Bnei Menashe

Table of content:
Introduction ________________________________________________ 2
Bnei Menashe _______________________________________________3
Their Roots _________________________________________________4
The life in India _____________________________________________5-6
The attempts to contact Israel for help to make Aliyah _____________7-8
Conclusion _________________________________________________ 9

1
 ‫בס"ד‬

Reflection__________________________________________________ 10
Bibliography _______________________________________________ 11

Bnei Menashe
The Bnei Menashe are part of the tribes: Chin-Kuki-Mizo from Mizoram, Assam, and
Manipur (in India). Today most of these tribes members are Christians. They believe
they are descendants of Tibeto-Burman tribes, that migrated from the area of China to
their current location in the area of Burma-Bangladesh-India border. An alternate
tradition that was adopted by the minority of those tribes is that all of those tribes
members, those who returned to Judaism and those who didn’t are all descendants of
the tribe of Menashe. Menashe is one of the 10 tribes of Israel that were deported in
the 8th century B.C. -The end of the first Temple time period. Out of 700,000 Mizo

● 2
 ‫בס"ד‬

people and 300,000 people that belong to one of the 50 Kuki-Chin tribes, the number
of those who share this belief and relation to Judaism and Israel is estimated at 7,000
persons only. Most of the people in these northeast states, who number more than 3.7
million, don’t identify with these claims.
In total there are 10,000 people of Bnei Menashe 3,000 in Israel and 7,000 in India
waiting for Aliyah.

Their Roots
The history of the Bnei Menashe starts in the year 772 B.C. During the conquest of the
Kingdom of Ashur the Kingdom of Israel.
After the conquest, Ashur Kingdom deported the 10 tribes of Israel to different places
that were under the rule of the Kingdom of Ashur. The members of the tribe of
Menashe migrated to the eastern side in the direction of Afghanistan until they
reached China. While they were in China during the third century, the Chinese people
abused them and they were deported again. When they came out of China the last
Sefer Torah that they had has been lost or stolen.

● 3
 ‫בס"ד‬

From this time period and on the tradition was passed orally in the family, from father
to son.
Later, they reached a mountainous area, at the edge of the Himalayas. There they tried
to keep their tradition. Finally, they reached their current location, in the states,
Manipur, Mizoram, and Assam in northeast India.
The Mitzvahs the Bnei Menashe kept were primarily Mitzvahs derived from the
written Torah. Throughout the years, the foundations of the Jewish religion were
maintained by keeping their faith and believing in one God, who leads everything and
there’s nothing above him as excepted from the ‘Jewish nation’.
Those who in particular contributed to the preservation of tradition were the Cohens
of the tribe. Like their fathers, they dealt with the care of the sick, sacrifices and
fulfillment of spiritual needs. Every village had a Cohen and the big villages even two.
Before sacrifices, the Cohens used to sing songs that tell the story of the Bnei
Menashe.

The life in India

Prominent Jewish Holidays the Bnei Menashe kept were, Shabbat, the three
pilgrimage festivals (Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot) and Yom Kippur.
Shabbat pleasure is a major component of Shabbat. Indeed the Shabbats of the Bnei
Menashe’s community were full of prayers and Shabbat’s meals, songs and a lot of
happiness.
Yom Kippur was kept too once a year. Its meaning is the same, a day of atonement
and remorse for our sins. The day of reckoning.

Burial rather than fire,

● 4
 ‫בס"ד‬

This is the biggest and the most impressive difference between the Bnei Menashe and
society around them. The deads in India, as everyone knows, are not meant for burial
but for total fire, with the last station being the Ganges River, where the ashes of the
body are thrown.
This isn’t the case with the Bnei Menashe. Although they lived in the land of India
and were part of its landscape, the Bnei Menashe were buried in the ground after
undergoing a process of purification, as is customary in Jewish tradition.
Moreover, the Bnei Menashe were in seven days of mourning after a relative died, as
is customary in Judaism. After the seven days of mourning the Cohen used to cleanse
the house of the deceased from the evil spirits that overtook it.

The Bnei Menashe believed that their ‘big brother’, Yehudah will find them and return
them to their brothers and to the land of Israel. That was always their prayer, to get
back with their brothers in Israel.
At the end of the 19th century, following the British conquest of India, Christian
missionaries (Christian people who believe their mission is to convert other to
Christianity) arrived and started in converting the Bnei Menashe to Christianity.
For more than 2,500 years, the Bnei Menashe maintained their Jewish tradition and
strengthened their roots, until the arrival of the missionaries and in slippery ways
brought them to accept the Christian religion.
The missionaries didn’t understand how in the north-east of India, in a godforsaken
place, there was an entire tribe with a monotheistic faith, who worshiped God and
knew the Bible closely and to details, and didn’t understand where it came from,
where it had its traditions, and how it could have nothing to do with Islam Or
Christianity.
The missionaries decided to exploit the innocence of the tribe and present themselves
as their big brother Yehuda, who came for his younger brothers to bring them back to
the tradition of their forefathers.
The Bnei Menashe innocently believed the missionaries. Ironically and sadly, thinking
that finally, it was the time when their older brother came to bring them home, they
began a process of distance and conversion.
However, all the time they were converted, the Bnei Menashe didn't forget their true
identity.
About 100 years later, when they found out about the deception. They sought to return
to the tradition of their fathers and began to return to Judaism. At this point, when they
were in the midst of a renewed spiritual search, they undertook to abandon their past
traditions and adhere to today's classical Orthodox Judaism. That's what they're doing
until today.

