Bnei Menashe Newsletter in Myanmar resumes
The community of the Ohel Michael synagogue in Myanmar
After a two year break, Shavei Israel has resumed publishing a newsletter for the Bnei Menashe in Myanmar (Burma). The reason for the hiatus was due to the difficulty in finding someone at the main Shavei Israel center in Churanchandpur, India, who speaks Teddim, the Bnei Menashe language in Myanmar.
The breakthrough came from two Shavei Israel staff who have been studying Judaism and Hebrew in Churanchandpur. Simeon Hatlang began his studies in August 2011 and is now a Shavei Israel “Fellow,” while Nathan Buansing started studying just this past Shavuot, the Jewish holiday that marks the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, “an auspicious time to begin one’s Jewish education,” Shavei Israel’s emissary to the Bnei Menashe in India Yochanan Phaltuel tells us.
Both Simeon and Nathan are from Myanmar and speak Tedding, a fairly rare dialect that is not taught in Burmese schools; indeed, it does not even have its own alphabet – like the other Bnei Menashe languages of Mizo and Kuki, Teddim must be represented in print using English letters. We reported previously on Simeon’s story here.
The reconstituted Myanmar newsletter contains a variety of topics, covering the Parshat HaShavua (Torah portion of the week); basic Judaism; news from Israel; short stories about sages; the latest Shavei Israel activities and updates on Bnei Menashe events in both India and Israel; and lessons on Jewish Law from Bnei Menashe Rabbi Yehuda Gin (we have written about him previously here).
The newsletter is currently distributed to community members in print only, taking a somewhat convoluted route, starting in Moreh, a border town in India on the Burmese border, and then being transported via taxi to a Shavei Israel “Fellow” living in the village of Valpabug, two kilometers from Moreh on the Myanmar side. From there it continues to other Bnei Menashe villages in Myanmar, in particular to Tualmu where the community has established “Ohel Michael,” which they named in honor of Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund. An email version is in the works, although electronic communication is still spotty in Myanmar. The newsletter is published twice a month. 280 Bnei Menashe live in the country.
Behind the scenes, Shmaya Haokip is also helping to put together the newsletter on the technical side. Shmaya, also a Shavei Israel “Fellow,” has a degree in Computer Applications and is managing all our electronic operations in India. Shmaya replaced his cousin Shlomo Haokip who made aliyah earlier this year.
In other news from Myanmar, plans are afoot to build a second synagogue for the community of Sagaing. While there are only a few Bnei Menashe families living in the Sagaing area, the Myanmar government has recently opened the airport in nearby Kalaymyo to international flights, including to Imphal in Manipur, where many of India’s Bnei Menashe live. We are hopeful that this move will significantly improve the connections between the Jewish communities in the two countries and will enable us to work even more efficiently with the more than 7,000 Bnei Menashe still in the region.