'Lost tribe of Israel' returns home

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
'Lost tribe of Israel' returns home
Group from India 'descended from Joseph' arrives in Jewish state

By Aaron Klein
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

TEL AVIV – About 50 Jews from a group of thousands in India that believes it is one of the 10 "lost tribes" of Israel landed here today, fulfilling for many a life-long dream of returning to what they consider their homeland.

"I truly believe this is a miracle of immense historical and even biblical significance," Michael Freund, chairman of Shavei Israel, the organization leading the charge for the return of the tribe, told WND.

"Just as the prophets foretold so long ago, the lost tribes of Israel are being brought back from the exile," 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 more than 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 the members 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 this month, including all who were converted, plus two of their newborns.

Fifty-one Bnei Menashe arrived here Tuesday on an El Al flight from Bombay. Many were received in emotional reunions at Israel's international airport in Tel Aviv by family members who immigrated here previously.

Fifty-three more tribe members arrived early today. The remaining 114 will fly here next week.
Freund accompanied the first batch of arrivals in their flight here Tuesday.

"Every once in a while, there are moments in life when you feel like you are not just witnessing history but actually playing a part in helping to shape it. The flight out of Bombay was just such a moment," said Freund.

"The excitement in the air was palpable, despite the obvious exhaustion that everyone clearly felt," Freund said.

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 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 attended college and rabbinic school, moved to major Israeli communities and even joined the Israeli Defense Forces.

Twelve Bnei Menashe served in the Israeli army last 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.

"As much as we might think that Israel is helping the Bnei Menashe, it is the reverse that is true. It is they who strengthen us – with their faith, with their commitment and with their undying love for Zion," said Freund.

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 Shavei Israel to teach the Bnei Menashe Jewish tradition and modern Hebrew.

Arbi Khiangte, one of the Bnei Menashe who arrived here Tuesday, said, "The Holy One, Blessed be He, commanded us to live there. It is a mitzva (positive good deed), and it is one that my ancestors have been waiting for so long to fulfill."