Jerusalem – More Bnei Menashe Arrive In Israel

Jerusalem – A group of 102 immigrants of the Bnei Menashe community arrived this week in Israel. Their Aliyah (immigration to Israel) was organized by Shavei Israel, a Jerusalem-based nonprofit that aims to strengthen ties between the Jewish people and descendants of Jews around the world who want to rejoin the Jewish nation. They will live in Upper Nazareth, which already has a Bnei Menashe community.

The Bnei Menashe are a small (approximately 10,000) community from the northeastern Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur. According to their oral tradition, they are descendants of the tribe of Manasseh, one of the Ten Lost Tribes exiled from the Land of Israel more than 2,700 years ago by the Assyrian empire. So far, 3,000 members of the community have made Aliyah, another 7,000 are waiting in India, for their turn.

Scientific evidence supporting the Bnei Menashe’s claim is scanty at best. In 2003 Prof. Karl Skorecki of the Technion, tested 350 genetic samples on Bnei Menashe DNA, but found no genetic evidence to support claims of a distant Middle Eastern ancestry. Prof. Skorecki is considered a leading expert in this field. He led the research that conclusively validated the Lemba’s (a small tribe that lives in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique) claim that they were descended from Jews who crossed over from Yemen to Africa over a thousand years ago, and gradually migrated south from Ethiopia, finally settling down in southern Africa.

A year later, In December 2004, Kolkata’s Central Forensic Science Laboratory posted a paper at Genome Biology on the Internet. They tested 414 people from tribal communities from Mizoram. They found no evidence among the men of Middle Eastern Y-DNA-haplotypes. In 2005, additional tests of MtDNA were conducted for 50 women from these communities. These tests uncovered some evidence of Middle Eastern origin, which may have been an indicator of intermarriage during the people’s lengthy migration period. While DNA is not used as a determinant of Jewish ancestry, it can be an indicator. It has been found in the Y-DNA among descendants in some other populations distant from the Middle East who claim Jewish descent, some of whose ancestors are believed to have been male Jewish traders.

By the 19th century, the Bnei Menashe had lost whatever Jewish or Hebrew identity they may have had. They spoke a Tibeto-Burman language, had typical Asian features, and were culturally indivisible from their neighbors. They were converted to Christianity by missionaries in the 19th century, and subsequently claimed Jewish roots.

In the 1980s, the Israeli Rabbinate accepted their claim that they were “safek Yehudim” (people of doubtful but not disproven Jewish ancestry). As such, they are eligible for Aliyah under the Law of Return (the law that provides Jews with a basic right to immigrate to Israel), but must undergo conversion to familiarize themselves with Jewish laws, ritual, customs and history.

The other Indian Jewish communities are undoubtedly Jewish, and accepted as such. The oldest community is the Cochin community, descended from Jewish/Hebrew sailors from the First Temple period, who were shipwrecked on the Malabar Coast in southern India. They were subsequently joined by a second wave of Jewish migrants fleeing Judea after the destruction of the Second Temple. A third group, known as the White Jews arrived there after the Spanish expulsion.

The Bene Israel, the biggest of the Indian Jewish communities, also has ancient roots. According to Bene Israel tradition, their ancestors had migrated to India after centuries of travel through western Asia from Israel and gradually assimilated to the people around them, while keeping some Jewish customs. It is believed Maimonides was referring to them in a letter he wrote mentioning a Jewish community living in India.

Most experts believe that the community’s roots go back to the Second Temple period, either Jewish traders who plied the Silk route, or traders shipwrecked in northwestern India. Other researchers believe they may be descended from traders from the Kingdom of Israel, and that they too may be descendants of one, or several of the lost tribes.

They lived in small villages along the Konkan Coast, the area between Mumbai and Karachi. They were commonly referred to as `Shanivar Teli`, Marathi for ‘Saturday oil pressers’, since they worked as oil pressers but did not work on Saturdays. Many of them were mercenaries, as they could be trusted by both Hindi and Muslim leaders.

Under British colonial rule, many Bene Israel rose to prominence, as they were less affected than other Indians by the racially discriminatory policies of the British colonists, considered somewhat outside the masses. They gained higher, better paying posts in the British Army when compared with their non-Jewish neighbors. Most of the community, which numbered about 20,000 in 1948, left India after independence. Most immigrated to Israel. Some 5,000 remain in India, mostly in Mumbai and its environs.

The Baghdadi community, which lived in Kolkata (Calcutta), were traders from Iraq and Persia. They arrived with the British during the 18th century. Unlike other Indian Jewish communities, they were considered White, not natives. They were a small (6,000) but wealthy and influential community. After independence, they left India, mostly emigrating to the UK or other Commonwealth related countries such as Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore.