Lost tribe dreams of return to Israel after 2700 years in exile
Indians descended from Joseph seek new homeland
April 2, 2005
A GROUP of 7,000 Indians who believe that they belong to
a fabled “lost tribe” expect to emigrate to Israel after being recognised as
descendants of the ancient Israelites.
Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar has acknowledged the status of the Bnei
Menashe people and will send a team of rabbinical judges to a remote corner of
northeast India, next to Burma, to convert them to Judaism.
The conversions will ensure that the group who claim to be “children of the
tribe of Manasseh, a son of Joseph” will be able to emigrate to Israel under
the Jewish Law of Return. It will allow them to circumvent an Interior Ministry
ban imposed on the Bnei Menashe Indians two years ago.
The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, a group of evangelical
Christians who work for Jewish causes, has already agreed to underwrite the cost
of the Orthodox conversions of the Bnei Menashe to facilitate their migration to
Israel.
A rabbinical court delegation dispatched by Rabbi Amar last year to assess
the Bnei Menashe claim presented its report this week. The Chief Rabbi decided
not to recognise Indians from the Mizoram and Manipur regions as Jewish, but did
accept evidence of their Jewish descent.
Yoel Ilan, who left Mizoram for Israel before the ban on the Indians was
imposed, is delighted for his compatriots but remains cautious. “We’ve no
doubt about our Jewishness,” said Mr Ilan, 35, who changed his name from
Lalram Chhuana. “At last the Chief Rabbi has accepted us. But the Government
may still have a say.”
Most of the two million Chinlung people living in Mizoram and Manipur say
they are descendants of one of ten “lost tribes” of Israel exiled 2,700
years ago by the Assyrian conquerors.
They settled in the remote Indo-Burmese jungles after travelling through
Iraq, Afghanistan and southern China.
After forsaking animism and converting to Christianity more than a century
ago, most remained true to their new faith despite a fierce belief in their
Jewish roots.
A handful went further and began adopting Judaism in the 1970s after seeing
the traditions of their ancestors mirrored in the Old Testament.
The movement’s foundations date back to the 1950s, when two Pentecostal
Christians experienced dreams in which angels declared they were the people of
Israel. Others had already noticed similarities in their pre-Christian
traditions with those of Jewish rites.
One was circumcision on the eight day after birth carried out, not with a
knife, but with sharpened stones, just as Joshua did in the Bible. The tribe
also celebrates a holiday on which unleavened bread was eaten, even though they
do not normally eat bread.
Today they light Hanukah candles on makeshift menorahs. Shabbat is celebrated
in the synagogue using prayer books with phonetic Hebrew and many families eat
kosher food.
In the past decade, 800 Bnei Menashe have settled in Israel following the
efforts of Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail, a lost tribe hunter who took their claims
seriously.
Most ended up bolstering religious communities in West Bank and Gaza
settlements where they could sustain their faith after their conversion. Yet Hillel Halkin, an author who spent five years researching his book on the
tribe Across the Sabbath River: In Search of the Lost Tribe of Israel,
believes there might be a “kernel of truth, but no more than a kernel” in
their claims. “There’s no doubt that nearly all the 7,000 want to come to
Israel,” he said. “And if the gates opened I’m sure we’d see more
converting.”
Rather than dwell on the veracity of the Bnei Menashe’s historical claims,
Rabbi Avichail changed tack. By enabling them to undergo recognised conversions
in Mizoram, he hoped the Jewish state would be forced to accept them under the
Israeli law that confers automatic right of citizenship on all Jews.
The mission to India established sufficient credible links to allow the
conversions by a rabbinical court. One of the team, Rabbi Eliyahu Birnboim,
said: “We know they’re descendants of the Jewish people, and we want the
state of Israel to help them move here.”
Rabbi Avichail pointed out that the conversions would be necessary, not
because of uncertainty over their claim to be Jewish descendants but simply
because of social traditions they observed. “The conversion is necessary, not
because there’s any doubt that they are descendants of Manasseh, but because
of complex religious rules about the relations of men and women.” LOST TRIBES OF ISRAEL Beta Israel (“House of
Israel”): Ethiopian Jews believed to be descended from the lost tribe
of Dan. Around 65,000 have emigrated to Israel since 1974 Bene Israel (“Sons of Israel”):
Indian tribe claiming to be descendents of shipwrecked Jews. Rabbis have
declared that they are “full Jews in every respect” The Lemba: Bantu-speaking people in
Southern Africa with genetic similarities to the Cohanim or Jewish priestly
class. They practice dietary rules similar to Kosher The Pathans: 15 million Muslims in
Central Asia whose customs are similar to Jewish ones. Names of tribe
members are also thought to resemble those of the lost tribes Black Hebrews: African-American group
claiming to be descended from the lost tribe of Judah. They Are not
recognised as Jews by Israel Melungeons: Mysterious racial group in
Tennessee who are sometimes identified with lost tribes, though other
theories trace them to Portugal SUPPORTING QUOTATIONS Hosea vii:8 “Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people;
Ephraim is a cake not turned.” (Those advocating the Bnei Menashe claim
interpret the reference to Ephraim, son of Joseph and brother of Manasseh,
to have been assimilated with the people spiritually but not physically)
Jeremiah xxxi:21-22 “Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps:
set thine heart towards the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn
again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities. How long wilt
thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? For the Lord hath created a new
thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man.”
SOURCE: Times Online