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News: Approximately 250 members of the B’nei Menashe community from Northeast India have recently reached Israel, becoming the first group to arrive under “Operation Wings of Dawn.”
About B’nei Menashe
- The Benei Menashe is a small ethnic community evolved within Chin-Kuki-Mizo tribes, known collectively as the “Zo.”
- Distribution: They are located in North East India, particularly within Manipur and Mizoram, and neighbouring areas of Myanmar and Bangladesh.
- About five thousand Bnei Menashe live in Israel, scattered between Kiryat Arba, Nof HaGalil, Sderot, Nitzan, Akko and a few other towns.
- They are known as the Shinlung in India. Around 10,000 members of the community live in India.
- Origin: According to their belief, they are descendants of the tribe of Manasseh (regard themselves as “Children of Menashe”), one of the ten lost tribes of Israel who are believed to have gone into exile after the Assyrian conquest of Israel around 722 BCE.
- They believe their ancestors migrated eastward through regions like Persia (modern-day Iran) and Afghanistan before settling in Northeast India.
- Before British rule in the late 19th century, they followed an ancestral tribal religion featuring a figure called Manasia or Manmasi.
- Over time, during British rule, many of them converted to Christianity due to missionary influence.
- Religion: They largely follow Judaism.
- Language: The languages they speak belong to the Tibetan-Burmese family.
- Tradition: Men typically wear kippahs or hats, while married women cover their heads.
- Bnei Menashe movement: The Bnei Menashe movement began in 1951 when Challianthanga (Challa), a Mizo Pentecostal leader in India, had a vision that his people’s homeland was Israel.
- This sparked a shift among the Chin-Kuki-Mizo people in Northeast India, leading them to embrace their identity as descendants of the lost tribe of Manasseh.
- In the 1970s, a Judaizing movement inspired by the Hebrew Bible began, with limited contact with global Judaism.
- In the 1980s, Eliyahu Avichail guided the community and introduced Jewish traditions.
- However, those moving to Israel must convert again to Judaism to gain citizenship.
