"Sambatyon" is the name of the legendary river beyond which the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel were said to have been exiled by the Assyrian king Shalmaneser in 722 BCE. "Across the Sambatyon" is also the name of a photo exhibition on the Bnei Menashe...
For 8 days concluding last week, Shavei Israel communities celebrated Hanukah around the Jewish world by kindling the hanukkia together; frying (and then eating) some simply scrumptious sufganiyot and latkes; sitting together to study Hanukah-related Jewish sources with Shavei Israel’s eminent emissaries; and even competing...
Forty Bnei Anousim from Sicily and southern Italy participated in a two-day Shabbaton organized by Shavei Israel at the end of October. The weekend retreat was held in Palermo. We also look at other recent events for the Bnei Anousim coordinated by their Shavei Israel...
Paomang Issachar Haokip loves to sing. The 43-year-old Bnei Menashe from the tiny village of Mateyang in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur served as the chazan (cantor) for the community’s synagogue for ten years. Now he is singing a new song - of aliyah....
„I został Jakub sam jeden” (Bereszit 32:25). Cztery żony, dwanaścioro dzieci, męska służba, służące, pracownicy i przyjaciele, towarzyszą mu w jego podróży z Haran do Kanaan, a mimo tego Jakub czuje się samotny. Tora zawiera wiele tego typu wiadomości, pełna jest moralnych lekcji dla nas,...
Three members of the ancient Jewish community of Kaifeng who made aliya five years ago are about to enlist in the IDF, and all three want to join the fabled combat unit....
When Shavei Israel’s new director of marketing Laura Ben-David visited India for the first time last month to accompany a group of 50 Bnei Menashe on their journey from Manipur to Tel Aviv, she was expecting to meet people living in primitive conditions, seeking an...
“This was the first time I really understood what aliyah is all about,” said Tomer Yamtovich as he headed back to the bus after an emotionally uplifting hour of singing, dancing, clapping, hugging and unrestrained joy at Ben-Gurion Airport last week. Tomer is a student...
Shavei Israel appeared on the new Internet radio station "Voice of Israel" twice in the last week. First, Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund gave an interview on the morning news program. Then Shavei Israel's director of marketing Laura Ben-David sat down for 20 minutes with...
The emerging Bnei Anousim community of El Salvador marked both an emotional coming and a going over the past several months. The “coming” was the welcoming of 13-year-old Ariel Beltran into adulthood, as the young man celebrated his bar mitzvah. The “going” was a moving...
