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A community center was opened in Israel for a group from northeastern India that says it's descended from one of the biblical Lost Tribes. The center for B'nei Menashe immigrants was inaugurated recently in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba and has begun offering...

The National Post of Canada Source: CanWest News Service             KIRYAT ARBA, West Bank - When a rabbinical court decided that the Bnei Menashe of India were descendants of one of the 10 "lost tribes" of Israel, Indian newspapers reported many in the northern community wept tears of joy.
A community center intended specifically for Bnei Menashe immigrants has been formally inaugurated in Kiryat Arba. The center is the first of it's kind in Israel.   Offering an array of classes, lectures and other activities for the Bnei Menashe community, the community center is a joint project of the Kiryat Arba Local Council and Shavei Israel (www.shavei.org), a Jerusalem-based group that assists “lost Jews” seeking to return to the Jewish people.
The Washington Times CHURACHANDPUR, India — In his tin-roofed workshop at the end of a dusty lane, K. Elisha Singson sometimes went without work for days, sitting in front of his idle sewing machine, ruing his prospects and those of his offspring.  Mr. Singson is a community leader of the Bnei Menashe (children of Menasseh) tribe, which was recognized recently as one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel. 
Dozens of Subbotnik Jews from Russia have been allowed to move to Israel after the Jerusalem-based Shavei Israel (www.shavei.org
) organization helped them overcome years of waiting due to bureaucratic delays.
The Subbotniks are descendants of Russian peasants in the Voronezh region, located hundreds of miles south of Moscow, who converted to Judaism nearly two centuries ago and clung to their new religion despite facing persecution and discrimination at the hands of the Czars.
They came to be known as "Subbotniks," as a result of their observance of the Subbot, or Jewish Sabbath. In the early 19th century, Czar Alexander I expelled them from their homes and deported them to various parts of his empire as punishment for their adoption of Judaism. During World War II, many Subbotniks in Russia and the Ukraine were murdered by the Nazis.
Maariv On-Line As Israelis are busy organizing ceremonies this week to mark Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day) and Yom HaAtzmaut (Independence Day), members of the Bnei Menashe community in northeastern India are also preparing to commemorate Israel’s fallen soldiers and celebrate the country’s independence.
AP Writer All together, they dip their middle fingers into plastic cups of grape juice, calling out in Hebrew the names of the 10 plagues they believe their God sent to curse the ancient Egyptians. Plastic Israeli flags and photographs of Jerusalem adorn the chipboard walls. Saturday's feast could have been a celebration of Passover anywhere in the Jewish world, but this is no ordinary celebration and these are no ordinary Jews.
PTI, Aizawl: Moving across Aizwal, Israel store and Zion Street are common sights and a newcomer to the state capital could be excused if he momentarily wonders he is in any part of Israel.For many among thousands of living in Mizoram and Manipur, Israel is the promised land and believe they are the lost tribes of Israel. They were overjoyed when the sephardic chief Rabbi, Mr Shlomo Amar reportedly recognised them as ‘descendants of Israel’.
BELMONTE, Portugal, April 15 (AFP) - More than five centuries after the start of the Inquisition, a small Jewish community in a northern mountain town in Portugal is slowly emerging from years of secret observance of its faith. The 180 Jews who live in Belmonte, a town of granite-walled houses of 3,500 people less than 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the Spanish border, opened a new synagogue -- the first since the 15th century -- eight years ago. Last week the community, which only began producing kosher wine and olive oil in 2004, formed an association of kosher food producers, yet the town's Jews are still reserved when questioned about their religion by outsiders.
The Jerusalem Post Barcelona-born Eduard Perez was researching his family's roots and discovered that his ancestors were "anusim" (Spanish Jews forced to convert to Christianity some 500 years ago during the Inquisition.) Lorenzo Ujmin is a descendent of a group of Moroccan Jews who ventured into the Amazon more than 100 years ago in hope of making a fortune in rubber and were left stranded there. Orlando Maman from Peru has dreamed for more than 60 years of meeting his Jewish step-siblings in Eretz Israel.
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