Rabbinate Recognizes Bnei Menashe as “Descendants of Israel"

Arutz Sheva ^ | 3-31-05

[Alouette]

This actually has nothing to do with "conversions" but with non-normative "rabbis" of phony "Judaism" craving authority and recognition.

This is nothing new, they have been whining for decades. The number of sincere converts they make who actually practice their form a "Judaism" and make aliyah are very small.

[blam]

GGG Ping.

Amar: Bnei Menashe are descendants of ancient Israelites

By Yair Sheleg

Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar decided on Wednesday to recognize the members of India's Bnei Menashe community as descendants of the ancient Israelites.

Amar also decided to dispatch a team of rabbinical judges to India to convert the community members to Orthodox Jews. Such a conversion will enable their immigration to Israel under the Law of Return, without requiring the Interior Ministry's authorization.

The International Fellowship of Christians & Jews (IFCJ), a group that raises money among evangelical Christians for Jewish causes, has undertaken to finance the process of converting the Bnei Menashe community and bringing them to Israel.

The Bnei Menashe community consists of close to 7,000 members of the Kuki-Chin-Mizo tribe, which lives in northeast India near the border of Myanmar (formally Burma). For generations they kept Jewish traditions, claiming to be descended from the tribe of Menashe, one of the ten lost Israeli tribes that were exiled by the Assyrians in the eighth century B.C.E. and have since disappeared.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the tribe's members converted to Christianity, but about 30 years ago, some of the community began moving back to Judaism and set themselves apart from the rest of the tribe.

A number of researchers who visited the group over the years got the impression that their traditions are authentically Israelite in origin. Two genetic studies carried out over the past year have attempted to examine the issue. The studies compared DNA samples taken from several hundred members of the Kuki tribe to a DNA Jewish profile and to a general Middle Eastern profile.

A study performed by scientists in Kolkata concludes that while the masculine side of the genetic profile has no affiliation to the nation of Israel, the feminine side has a certain family relationship to the genetic profile of Middle Eastern people. The difference between the masculine and feminine sides may be explained by the marriage of one of the mothers of the tribe, who came from the Middle East, to a local native.

A second genetic study is still being conducted by the Technion in Haifa.

About 12 years ago, the Interior Ministry allocated an annual quota of 100 immigrants from the Bnei Menashe tribe. So far some 800 of them have immigrated and undergone conversion in Israel. The majority of them live in settlements in the territories, including 250 people in Gaza's Gush Katif.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam. Jacobovici's "Lost Tribes" video has a segment on this group.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
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[ElkGroveDan]

This is really going to bring some growth to the convenience store industry in Israel.

[struwwelpeter]

I would presume at some point there would have to be some accepted minimum level of standards to prevent "sale" of conversions, particularly in the third world.

I had a friend in the East Ukraine named Aleksandr (Sasha) Shults. All during his life and father's and grandfather's lives they were called 'zhidy' (bad term for Jews), even though like everyone else they were agnostic.

After the Soviet Union dissolved, Sasha wanted to learn more about Judaism and possibly immigrate to Israel. He found out that for x amount of dollars he could be 'declared' a Jew and then be eligible for Aliyah. He said quite a few Ukrainians - with Jewish roots or none - had gone this route.

He didn't have the money, so he stayed agnostic.

[SJackson]

After the Soviet Union dissolved, Sasha wanted to learn more about Judaism and possibly immigrate to Israel. He found out that for x amount of dollars he could be 'declared' a Jew and then be eligible for Aliyah. He said quite a few Ukrainians - with Jewish roots or none - had gone this route.

He wouldn't have needed to be Jewish to emigrate, rather have a Jewish grandparent. That's likely the documentation he was offered. Obviously the potential for abuse, without standards, would be great.

[SunkenCiv]

See my review, headed "Reporter from the Apocalypse?" Thanks to CD universe for the cover art.

Quest For The Lost Tribes Simcha Jacobovici, director

Just updating the GGG information, not sending a general distribution. A DVD version is available if memory serves, just not from Amazon.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[SunkenCiv]

later, similar topics:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1377539/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1436777/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1486127/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1492212/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1493271/posts

[Alouette]

FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel/Russian Jewry ping list.

Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.

[Zionist Conspirator]

I'm not a big "lost tribes" person (for one thing, the "lost tribes" theory is sometimes used to try to legitimate chr*stianity as the "fulfillment" of Judaism), but I must admit to being jealous. All us rednecks here have been thumping the Bible for centuries and no one thinks of us as anythings but chr*stian anti-Semites.

But then again, if we ever were recognized as a "lost tribe" I'd be required to observe the entire Torah and I don't think I could handle that! If I could, I'd have converted a long time ago.

[Zionist Conspirator]

Just ask them if they long to retire in Miami.

LOL! And if any of them wind up in the United States, don't refer them to the American Jewish Committee (considering how the AJC feels about religious and conservative Russian Jews)!

[Sometimes A River]

You mean Miami Beach ;)

[Alexander Rubin]

Great news!