Bnei Menashe
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The Bnei Menashe ("Children of Menasseh", Hebrew בני מנשה) are a group of more than 8,000 people from India's remote North-Eastern border states of Manipur and Mizoram who claim descent from one of the Lost Tribes of Israel. Ethnically and linguistically, they are Tibeto-Burmans and belong to the Mizo, Kuki and Chin peoples (the terms are virtually interchangeable)[1][2]. They are called Chin in Burma.
Depending upon their affiliations, each tribe refers to itself as Kuki, Mizo, Zomi or Chin. It is however more common for people to identify themselves by their subtribe, each of whom has its own distinct dialect and identity.
The breakaway Judaic group was named Bnei Menashe by Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail [3] because they believe that the legendary Kuki-Mizo ancestor Manmasi[4] is one and the same with Menasseh, son of Joseph.
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[edit] History and legends
Prior to their conversion to Christianity in the 19th Century, Chin-Kuki-Mizo were headhunters and animists [5] [6] [7] who migrated in waves from East Asia until they settled in northeastern India. They have no written history but their legends refer to a beloved homeland they were driven away from called Sinlung/Chhinlung[8]. Anthropologists and historians believe that it was located in China's Yunnan province and that the Tibeto-Burman migration from there began about 6000 years ago. National Geographic's Genographic Project plans to sample the gene pool of northeastern Indian tribes which may shed definitive light on their origins [9].
The Bnei Menashe believe that an old Mizo-Kuki harvest festival song called "Sikpui Hla," which features events paralleled in the Book of Exodus, such as enemies chasing them over a red-coloured sea[10], quails [11], and a pillar of cloud, is clear evidence of their Israelite ancestry.
[edit] Revivalism
During the first Welsh missionary-led Christian Revivalism movement which swept through the Mizo Hills in 1906, indigenous festivals, feasts and traditional songs and chants were strictly prohibited. This policy was abandoned during the 1919-24 Revival and Mizo began writing their own hymns and incorporating indigenous elements thereby creating their own distinct form of worship [12].
Dr. Shalva Weil, an anthropologist at Hebrew University, quotes Steven Fuchs in her paper Dual Conversion Among the Shinlung of North-East India[13]: "...revivalism (among the Mizo) is a recurrent phenomenon distinctive of the Welsh form of Presbyterianism. Certain members of the congregation who easily fall into ecstasy are believed to be visited by the Holy Ghost and the utterings are received as prophecies" (1965: 16). McCall (1949) records several incidents of revivalism including the "Kelkang incident" in which three men "spoke in tongues" claiming to be the medium through which God spoke to men. Their following was large and widespread until they clashed with the colonial Superintendent who put down the movement and removed the "sorcery" (1949: 220-223)".
[edit] Challianthanga's vision
According to the Bnei Menashe, in 1951, a Pentecostalist called Challianthanga or Mela Chala (the name varies) from Buallawn village dreamt that God instructed him to direct his people to return to their pre-Christian religion, which he determined to be Judaism, and to return to their original homeland, Israel[14]. Bnei Menashe believe Challianthanga/MC and several followers set out on foot through the hilly jungles of North East India towards Israel but had to give up due to the sheer distance and terrain.
Despite this setback, the number of believers rose steadily (estimated to have risen by 50% in recent years) and their claims gained wider credence in the 1980s when a self-taught researcher, Zaithanchhungi, purported to have discovered similarities between their ancient animist rituals and those of Biblical Judaism, such as sacrifices[15][16].
Shalva Weil writes that "although there is no documentary evidence linking the tribal peoples in North-East India with the myth of the Lost Israelites, it appears likely that, as with revivalism, the concept was introduced by the missionaries as part of their general millenarian leanings (Samra, 1991). This was certainly the case in other countries, where fundamentalist Christian missionaries "discovered" Lost Tribes in far-flung places, in order to speed up the messianic era and bring on the Redemption. In China, for example, the Scottish missionary Rev. T. F. Torrance entitled his 1937 book "China’s Ancient Israelites" expounding the theory that the Chiang-Min are really Lost Israelites (Torrance, 1937)".
[edit] Shavei Israel
Michael Freund[17], former deputy director of communications & policy planning in the Israeli prime minister's office and current syndicated columnist for The Jerusalem Post, is the founder of Shavei Israel, an organization dedicated to assisting the Bnei Menashe. Freund says that the Bnei Menashe "are honest, decent and kind people" and "are a blessing to the State of Israel. They have proved themselves to be dedicated Jews and committed Zionists, and I see no reason why they should not be allowed to immigrate to Israel.” [18].
In July 2005, the Bnei Menashe of Mizoram completed building a mikvah, or a Jewish ritual bath, under the supervision of Israeli rabbis in order to begin the process of conversion to Judaism[16]. Shortly after, a similar Mikvah was built in Manipur. In mid-2005, with the help of Shavei Israel and the local council of Kiryat Arba, the Bnei Menashe opened its first community centre in Israel.
