Bnei Menashe

[caption id="attachment_5391" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="At Shavei's Bnei Menashe center in India "][/caption] By Abhaya Srivastava  (AFP) CHURACHANDPUR, India — In a synagogue in northeast India, a group of men pray for the chance to "return home" to a country they have never seen and which their ancestors fled...

[caption id="attachment_8063" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Dressing up while reading the Megillah in Manipur"][/caption] “It was the best Purim ever” is how Shavei Israel’s emissary to the Bnei Menashe in India, Yochanan Phatluel, described the holiday celebration this year at Beith Shalom, the Shavei Israel Hebrew Center in...

The highlight of this year's Purim celebrations with the Bnei Menashe in India was "Esther's Beauty Pageant." The women-only event featured costumes designed by the community’s mikveh (ritual bath) attendant, Rukhama Jolly. The contestants paraded across the stage to a hip hop and rock music...

The central service for Purim is the reading of the Megillah (the Scroll of Esther), which tells the story of the holiday. The Bnei Menashe are blessed to have several talented readers who presented the Megillah before the entire congregation this year in Manipur. Here...

Here are some pictures of the Bnei Menahse celebration of Purim in Manipur, India for 2012. [nggallery id=126]...

[caption id="attachment_8004" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Simeon Hatlung learns to bake matzah with Yafa Phaltual and Rukha Neihsiel"][/caption] We conclude our updates from Shavei Israel’s six-week visit to the Bnei Menashe with this report from Simeon Hatlang, one of two Shavei “Fellows” to the Bnei Menashe in Myanmar...