Posted on 08/19/2004 7:11:00 PM PDT by missyme
A team of senior Israeli rabbis is due to rule soon on whether thousands of Indians who say they are members of one of the lost tribes of Israel can settle there.
Only 5,000 of the Benei Menashes have converted to Judaism Shlomo Amar recently led a delegation of rabbis to the north-eastern Indian states of Manipur and Mizoram where members of the Benei Menashe tribe live and practise Judaism.
At the Beith-el Synagogue in the Manipur capital, Imphal, nine men wearing knitted skull caps read silently from the Old Testament.
Four others stand on a wooden platform in the centre of the room as a young man reads from the holy book under the supervision of an elderly priest.
These people claim to be one of the lost tribes of Israel.
Recent discovery
Tongkhohao Aviel Hangshing is the leader of the Benei Menashes in Imphal.
We found that the stories, the customs and practices of the Israeli people were very similar to ours
Tongkhohao Aviel Hangshing "We are Benei Menashe, because we belong to the Menashe tribe," he says.
"Menashe is the son of Joseph, who was one of the 12 sons of Jacob. So we are the lost tribe of Israel."
Mr Hangshing says for thousands of years they did not know they were lost.
"We found out only 27 years ago," he says.
"When the Bible was translated into our language, in 1970s, we studied it.
"And we found that the stories, the customs and practices of the Israeli people were very similar to ours. So we thought that we must be one of the lost tribes."
Saturdays are observed by Jews the world over as the Sabbath, the day of rest, and the members of the Benei Menashe community meet for morning prayers at the synagogue in Imphal.
A lamb-skin scroll of the Torah, is unrolled and then rolled up again as each reader finishes his part.
Hope
There are more than 300,000 Benei Menashes in Manipur but most of them follow Christianity.
Only about 5,000 have converted to Judaism, most of them during the 1970s.
Mr Hangshing says although India has treated them quite well, they do not consider it their home.
Lucy Vaiphei (right) is hoping to join her family in Israel The recent visit by a delegation of rabbis from Israel has given new hope to the members of this community.
Caleb, a 24-year-old college student, wants to go to Israel because he says it is the land of his forefathers.
Amram is studying to be a lawyer. He says Israel is the promised land, for him and the others too.
"In Israel it will be easier for us to practise our religion."
In a chamber partitioned from the main prayer hall, about a dozen women join in the Sabbath prayers.
Lucy Vaiphei is the caretaker of the synagogue.
Her parents and six siblings have emigrated to Israel in the last few years and she is now looking forward to making the move herself.
Michael Freund, director of Amishav - an organisation that helps Jews move to Israel - says he firmly believes that Menashe is one of the lost tribes of Israel.
"We have brought over 800 of them to Israel," he says, "and the remaining people also want to emigrate".
Mr Freund says that last year the new Israeli interior minister, Avraham Poraz, suddenly declared his opposition to bringing the Benei Menashes into Israel.
"But I'm confident that if the chief rabbi issues a ruling saying that the Benei Menashes are indeed descendents of the Jewish people and should be allowed back home, then he will have no choice but to let them in."
So while the rabbis in Israel take a decision on whether or not to grant the right to emigrate to Israel to the Benei Menashes, this community here is waiting with bated breath - and praying.
It's a wee late for a beer...I was going to bed...and should.
what I want is a cigar suddenly....I have about 1200 in my glass humidor but have not had one since 02/04....sometimes I take one out and smell it...damn.
Would love to give nopardons a attitude adjustment.....
Whooooooops,
you've done it again.
Well I'm glad you swear off that nonsense. Sway given lol
Wrong thread for this...but there are two kinds of people in the world. Those that love Elvis, and those that love the Beatles. Add to that, those that love cats, and those that hate cats.
you are going to be busy tonight...ha ha ha....
Okay promise to remember next time...
Man, I honestly could not understand that sentence she wrote. It made no freaking sense. Honest!
Yeah, I hated typing class and couldn't get past 60wpm. Now I could give myself tendonitis in an afternoon I think. Pretty fast. If I could improve my accuracy a bit and dump my brainfarts on spelling I could be a secretary; but, I aspire to be a lower servant lol.
Cause your Drunk! spilling beer all over your keyboard
you are going to be busy tonight...ha ha ha....
Oh no I won't, LOL, but only because,
like Cinderella, I'll be out of here by midnite. :)
I may have to occasionally put up with you on FR,but in real life,I don't...THANK GOD!You will NEVER have the opportunity to meet me in real life,dear. :-)
Is it that you are curious to see what I look like,is all? LOL
Well, I don't have horns and cloven hoofs and a tail,I am not deformed in any way,and I look pretty much like what I am....an American upper middle class lady of Hungarian extraction.
Now..I'm imagining you in a lime-green suit...
LOL!!! Yep! Never was interested in being a Secretary, I always excelled in Sports and Math....
You've long ago PROVED WHAT and WHO you are. LOL
Ok ladies...cut it out...we're all adults here...now kiss and make-up...
I have never believed any of that but I have read up on it a lot after the McVeigh mass murders and I did know two CI adherents.
They warned me that when the day came they would kill me first since I should know better (as a Southron WASP)
One of them was an ex-Green Beret and the other was an old Congregationalist from the Catskills
No....I am a hard right sort and quarrel with American Jews (except FReepers) a lot but have always gotten on well with Israelis and used to do a lot of work there at Ramat Gan...and I have no doubt Hitler, Himmler and Heydrich and company did indeed try to implement the Final Solution....Shoah was for sure real. CI thinks that was a big lie.
I can remember when it was not a liability to know a lot about bad things. Folks bought Nazi books to be educated or out of interest not because they were Nazis...lol...now, damn you can't even watch Uncle Remus or you're a racist.
Folks are sure sensitive.
I'm NOT a "chick" and you can't stand me,because I put you in your place. :-)
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