[edit] Acceptance
On March 31 2005, Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar, one of Israel's two chief rabbis, accepted the Bnei Menashe's claim because of their exemplary devotion to Judaism. His decision was significant because it paved the way for all of the Bnei Menashe to enter Israel under Israel's Law of Return.
In the past two decades, some 1,000 Bnei Menashe have moved to Israel. Learning Hebrew has been a great challenge, especially for the older generation, for whom the phonology of their native languages makes Hebrew especially challenging, both phonologically and morphologically. Younger members have more opportunities to learn Hebrew and gain employment as soldiers and nurses aides for the elderly and infirm.
The Bnei Menashe never had any problems with anti-Semitism in India, but many emigrated to Israel as they regard the country as their homeland and decided to emigrate "on Zionist considerations"[17].
[edit] Disengagement
When Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced his plan for the disengagement of Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip and several settlements in the West Bank, the Bnei Menashe community was especially affected because most of them were settled in the occupied territories. Prior to Israel's withdrawal, the Bnei Menashe were the largest immigrant community in Gaza [18].
The Bnei Menashe left in India worried about family members who they feared were in the middle of violent confrontations between settlers and IDF soldiers . They were also concerned because they thought of Gaza as their future homeland once they made aliyah. Although a group of Bnei Menashe moved out of Gaza before the deadline, others stayed with their fellow settlers during the disengagement [19] [20] [21].
[edit] Controversy in Israel
June 2003: Interior Minister Avraham Poraz halted Bnei Menashe immigration to Israel following charges by Ofir Pines-Paz (Minister of Science and Technology, 2006) that the Bnei Menashe “are being cynically exploited for political purposes". Arutz Sheva quoted Rabbi Eliyahu Birnbaum, a rabbinical judge dealing with the conversion of Bnei Menashe, as saying that the Knesset Absorption Committee's decision was one of "ignorance, racism, and unjustifiable hate"[22].
Rabbi Eliyahu Birnbaum says that community members who move to Israel in fact suffer financially because their move is motivated by a desire to return to the Holy Land and not material gain [23].
Michael Freund has suggested that the Bnei Menashe could help with Israel's demographic problem saying "I believe that groups like the Bnei Menashe constitute a large, untapped demographic and spiritual reservoir for Israel and the Jewish people,".
With the March 2005 decision by Rabbi Amar, the immigration issue seemed to have been rendered moot. The Bnei Menashe's Orthodox conversion would in the future be conducted in India, and they would be recognized as wholly Jewish prior to their arrival in Israel. However, this solution was short-lived because the government of India, under pressure from Mizo-Kuki churches, objected formally to the conversion of its citizens.
[edit] Controversy in India
The rapid rise in conversions alarmed the staunchly evangelical Mizo-Kuki churches and ignited a furious controversy in Mizoram, culminating in top-rated television debates. The opposition mainly came from fundamentalist Christian preachers.
[edit] Opposition from Christians
In April 2005, Rev Chuauthuama of the Aizawl Theological College told the Deccan Herald, "There may be some similarities between the customs of any two communities of the world. Some customs of the Mizos may resemble those of the Israelites. But that doesn’t mean that our ancestors were Israelites and Jews"[19].
Dr Biaksiama from Aizawl's Christian Research Centre and a former joint comptroller at the Ministry of Defence added that “the mass conversion by foreign priests will pose a threat not only to social stability in the region, but also to national security. A large number of people will forsake loyalty to the Union of India, as they all will become eligible for a foreign citizenship”. He wrote a book "Mizo Nge Israel?" (Mizo or Israeli?) which "tells us our real identity, the identity with which we are recognised by God and the world"[20].
[edit] Christian-Jewish Showdown
In March, 2004, Dr Biaksiama had a showdown on television with Lalchanhima Sailo, founder of Chhinlung Israel People's Convention (CIPC), a secessionist Mizo organization. [24] [25]
Lalchanhima Sailo says CIPC's aim is not migration to Israel but to have the United Nations declare the areas inhabited by Mizo tribes an independent nation for Mizo Israelites[26]
[edit] Israel halts conversions
November 9, 2005: the Israeli government halted all conversions of the Bnei Menashe in India, saying it was straining relations between the two countries. Indian officials reportedly expressed concern about the conversions and indicated mass conversions are considered illegal in India. Concern may have been triggered after a task force from the Rabbinic Court travelled to India in September 2005 to complete the conversion process for 218 Bnei Menashe.
Foreign Ministry official Amos Nadai told the Knesset, "Perhaps under previous Indian governments we had more diplomatic leeway to reach creative solutions. We could have tried to explain that Bnei Menashe have already embraced Judaism and that the conversion is only a technical thing".
