Bnei Menashe

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.   
CHURACHANDPUR, India - When Asher Kipgen is asked the Hebrew name of his father, who immigrated to Israel six years ago from a village in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur, he blurts out "Netanyahu" without thinking twice. The real name of his father, who lives in Kiryat Arba, is Natan, but the mention of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's name is no coincidence. Many of the 7,232 members of the Kuki, Mizo, Lushai and Shin tribes carefully followed the elections in Israel, in the hope that the new prime minister of Israel would bring them to the country.
For 83-year-old Mendel Kingbol, a recent immigrant, Passover and its message of deliverance resonate far more strongly than perhaps any other festival. As one of the elder members of the Bnei Menashe community, Kingbol still recalls, with a mixture of fondness and nostalgia, the way his ancestors celebrated the festival over the centuries in the farthest reaches of northeastern India.
Following criticism from left-wing politicians, the immigration-assistance group Shavei Israel has stopped settling immigrants in the West Bank, directing them to the Galilee instead. "We did it to stop ideological issues from blinding people to our cause," says Michael Freund, the U.S.-born founder and president of the nongovernmental organization, which focuses on bringing back lost Jewish communities around the world into the fold of Judaism. "We saw that even though our activity in reality had nothing to do with politics, we still had to break out of being viewed as some kind of right-wing organization," he added.  Advertisement

During Israel's recent counter-terror operation in Gaza, the Bnei Menashe in India held mass prayer ceremonies demonstrating their solidarity with the Jewish state. ...

Bnei Menashe of northeastern India, who claim descent of one of Israel's 10 Lost Tribes, receive new book on laws and customs of Hanukkah in their native tongues of Kuki and Mizo. The Bnei Menashe of northeastern India will have an added reason to celebrate this week with the release of a new book on the laws and customs of Hanukkah in their native languages of Mizo and Kuki as well as Hebrew.  
The Interior Ministry has granted permission to the Shavei Israel organization to bring a group of some 150 Bnei Menashe from northeastern India on aliya, a government source told The Jerusalem Post this week. SAMSON VAIPHEI and his family are among a new group of 150 Bnei Menashe approved to make aliya from northeastern India.
In a historic decision, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has decided that all 7,232 members of the tribe of Bnei Menashe who are living in northern India will be allowed to make Aliya. Olmert and his office took the decision a short while after they decided to put a stop to the aliya of the Falash Mura from Ethiopia. El primer ministro Ehud Olmert decidió aprobar, hace una semana, la venida de entre 150 y 200 miembros de la comunidad Bnei Menashé, del noreste de la India. De acuerdo a lo que se estima en la oficina del primer ministro, los olim llegarán a Israel en enero, en un vuelo especial de la organización Shavei Israel, y serán recibidos por Olmert mismo en una ceremonia festiva en el aeropuerto de Ben Gurión.
Couple from Benei Menashe Tribe of India renew their vows Jewish-style, fulfilling a long lost dream of returning to Jewish homeland Ya’akov Manlun, 97, and his wife Orah, 88, new immigrants from the Benei Menashe Tribe of India, wed Friday in a lavish ceremony joined by many guests in Kiryat Arba. Ya’akov and Orah have been married for almost 70 years, and have recently made aliyah to Israel. The couple concluded their conversion process days ago and asked to be remarried under the Law of Moses.
ORGANISED AND CONDUCTED BY SHAVEI ISRAEL ORGANIZATION FROM 23RD ADAR RISHON(28/02/08) TO 16TH ADAR SHENI(23/03/08) AT DHULIKHEL,NEPAL According to Jewish traditional teaching, when the month of Adar begins, the happiness of the Jews is much greater. The month of Adar is a symbol of joy for the Jews. And certainly this year the joy of Adar is explicitly display in the tiny Himalayan country of Nepal.
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