● 5
 ‫בס"ד‬

The attempts to contact Israel for help to make Aliyah

The first time the Bnei Menashe turned to the government of Israel was in 1948, the
same year when India received independence. In 1974 they sent a letter to the Prime
Minister, Golda Meir. In their letter, they told their story and asked that she’ll do as
much as possible to bring them back to Israel.
Sadly, they didn’t get any response from the government.
It was only thanks to individuals and private associations that the connection was
renewed. Shavei Israel and Amishav are the 2 main associations that bring the Bnei
Menashe to Israel.

● 6
 ‫בס"ד‬

In the late 20th century, the Israeli Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail founded Amishav, an
organization dedicated to locating descendants of the lost tribes of Israel and assisting
aliyah. In 1983 he first learned of the Messianic/Jewish group in northeastern India,
after meeting Zaithanchhungi, an insurance saleswoman and former teacher who came
from the area. She had traveled to Israel in 1981 to present papers at seminars about
her people's connection to Judaism.
During the 1980s, Avichail traveled to northeast India several times to investigate the
people's claims. He helped the people do research and collect historic documentation.
Believing that these people were descendants of Israel, Avichail named the group Bnei
Menashe. He began to teach them normative Orthodox Judaism. He prepared to pay
for their aliyah with funds provided by groups supporting the Second Coming. The
Israeli government did not recognize the Messianic groups in India as candidates for
aliyah.
Several years later, the rabbi stepped aside as a leader of Amishav in favor of Michael
Freund. The younger man was a Jerusalem Post columnist and former deputy director
of communications and policy planning in the Prime Minister's office. The two men
quarreled.
Freund founded another organization, Shavei Israel, also devoted to supporting aliyah
by descendants of lost tribes. Each of the two men has attracted the support of some
Bnei Menashe in Israel. "Kuki-Mizo tribal rivalries and clans have also played a role
in the split, with some groups supporting one man and some the other." Freund uses
some of his private fortunes to support Shavei Israel. It has helped provide Jewish
education for the Bnei Menashe in Aizawl and Imphal, the capitals of two northeast
Indian states.

In mid-2005, with the help of Shavei Israel and the local council of Kiryat Arba, the
Bnei Menashe opened its first community center in Israel. They have built several
synagogues in India. In July 2005, they completed a mikveh in Mizoram under the
supervision of Israeli rabbis. This is used in Orthodox Jewish practice and its use is
required as part of the formal Orthodox process of conversion of candidates to
Judaism. Shortly after, Bnei Menashe built a mikveh in Manipur.

● 7
 ‫בס"ד‬

Conclusion
The Bnei Menashe’s tradition says that they belong to one of the 10 lost tribes of
Israel. Although they were cut off from the Jewish people throughout the years, they
kept the tradition and didn’t forget who they are. For example: they kept Yom Kippur,
Shabbat and the three pilgrimage festivals. In Israel there was an argument as to
whether they should undergo conversion in order to be considered Jews. The chief
Rabbi (then, Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar) decided they are descendants of Israel but
not Jews “Safek Jews” and they need to undergo full conversion to be considered
Jews. In the last 20 years, about 3,000 Bnei Menashe made Aliyah to Israel and about

● 8
 ‫בס"ד‬

600 were born in Israel. Today there are communities of Bnei Menashe in, Kiryat
Arba, Nizan, Migdal Haemek, Tiberias, Safed, Maalot, Kiryat Shemona and more.
Most of them are religious and are trying to integrate into Israeli society but still
prefer to stay in close communities. Among the young people, there are some who
enlisted in the IDF.
There are still 7,000 of the Bnei Menashe in India, who also practice Judaism and live
as religious, and are waiting to make Aliyah.

Refelection
I chose to write about the Bnei Menashe and I’m really happy about it. I found out a
lot about them that I didn’t know before for example, the story of being in China and
the traditions they kept.
It was really fun writing the project because I’m really interested in them.
As a Jewish girl their story really excites me and opened my heart to them. I really
appreciate them for keeping the tradition for so many years, even though they didn’t
have physical connection with the rest of the Jews.

● 9
 ‫בס"ד‬

Finding information was the most challenging. There aren't a lot of websites that give
information about them and most of them give summaries of the stories of Bnei
Menashe. It’s a big loss that people don’t know about them, from my point of view
they are amazing people.

Bibliography

Half of Menashe article in website about India:

http://www.hodu.co.il/%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D/%
D7%97%D7%A6%D7%99-%D7%94%D7%9E%D7%A0%D7%A9%D7%94
Haaretz Magazine: https://www.haaretz.co.il/magazine/.premium-1.2569164

● 10
 ‫בס"ד‬

Wikipedia:
https://he.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%91%D7%A0%D7%99_%D7%9E%D7%A0%
D7%A9%D7%94

Shavei Israel website: https://shavei.org/he/communities/bnei-menashe/

● 11