Hundreds of Bnei Menashe in northeastern India gathered together earlier this week for communal celebrations of Yom Haatzmaut (Independence Day) to mark Israel's 62nd birthday.
The Bnei Menashe (Hebrew for "sons of Manasseh") claim to be descendants of one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, who were sent into exile by the Assyrian Empire more than 27 centuries ago.
Group claiming lineage to Lost Tribes of Israel set to make aliyah after undergoing conversion in Nepal by teams from Rabbinical Court
Some 7,200 members of Bnei Menashe ("Children of Menasseh"), a group of people from north-eastern India who claim descent from one of the Lost Tribes of Israel, will make aliyah after converting to Judaism in Nepal.
According to a tradition that has been passed down for generations, the members of Bnei Menashe identify themselves as descendants of the Menashe tribe – one of the 10 tribes that were exiled from the Land of Israel at the end of the First Temple period.
For Miquel Segura of Palma de Mallorca, Spain, the journey home took more than 500 years.
Last month, at a moving ceremony in Manhattan, the 65-year-old journalist and political commentator completed his return to the Jewish people, closing a circle dating back to the 14th century.
Segura is from the Chueta community, as descendants of Mallorcan Jews forcibly converted to Christianity more than five centuries ago are known.
Newscaster: For the first time, a Polish language guide on Hanukkah is being distributed to so-called hidden Jews throughout Poland. Michael Freund, chairman of the "Shavei Israel" organization that published the book, says there is a Jewish renewal underway in Poland. He spoke to report Jackie Beecham.
In October, tens of thousands of people gathered in the streets of Manhattan, as they do each year, to celebrate the legacy of Christopher Columbus, discoverer of the New World. With pomp and ceremony, marchers crowded Fifth Avenue, filling it with an array of vivid...
For the first time, a group of seven descendants of the Jewish community of Kaifeng, China has moved to Israel. The new arrivals, who were brought here by the Shavei Israel organization, arrived at Ben-Gurion airport late Tuesday night. The city of their birth, Kaifeng, sits on...
A bearded man in a red velvet skullcap, chain-smoking on Shabbat at a garden cafe while preaching to friends about the Torah, would be an odd sight anywhere. And he would particularly stand out in Lisbon, with its small Jewish community. The man, Joao Santos,...
