. They are making their own matzah!
The Bnei Menashe are descendants of one of the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel. 7,000 Bnei Menashe live in northeast India and Myanmar; 1,700 have immigrated to Israel with the assistance of Shavei Israel.
A new matzah baking program took place prior to the holiday under the supervision of Shavei Israel “Fellow” Talya Lhungdim and Rukhama Neihsel. Their ambitious goal: to bake 3,000-4,000 individual matzot in three days. These were then distributed to the program’s participants, with the remainder given as a gift from Shavei Israel to the Bnei Menashe communities in Manipur, Nagaland and Assam.
62 Bnei Menashe attended the matzah baking program – 45 women and 17 young adults – many from such far-flung communities as Matiyang, Zohar, Leimatak, Patlen, B. Vengnuom, Mualkoi and New Bazar.
The program got off to a sluggish start, when a shortage of charcoal resulted in only ten stoves being usable. Still, 850 matzot were baked in the first day. Lhungdim and Neihsel check every piece of matzah to make sure it’s 100% kosher.
At least one group of Bnei Menashe was actually rooting against the matzah passing the supervisor’s inspection: the neighborhood children, who received any defective matzah as a pre-Passover treat.
Lots of matzah
While the process of making matzah is the same throughout the Jewish world (the entire baking process must be completed in under 18 minutes), every community has its own special flair. Take a look at these pictures from India and you’ll see matzah with its own uniquely Indian shape.
The matzah baked by the Bnei Menashe this year was used in 41 communal Passover Seders. In addition to the reading of the Haggadah, Shavei Israel Fellows throughout the region will run other holiday activities during the intermediary days of Passover, including a Bible Quiz, debates on Jewish law, an essay contest and, perhaps the most poignant, a dramatic presentation about the nature of freedom – a key message of the Passover story.
The irony is not lost for the Bnei Menashe in India who have been waiting patiently for an Israeli government decision that will permit the remaining members of the community to make aliyah to Israel. May “next year in Jerusalem,” the words which conclude the Passover Seder, be that much closer.
Whether you’re celebrating Passover in Churachandpur, India or Chicago, Illinois, we wish you a chag kasher v’sameach – a happy and kosher holiday.