Manipur Jews – Bnei Menashe (Videos)
In east India in the States of Manipur and Mizoram exists a community which sees itself as descendants of the Menashe Tribe (which is one of the 10 lost tribes). These people have Chinese appearance and they claim that after their forefathers were exiled and enslaved by the Assyrians they somehow escaped from slavery and arrived in China. Later on they moved to the Chinese-Burmese border and much later on to the neighboring east India. Most of the residents of Mizoram and Manipur are Christians. Among the Manipur Jews there are some who believe that all the Manipur and Mizoram residents (about 2 million people) are originally from the Menashe tribe. The Manipur Jews believe that the Christian missionaries in the 19th century, forced these Jews to abolish their Jewish identity and adopt Christianity.
From 1951 after a local chief, named Tchalah revealed to his people that God had told him that his people should return to their original religion and land (Judaism and Israel), there is a movement to return to Judaism and immigration to Israel. Some of them contacted with Israeli rabbis and started learning Judaism. Some of the Israeli rabbis accept their Judaism and others don’t see them as original Jews. Many of the immigrating Manipuri Jews to Israel have converted to Judaism through strict Jewish laws.
They claim to be the descendants of one of the lost tribes of Israel and to have maintained Jewish practices until their conversion to Christianity in the last century. These “Manipur Jews” have established a number of synagogues and have gained thousands of converts. They are supposed to be descendents of the Tribe of Manasseh, which is one of the ten lost tribes of Israel and who were exiled by the Assyrians around 8th Century BC. Manipur is in the North East of India, close to Myanmar.
In 1979, Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail, came to know of this tribe, and he visited India several times. It was during one of his visits, that, he named this community Bnei Menashe. This was because; the community’s Mizo ancestor had the name Manmasi, which could possibly be the same as Menassah son of Joseph. In 2005 Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, who is one of Israel’s two chief rabbis, recognized Bnei Menashe community as the descendants of one of the lost tribes of Israel. Over the last two decades around 1700 of them have migrated to Israel.
The Bnei Menashe relate their history of exile from the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 721 B.C. across the silk route finally ending up in India and Myanmar. The oral history of Bnei Menashe that was passed down for 2,700 years describes their escape from slavery in Assyria to Media/Persia. From there they moved on to Afghanistan, mostly through less-traveled areas, ever on the lookout for kings or powerful people who might drag them back to slavery. From Afghanistan they traveled toward Hindu-Kush and proceeded to Tibet, then to Kaifeng, reaching the Chinese city around 240 B.C.E. The Bnei Menashe believe that while in China their ancestors were enslaved yet again. During their years there, large numbers of the Israelites were killed and their assimilation started. These events caused the Israelites to flee and live in caves. The group was expelled in 100 C.E. and their "leather scrolls" were confiscated and burned. At that point different groups went in various directions. Some went down the Mekong River into Vietnam, the Philippines, Siam, Thailand and Malaysia, while some of the Israelites moved to Burma and west to India. Till today, some people refer to these people as "Shinlung" the "cave dwellers."
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Filed Under: Jewish Roots, Jewish Studies, Video of the Week
Tags: assyrians, burmese border, christian missionaries, descendents, east india, east of india, eliyahu, forefathers, israeli rabbis, jewish identity, jewish laws, jewish practices, Judaism, manasseh, manipur, mizoram, rsquo, synagogues, ten lost tribes of israel, tribes of israel
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Ed a witness
July 27th, 2010 - 16 Menahem Av 5770 at 1:28 pm
HIS will is being done in our lifetimes amen Baruch Ha Shem be shem YESHUA
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