Teaching Hebrew to Bnei Menashe in India

The Israeli-developed system of immersive language learning, known as the ulpan, is recognized around the world as perhaps the best methodology for quickly mastering a new tongue. But the system has not always proven successful with newcomers from some Asian and African nations, including the...

In 2002, then-Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau paid a hospital visit to a very unusual man: his features were clearly Peruvian, but he also had peyot (traditional Jewish sidelocks). Unfamiliar with this combination of facial features and hair, Rabbi Lau turned to the man and...

When Shavei Israel held its last “Teen Shabbaton” in Warsaw, the universal takeaway from the 18 Polish teenagers who participated was “When can we do it again?” That was in January. After a cold six months of Polish winter, the summer has finally arrived –...

Shavei Israel’s new emissary to the Subbotnik Jewish community in southern Russia, Aryeh Khodorkovsky, has been keeping busy during his first month in Visoky. He's sent us pictures of some of his activities. Also in Russia, historian Eldad Fedorchuk has just completed his visit to...

Shavei Israel has appointed Rabbi Yeshayahu Bin Nun as its newest emissary. Rabbi Bin Nun will be serving the Bnei Anousim community in Brazil. This is the first time a Shavei Israel emissary will be working specifically with Brazil’s Bnei Anousim. Originally from Brasilia, Rabbi...

Shavei Israel has launched a new book series in the Thadou-Kuki language for Bnei Menashe living in the Indian states of Manipur, Nagaland, Assam, as well as in neighboring Myanmar (Burma). Each 50-page book is filled with customs, Jewish Law and stories relating to specific...

More than 2,700 years after their ancestors had been exiled from the Land of Israel, a group of recent immigrants from the Bnei Menashe visited their forefather Joseph’s tomb, the first rendezvous of its kind. Shavei Israel helped one hundred Bnei Menashe pay an emotional...

The Jerusalem Post dedicated the cover story in this Friday's Magazine to the Bnei Menashe. Editor Laura Kelly traveled to India to report on the unfolding aliyah. She visited Churachandpur and then continued on the flights with the new immigrants to Israel....