Once Lost, Now They are Found

Indians believed to be a lost tribe return to Israel


CARMIEL – Just a few months ago, rockets were battering this well-manicured town in the North and residents were living in bomb shelters. But that didn’t stop a group of Indian Jews from moving here, motivated by their simple yet profound faith in one thing: Israel is the Promised Land.

“Our dream is to be in Israel. Hashem [the Lord, literally ‘the Name’] promised His people to be in one Land,” Dagan Zohmingtea Zolat said. “Our dream has been fulfilled.”

Many other immigrants gave a similar answer: They made aliyah (immigrated to Israel) because Israel, not India, is the Promised Land for the Jewish people. So now, 87 of the 218 who arrived in Israel this fall will live at an absorption center in Carmiel for one year while the rest are at two centers in Upper Nazareth.

The arrival of these Jews, known as the Bnei Menashe (sons of Manasseh), unlocks one of the age-old mysteries of the Lost Tribes of Israel.

“This Aliyah of the Bnei Menashe is nothing less than a miracle of biblical proportions,” said Michael Freund, the head of the Shavei Israel organization, which was instrumental in bringing the Indian Jews here. “Exactly as the prophets foretold, God is gathering his people from the four corners of the earth and we are witnessing the prophetic fulfillment right before our eyes.”

A New Life
 
After fanfare at the airport hailing their arrival, the welcome to Israel for the Bnei Menashe was a dingy government building—the absorption center where they would spend their first year. The rooms are like dorms and kids play in the hallway when organized activities are not taking place.

Their day begins with prayers at 6 a.m., breakfast, and Hebrew classes until early afternoon for the adults. Children are already attending Israeli schools. Volunteers at the center help the new immigrants open bank accounts, apply for health insurance and tackle other bureaucratic necessities. 

Yitzhak Kolni, who immigrated to Israel six years ago from India, is helping the new immigrants to settle in just like he did. “The ones here now are very Zionistic and religious,” said Kolni, who lives with the immigrants in the absorption center. 


Rivka Pachuau who arrived with her husband and three children, said the family’s preparation to make aliyah took several years and a lot of prayer. Now they are glad to be in Israel where they can observe Shabbat (the Sabbath) and keep kosher much more easily than in India.

Some of the immigrants joined relatives already here, but most left family behind. Zolat’s family was worried that he was leaving with his wife and three young children to live on the frontline.

“But we came here based on the promises of God,” he said. “Whether in India or here in Israel, Hashem protects us.”

Zolat also hopes to be an example to secular Israelis, encouraging them to return to a pure biblical faith like the Bnei Menashe.

The Long Road Home

As the mass wave of Russian aliyah was beginning to fade in the mid-1990s, the Bnei Menashe came to Freund’s attention.

“When I first heard about the Bnei Menashe 10 years ago, I didn’t buy into the whole lost tribe idea,” Freund said. “But knowing the struggle to retain their Jewish identity over the centuries, I believe they are members of the lost tribe.”

At the time, the government allowed 100 Jewish Indians to enter Israel as tourists each year and then undergo the official conversion process to Judaism. This influx of 218 marks the first time the Bnei Menashe have arrived in Israel already converted under Halacha (Jewish Law), which makes them eligible to receive new immigrant incentives including major tax breaks.

The Ministry of Interior froze Indian aliyah in 2003 until Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar sent a delegation of religious judges to meet the people of the remote northeastern Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur and learn of their customs. Based on their long-held traditions, Amar ruled that the 8,000 Indians were indeed descendants of Israel. 

The ruling was expected to clear the way for the resumption of aliyah, but there were complications. First, the Interior Ministry refused to register the expected newcomers as Israeli citizens. Then, the Absorption Ministry decided to withhold benefits from them. After a three year hiatus, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert personally intervened in June 2006, and aliyah finally resumed. 

But as the Bnei Menashe were set to embark upon their journey this summer, the war in the North broke out further delaying their return. They waited it out and then proceeded with their move to Israel.

“The Bnei Menashe are a blessing for Israel,’ Freund told Israel Today. “They were lost to us for centuries, but they never forgot who they were and where they came from.”

History of the Tribe

Long before the modern day opposition, the return to Israel had been a long, hard road for the lost tribe. Exiled by the Assyrians in 721 BC, the 10 tribes of Israel were scattered eastward. 

Today, the Bnei Menashe live in Manipur and Mizoram but look more like their Asian neighbors in Myanmar and Tibet than like Indians. About 90 years ago, British missionaries visited the region and discovered a people already living a biblical life. 

“They were convinced they stumbled upon one of the lost tribes,” Freund said. 

The Indians there practiced a biblical form of Judaism, were monotheistic, called God by His Hebrew name Yah, celebrated Passover and the other Feasts, observed the Sabbath, practiced circumcision and kept kosher.

Most of the community converted to Christianity after the missionaries’ visit, with the notable exception of the 7,000 Jews slated to make aliyah, following the 1,000 who already have. Nevertheless, all of the 750,000 residents of Mizoram—Jews and Christians alike—believe they are Bnei Menashe. 

“Not everyone in Mizoram is Jewish, but all are Bnei Menashe,” said Zolat, who believes that the Christian descendants of Manasseh will return to the roots of their faith. “They will know the name of God and the Messiah and that the Jewish people were always protected by God. They will be here in Israel. Some are already awakening.” 

The state of Mizoram is 90 percent Christian and so Zionistic that officials considered renaming it “the second State of Israel” and its main road “Zion Street.” 

Freund is focusing on bringing the professed and practicing Jews to Israel. And what about the Christians? “If those people are Bnei Menashe and are fated to be here,” he said, “God and the Messiah will do so.”