The decision by the Israeli government led to criticism from supporters of the Bnei Menashe who say Israeli officials failed to explain to the Indian government that the rabbis were not proselytising, but rather formalizing the conversions of Bnei Menashe who had already accepted Judaism.
The Indian government's complaint was also criticized by some Hindu groups in India, who claim that the Indian government takes Christian complaints more seriously than theirs, and that Hindus have complained for years about Christian proselytizing without government response. [27]
July, 2006: Israeli Immigration Absorption Minister Zeev Boim said that the 218 Bnei Menashe who were formally converted in 2005 by the Chief Rabbinate "would be allowed to come here, but first the government must decide what its policy will be towards those who have yet to (formally) convert" [28] . In response Michael Freund says "If Boim wants to devise an overall policy concerning the 7,000 remaining members of the Bnei Menashe community, let him go ahead and do so. But what does that have to do with the 218 who have already converted? Neither Boim nor anyone else has the right to stall, delay, defer or postpone their arrival, or to link it to some protracted bureaucratic decision-making process. The Absorption Ministry's position is illegal and immoral. It runs counter to the basic values of Zionism and Judaism" [29].
Freund says that he has engaged "a prominent lawyer" and is prepared to take the minister to the Supreme Court if he does not immediately facilitate the arrival of the Bnei Menashe.
[edit] DNA tests
A 2004 DNA test at Kolkota's Central Forensic Science Laboratory then claimed to have discovered evidence of Middle Eastern genes among a sample of Mizo-Kuki-Chin in an internet paper titled Tracking the genetic imprints of lost Jewish tribes among the gene pool of Kuki-Chin-Mizo population of India.
[edit] Timeline (modern)
- 1854-1910: British missionaries convert nearly all the Bnei Menashe and almost everyone else in the region to Christianity
- 1953: A tribal leader named Challianthanga had a dream in which his people returned to Israel, and shared it with his community, which led some members of the tribe to adopt Jewish traditions.
- 1972: Several hundred Bnei Menashe begin practicing Judaism.
- 1979: Jewish group “Amishav”(shavei Israel) takes up their case.
- 1980's: First contact with Israel made.
- 1994-2003: with the help of Jewish organizations, 800 Bnei Menashe make Aliyah to Israel, most settle in Jewish settlements.
- 2003: Israeli Interior Minister Avraham Poraz freezes their immigration indefinitely.
- August 2004: In response to the Israeli government decision to stop their immigration, Israeli Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar sends a rabbinical fact-finding committee to investigate the Jewish roots of the Bnei Menashe.
- March 2005: Historic decision is made by Israeli Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, announcing the state of Israel’s recognition of the Bnei Menashe as part of the lost tribe of Menashe, and therefore can now immigrate to Israel under the Law of Return, but only after a complete Jewish conversion, due to the fact that they have been separated from Judaism for millennia.
- August 2005: 146 Bnei Menashe forced to evacuate the Gaza Strip as part of Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan. [22]
- September 2005: A beit din (panel of rabbis) fully converts 700 Bnei Menashe to Judaism (200 from Mizoram, 500 from Manipur) [23]. An estimated 9,000 people still await conversion.
- November 2005: Israel agrees to halt converting the Bnei Menashe after pressure from the Indian government. The entire rabbinical team is pulled out of the country.
- January 2006: Bnei Menashe scholar in Israel, Allenby Sela, heads the publication of four out of the five Books of Moses in the Mizo language, making it easier for them to study the Torah in their native tongue.
- Nov 2006 - First batch of 100 Mizoram’s ‘lost Jews’ leave for Israel [30][31]
[edit] References and notes
- ^ Language in India
- ^ Joshua Project
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ [4]
- ^ [5]
- ^ [6]
- ^ [7]
- ^ [8]
- ^ [9]
- ^ [10] (PDF)
- ^ Dual Conversion Among the Shinlung of North-East India (PHD) by Dr. Shalva Weil
- ^ [11]
- ^ [12]
- ^ [13]
- ^ [14]
- ^ [15]
- ^ http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/apr222005/national154442005421.asp
- ^ http://farshores.org/a04mizo2.htm
http://www.hindu.com/2006/11/22/stories/2006112208452200.htm
[edit] Films
- Quest for the Lost Tribes. Directed by Simcha Jacobovici. The stills for this film were done by Stephen Epstein webmaster of [32]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Shavei Israel webpage
- Bnei Menashe webpage
- BBCNews: Mizo 'Jews' seek Israel visas
- BBCNews: India's 'lost Jews' wait in hope
- Arutz Sheva: Rabbinate Accepts Bnei Menashe as Lost Tribe
- BBC: Israeli 'tribe' faces another move
- 'Lost tribe' still dreaming of Israel at Ynetnews
- Israel set to welcome Indian 'lost' Jewish tribe -- September 2006
- Bnei Menashe website
- Kulanu - Lost Tribes
- Indian Jews immigrate to Israel The Hindu, Nov 22, 2006
