- IMPHAL, Manipur -- 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.
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- 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.
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- At the Beith-el Synagogue in the Manipur capital, Imphal,
nine men wearing knitted skull caps read silently from the Old Testament.
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- 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.
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- These people claim to be one of the lost tribes of Israel.
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- Recent discovery
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- Tongkhohao Aviel Hangshing is the leader of the Benei
Menashes in Imphal.
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- "We are Benei Menashe, because we belong to the
Menashe tribe," he says.
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- "Menashe is the son of Joseph, who was one of the
12 sons of Jacob. So we are the lost tribe of Israel."
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- Mr Hangshing says for thousands of years they did not
know they were lost.
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- "We found out only 27 years ago," he says.
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- "When the Bible was translated into our language,
in 1970s, we studied it.
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- "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."
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- 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.
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- A lamb-skin scroll of the Torah, is unrolled and then
rolled up again as each reader finishes his part.
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- Hope
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- There are more than 300,000 Benei Menashes in Manipur
but most of them follow Christianity.
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- Only about 5,000 have converted to Judaism, most of them
during the 1970s.
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- Mr Hangshing says although India has treated them quite
well, they do not consider it their home.
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- The recent visit by a delegation of rabbis from Israel
has given new hope to the members of this community.
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- Caleb, a 24-year-old college student, wants to go to
Israel because he says it is the land of his forefathers.
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- Amram is studying to be a lawyer. He says Israel is the
promised land, for him and the others too.
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- "In Israel it will be easier for us to practise
our religion."
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- In a chamber partitioned from the main prayer hall, about
a dozen women join in the Sabbath prayers.
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- Lucy Vaiphei is the caretaker of the synagogue.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- "We have brought over 800 of them to Israel,"
he says, "and the remaining people also want to emigrate".
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- Mr Freund says that last year the new Israeli interior
minister, Avraham Poraz, suddenly declared his opposition to bringing the
Benei Menashes into Israel.
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- "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."
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- 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.
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- © BBC MMIV
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
- south_asia/3575716.stm
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