PICTURES: Bnei Menashe settling in to Upper Nazareth
Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund with Bnei Menashe in Upper Nazareth
When the Bnei Menashe are ready to leave the Shavei Israel absorption center at Kfar Hasidim, where they first land after making aliyah from India, they must have an appropriate community to move to. Shavei Israel identifies those that have the resources and warmth to welcome the still-very-new immigrants. Among the municipalities close to Kfar Hasidim that now have Bnei Menashe populations are Migdal HaEmek and Akko (Acre). A third was recently added: Upper Nazareth.
Kinneret Krispil is Shavei Israel’s coordinator for the 30 Bnei Menashe families who arrived in Upper Nazareth in April 2014. A key part of Krispil’s approach to creating an easier landing for the new immigrants is to pair each Bnei Menashe family with a religious family in town. These more veteran residents accompany the Bnei Menashe along the way with whatever they need, from assistance with Hebrew to helping them navigate through Israeli bureaucracy, as well as arranging joint Shabbat meals.
Krispil is part of a Garin Torani, a small community of young families who had previously moved to Upper Nazareth to strengthen its overall religious life. The active presence of the Garin Torani in Upper Nazareth was one of the reasons Shavei Israel chose the town as an attractive location for the Bnei Menashe after they “graduated” from Kfar Hasidim. We previously wrote about the connection between the Garin Torani and the Bnei Menashe in the town of Migdal HaEmek here.
Krispil sent us some pictures of activities the Bnei Menashe have participated in since their arrival some six months ago. During the holiday of Sukkot, Upper Nazareth hosted a party in the city’s central plaza for the annual Simchat Beit HaShoeva celebration. It included music, singing and study into the wee hours of the night. The Bnei Menashe were delighted to be invited and to participate, Krispil reports.
The kids were kept busy with a Sukkot “Happening” which included all kinds of workshops to help decorate the Bnei Menashe’s first sukkot in Israel!
There was also a talent show, held at the Hebrew ulpan where the Bnei Menashe are studying. The new immigrants played music, sang and read texts in Hebrew…and then delighted their new Israeli friends by singing a few songs in the Bnei Menashe’s native Mizo.
It hasn’t been all song and dance, though. Krispil also organized for the Pa’amonim organization to meet with the new immigrants. Pa’amonim is a non-profit group that helps Israelis develop sound economic behavior, such as learning how to create a budget and stay out of debt. For the new immigrants, who are just getting started in a strange land, this couldn’t have come at a better time.
This coming week, Pa’amonim will be back in Upper Nazareth to instruct the Bnei Menashe in the often-confusing nuances of the Israeli tax system.
There will be at least one new future taxpayer in the community: as you can see in the accompanying photo, the first Bnei Menashe baby to be born in Upper Nazareth recently celebrated his brit mila. Mazel tov!
Brit mila in Upper Nazareth
Arts and crafts activities
Talent show