'Lost tribe of Israel' returning home

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'Lost tribe of Israel' returning home
Group in India believes it's descended from patriarch Joseph

Hundreds of Jews from a group of thousands in India that believes it is one of the 10 "lost tribes" of Israel has been granted permission to immigrate here next month, fulfilling for many of them a life-long dream of returning to what they consider their homeland.

"The significance of this should be readily apparent, even to the most hardened of cynics," Michael Freund, chairman of Shavei Israel, the organization leading the charge for the return of the tribe, told WorldNetDaily.

"After all, whoever heard of an ancient lost tribe returning to its ancestral homeland 2,700 years after their deportation? Without exaggerating, it seems fair to say that this is a miracle of biblical proportions," Freund said.

For a decade, Freund's group has been working to facilitate the immigration to Israel of the Bnei Menashe, about 7,000 Indian citizens who believe they are the descendants of Manasseh, one of biblical patriarch Joseph's two sons, and a grandson of Jacob. The tribe lives in the two Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur, to which they claim to have been exiled from Israel over 2,700 years ago by the Assyrian empire.

The group, which has preserved ancient Jewish customs and rituals, has been trying the past 50 years to return to Israel.

Over the last decade, Freund's Shavei Israel, working with other organizations, brought about 800 Bnei Menashe members to the Jewish state. Many settled in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. About 80 lived in Gaza's slate of Jewish communities, which were evacuated by the Israeli government last summer.

They originally were brought to Israel as tourists in an agreement with Israel's Interior Ministry. Once here, the Bnei Menashe converted officially to Judaism and became citizens.

But diplomatic wrangling halted the immigration process in 2003, with officials from some Israeli ministries refusing to grant the rest of the group still in India permission to travel here.

To smooth the process, Freund enlisted the help of Israel's chief rabbinate, which flew to India last year to meet with and consider converting members of the Bnei Menashe. Once legally Jewish, the tribe can apply for Israeli citizenship under the country's "Law of Return," which guarantees sanctuary to Jews from around the world.

Six rabbis were sent by Israel's Sephardic Chief Rabbi, Shlomo Amar to begin converting the Bnei Menashe. The rabbis met with hundreds of tribal members, testing their knowledge of Judaism and assessing their conviction, converting 216 individuals – over 90 percent of those who were interviewed.

"The rabbis were incredibly impressed with the Bnei Menashe," said Freund. "They saw for themselves that the group is very serious and should be integrated into the Jewish nation. That they are a blessing to the state of Israel."

Now 218 are set to fly here next month, including all those who were converted, plus two of their newborns.

The new immigrants will live at first in absorption centers in the northern Israeli communities of Nazareth and Carmiel. They will receive assistance from the Jewish Agency, the main Israeli absorption organization and from Freund's group and the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, an American-based grassroots coalition of Jews and Christians.

"The immigration of these 218 Jews should jump start the process of bringing back the rest of the 7,000 Bnei Menashe who are in India yearning to return home," said Freund.

Freund pointed to the successful integration of the first batch of Bnei Menashe brought here before 2003 as a model for the group's future immigration. Many of those attended college and rabbinic school, moved to major Israeli communities and even joined the Israeli Defense Forces.

Twelve Bnei Menashe served in the IDF this past summer in the Gaza Strip and in Lebanon. One of them, Avi Hanshing, a 22-year old paratrooper, was injured during a clash with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

"I had to fight to come to Israel," Hanshing said, recalling what the soldier said were obstacles placed in his way by the Israeli government when he originally wanted to move to the Jewish state.

"Now," he added, "I have to fight for the country."

According to Bnei Menashe oral tradition, the tribe was exiled from Israel and pushed to the east, eventually settling in the border regions of China and India, where most remain today. Most kept customs similar to Jewish tradition, including observing Shabbat, keeping the laws of Kosher, practicing circumcision on the eighth day of a baby boy's life and observing Talmudic family purity.

In the 1950s several thousand Bnei Menashe say they set out on foot to Israel, but were quickly halted by Indian authorities. Undeterred, many began practicing Orthodox Judaism and pledged to make it to Israel. They now attend community centers established by Shalvei Israel to teach the Bnei Menashe Jewish tradition and modern Hebrew.

"The return of the Bnei Menashe is a historic event," said Freund. "It is the literal fulfillment of the vision of our prophets that our people will return to Israel from the four corners of the earth. It is a timely and welcome example of just what Israel, and its wondrous rebirth, is truly all about."