Lost tribe dreams of return to Israel after 2700 years in exile
Lost tribe dreams of return to Israel after 2700 years in exile: "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. "
Ancient Hebrew DNA
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. "
Ancient Hebrew DNA
posted by Helen Campbell @ 7:48 PM
1 Comments:
At 4:16 AM EST ,
Jerusha said...
Most of them? Now that's pretty farfetched! I am from Mizoram and I know for a fact that only a handful of Mizos take the whole Manaseh-descendent thing seriously!
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