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.
I have a vague memory of reading an Arab study of genetics, which claimed to show that Jews from Arab lands have some links to Jewish populations in the West, but these are slight, whereas they have more in common with Palestinians and other Arabs.
I don't know anything much about genetics, but I think you can tell, looking at people, what racial background they have. Jews from Arab lands look like Arabs.
Looks, Personality, humor interesting, things apparently you don't know a thing about...
Jews that have abandoned the Jewish faith no longer adhere to marrying within the Jewish faith, which means genetically they will be harder to link with the Middle East, the greater the number of generations since the traditions were broken with.
As for Christians, there are some who claim that Christianity is the lost tribe of Israel, but you can pretty much ignore them.
Are you capable of writing a single coherent sentence? Did you go to public school in California? How sad...
Over time, Jewish populations will accept and allow members of other races to marry into their group. We're talking 2000 years, at least, where some groups have been isolated long enough to look different, but the genetic markers aren't expressed in physical characteristics. We're talking about genetics.. Not something you wear on your sleeve.
Look, this is pointless... Why don't you all go do a web search and read about it yourselves instead of trying to prove me wrong. I didn't do the genetic studies. Someone else did, and the summaries and data are out there just waiting for you to sift through them.
I have read that there is research into DNA that can claim individuals linked to the tribe of Judah not by practicing the faith of Judiasm but by blood.....I imagine that could encompass many ethnic types of people no matter what religion they practice...
NO!
What do you have a crush on me or something?
I'm just curious. Do you have a link to that study.
I've read Koestler's 13th Tribe and researched some of the Israeli sponsored studies on the mass Khazar conversion to Judaism that took place in the 9th century and am curious as to what extent Ashkhenazim DNA is shared with Sephardic or Oriental or even other Semites.
And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,
Here again we have a man Joses who is of the tribe of Levi, while man claims this tribe is still lost! Paul himself is of the tribe Benjamin, so how many tribes are there? God numbers the tribe of Levi (revelation 17) as one of the 12 tribes sealed of God. Obviously not lost according to the 'authority' of God's Word, and one of the 12. Likewise Aser, clearly one of the 12 as demonstrated in Revelation chapter 7. That is to say, if we receive the Word of God as authority over myths and legends.
The indoctrinated retort, 'that's all is well and good, but what about the distinction between the Jews and Israel?' ..the moral of the story being, some things people want lost, even when they cannot be lost. As God (not I) clearly shows, after the restoration of the dispersed from captivity we find the terms 'Jews and Israel,' are synonymous. They are used to identify the exact same people, and this would be biblical confusion if we are to believe these theories. The New Testament writings call the same people Jews and Israel. A distinction is ludicrous. In Ezra after the restoration, the exact same people are called of God "Jews" and "Israel," and the exact same thing in Nehemiah [7]. And so, truly, where is the mystery? These Theologians are missing the point. Judea is a figure of Christ, without which none of them are Jews in God's defining of the term. And Christ being the Lion of the tribe of Judah, is what restores the kingdom and makes men Jews. It's not in their blood line, but in His.
Judy Siegel. "Genetic evidence links Jews to their ancient tribe." Jerusalem Post (November 20, 2001). Excerpts:
"Despite being separated for over 1,000 years, Sephardi Jews of North African origin are genetically indistinguishable from their brethren from Iraq, according to The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. They also proved that Sephardi Jews are very close genetically to the Jews of Kurdistan, and only slight differences exist between these two groups and Ashkenazi Jews from Europe. These conclusions are reached in an article published recently in the American Journal of Human Genetics and written by Prof. Ariella Oppenheim of the Hebrew University (HU) and Hadassah-University Hospital in Ein Kerem. Others involved are German doctoral student Almut Nebel, Dr. Marina Faerman of HU, Dr. Dvora Filon of Hadassah-University Hospital, and other colleagues from Germany and India. The researchers conducted blood tests of Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Kurdish Jews and examined their Y chromosomes, which are carried only by males. They then compared them with those of various Arab groups - Palestinians, Beduins, Jordanians, Syrians and Lebanese - as well as to non-Arab populations from Transcaucasia - Turks, Armenians and Moslem Kurds. The study is based on 526 Y chromosomes typed by the Israeli team and additional data on 1,321 individuals from 12 populations... Surprisingly, the study shows a closer genetic affinity by Jews to the non-Jewish, non-Arab populations in the northern part of the Middle East than to Arabs."
Don't forget to take your geritol, drink your milk and eat your cookies....
Of course, but that isn't the point.
The first thing the Indian Jews need to prove is that they practice the religion. The second thing they need to prove is a cultural heritage. The third thing, which they have refused, is genetic proof. The third thing isn't necessary, but it would reinforce their claims if they share Middle Eastern links genetically, and share some of the same genetic groupings of markers that many Jews carry, and which some Arabs carry.
They can use DNA evidence to prove their heritage has common ancestry as the Jews. That's really all they need to do.
The flaw in your logic about other people with Middle Eastern links who are not Jewish is simply that they aren't claiming immigration rights to Israel. So the issue of those people is moot.
You're arguing a completely different point than the issue of the people addressed in the article.
actually, there are those who believe the lower caste Indians are Austrailoid and Negroid as well as Caucazoid...likewise Himalayan Indians are obviously at least part Mongoloid.
just tossing it out there....one can tell on the Himalayan part simply by looking at them...the rest is around on sites that care about this stuff..lol
This argument is pointless. DNA analysis can debunk their claim to Jewish heritage. There is enough accumulated genetic knowledge of the Jewish people for a complete analysis of the Indian Jews to determine if they have the proper links to the region.
If they do find the necessary links, they can examine the differences in the links that have accumulated over time, and they can estimate the time since the population broke away.
The study of genetics is far more in depth, flexible and versatile than you would assume.
If a group of People claim they are one of the lost 12 tribes of Israel what do you think the criteria is for them to make that claim?
And I thought I was a harsh critic.
I wish I could recommend something that could make you smarter, but the pharma industry is a few years away from cognitive enhancers (do a Google search and you'll find out what that means).
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