Oct 21 2007
Last week I stumbled across this interesting news clip about an unlikely group (or rather community) of Jews by Choice from Northern India. They are called the "The Bnei Menashe" which translates into " The Children of Menashe" and their story is a fascinating one.
According to Wikipedia
An estimated 9,000 people in the northeastern Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur started practicing Judaism in the 1970s, claiming to be descendants of the Tribe of Manasseh. They have since been recognized by Israel as a lost tribe, and most have left, or plan to leave India and immigrate to Israel after undergoing a conversion to Orthodox Judaism from either Hinduism, or Christianity.
I had never heard of "The Bnei Menashe" before this story and I have no idea if they actually are historical descendents of a lost tribe ( as some genetic evidence suggests) but their zeal and commitment is hard to ignore. Watching this video I got the sense that they are much more than, mere individuals who have converted. Rather they are, an active and visible community. One with synagogues, shops and serious connections to Israel.
Anyhow like I have said it’s a fascinating story and the video is under 13 minutes, so check it out. Also feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts!
Note for some reason this clip wont play as an embedded video but it does work if you flow this link.
Loading ...
Hi Avi,
It was a great little video and oddly enough, I was reviewing some previous emails we exchanged and we shared an email about this very thing quite recently. I had totally forgotten about a wonderful article in the August/September issue of Moment magazine about these Jews entitled “Lost in India”. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find an online link right now.
Anyway, thanks for sharing.
If you want to find out more about small Jewish communities around the world, check out Kulanu. Really some amazing stories of Jewish survival out there.
Wow, that was pretty incredible. Thanks for making it available.
Glad you liked it Yankel!
As I understand it (I don’t have time to watch the video right now), this community had long kept alive its Jewish traditions, and had wandered across southern Asia from Afghanistan to China and finally to far northeastern India. Many of them were converted to Christianity by missionaries who were shocked to find these people who already knew about the bible! That was in the 19th or early 20th centuries, but even many of those still thought of themselves as Jewish.
I blogged about this almost a year ago, when there was news in the JPost about some moving to Israel.
http://www.araratscrolls.net/?p=128
Hey AviShalom
Thanks for the history lesson and linkage, seriously. I’ve got to admit that although I’m extremely interested in the subject, I know very little about ancient diaspora Jews and lost tribes.
Shabbat shalom