India's Lost Tribe Recognized As Jews After 2,700 Years

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 9-17-2005 | Peter Foster

[blam]

GGG Ping.

Glad to be back.

[shuckmaster]

Has DNA testing been done here?

[Prost1]

"Mr Tlau, an electronics engineer whose father fought for the British during the Burma Campaign, successfully proved his Jewish credentials before the rabbinical court, answering detailed questions on Jewish rituals and observance."

Since they claim to be of the tribe Mannessa, then they cannot have Jewish credentials. They cannot be Jewish, only Israeli.

[Celtjew Libertarian]

"This claim to be Jewish is just a fantasy created by some 1980s revisionism - and the people's exposure to the Old Testament. What they describe as 'similarities' are simply common tribal practices, nothing more," he said.

Maybe, maybe not. However, they have now also gone through the process of conversion to Judaism. So whether or not they are the genetic descendants of the Tribe of Menasseh, they are now spiritually Jewish -- one could even say the spiritual descends of the Tribe of Menasseh.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Hmmm. They don't look like American Indians or white northern Europeans!

What about the Pushtuns of Pakastan? Even Kipling noted their "traditions" such as circumcision looked extremely Jewish.

[putupjob]

Interesting. Lost tribes of Israel and a branch of the Aryans both ended up in India.

[Ukiapah Heep]

There were emotional scenes as the Oriental-looking hill people professed their faith, repeating the oath from Deuteronomy: "Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One."

They look Chinese, have Indian citizenship, and are now Jewish. That locks up medical school admissions for the next 20 years.

[cambridge]

DNA testing would be very interesting to apply to this, but I'm sure that if a simple 'mouth swab' for Jewishness was ever developed and marketed it'd open up several cans of worms.

[blam]

"Has DNA testing been done here?"

Don't know.

[okie01]

but I'm sure that if a simple 'mouth swab' for Jewishness was ever developed and marketed it'd open up several cans of worms.

Osama bin Ladenstein...

[GarySpFc]

"This claim to be Jewish is just a fantasy created by some 1980s revisionism - and the people's exposure to the Old Testament. What they describe as 'similarities' are simply common tribal practices, nothing more," he said.

Maybe, but there is a tribe in Uzbekistan which is clearly Jewish, and no ties are claimed by the people, nor is there any desire on their part to immigrate to Israel.

[Rabid Dog]

I recall that DNA testing was done about a year or so ago on these people and it was conclusive.

[Rabid Dog]

I recall that DNA testing was done about a year or so ago on these people and it was conclusive.

[Rabid Dog]

Just did a little internet research and it appears that DNA tests were done in 2003, they were deemed inconclusive, soon controversy erupted over the validity of the testing, and it is now quagmired.

[patriot_wes]

"Since they claim to be of the tribe Mannessa, then they cannot have Jewish credentials. They cannot be Jewish, only Israeli."

Gen 13:16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.

Indeed of one of the tribes. And soon they begin coming home. Shabbot Shalom

[SeriousSassy]

As they have undergone full conversion to Judaism, there is no reason to worry about DNA.

Typical DNA tests trace the father's lineage only. Testing the female side is more complex and less conclusive.

Jewishness requires a Jewish mother (not just Jewish descent) or a conversion process.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4400957.stm

In the 1970s, when the Bible was translated into the local language, similarities with the customs and practices of Israeli people were noticed, Bnei Menashe members say.

A researcher of the Mizo tribe, Zaithanchuungi, developed the lost-tribe claims in 1981 and presented papers to various seminars in Israel.

Some Israeli groups like the Amishav, now known as Shavei, which helps Jews move to Israel, supported the claim and says it has brought 800 people from the Bnei Menashe to Israel.

Other Israeli groups have dismissed the claim as "historically untenable." DNA studies at the Central Forensic Institute in Calcutta suggest that while the masculine side of the tribes bears no links to Israel, the feminine side suggests a genetic profile with Middle Eastern people that may have arisen through inter-marriage.

[Rabid Dog]

You aren't a science nut are you? Mitochondrial DNA?

[jocon307]

Sure, typical liberals, trying to spoil all the fun by blaming the Welsh Presbyterians and the eeeeeeevil Zionists!

Good luck to these folks.

[cambridge]

Exactly, among other things. I recall DNA research linking Palestinians to Israelis:
http://www.khazaria.com/genetics/abstracts.html
[Which also contains this interesting line : "Many Spanish-speaking Latinos of the American Southwest are descended from Anusim (Spanish Jews who were forced to convert to Catholicism)"]