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.
When Yaakov Wang joined friends for dinner growing up in Kaifeng, China, he was the only one who did not order pork - a big deal in a country where that particular non-kosher dish is a cultural and culinary norm. But for Wang, a member of Kaifeng's small Jewish community, it was one of the only ways he knew to express his Jewish heritage.
Jews have lived in Kaifeng, once one of the capitals of Imperial China, for over a thousand years, arriving originally as merchants from Persia or Iraq plying their trade along the fabled Silk Route. The community numbered as many as 5,000 at its peak in the Middle Ages, but has since dwindled to just several hundred descendants. The last synagogue closed 150 years ago.
Today, the Jews of Kaifeng know relatively little about their heritage – but they continue to nourish the dream of returning to the land of their ancestors and immigrating to Israel. Wang was one of the lucky ones. With the help of Shavei Israel, he has been studying in Hebrew, along with six other young men from Kaifeng, at Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu in Israel's Jordan Valley.
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...
