Imphal: On December 15 this year, 250 Indian Jews belonging to the Bnei Menashe community from Manipur and Mizoram arrived in Israel. They became the first batch to arrive in the Jewish state after a gap of two-and-a-half years.
The Bnei Menashe community are believed to be the descendants of the tribe of Manasseh, one of the ten lost tribes of Israel, and exiled around 27 centuries ago by the Assyrian Empire.According to Shavei Israel data, a non-profit organisation that facilitates the immigration of the Jews of Israel, more than 4,000 Bnei Menashe have already made Aliyah and immigrated to Israel. Another 6,500 Bnei Menashe still remain in India’s northeast region, awaiting the chance to return to their ancestral land.
Though Bnei Menashe first arrived in Israel in the 1980s, their first mass migration took place in 2006, when 213 members of the Jewish community emigrated from Mizoram. Subsequently, in 2007, another 233 people emigrated to Israel from Manipur. This was the first mass exodus from the state. However, their long-cherished dreams of returning to their homeland are only possible after they officially embrace Judaism. Read More>>