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Last update - 17:19 03/05/2009
WATCH: India's Bnei Menashe await deliverance to Jewish state
By Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Bnei Menashe, Israel News 

When asked his father's Hebrew name, Asher Kipgen answers "Netanyahu," without thinking twice.

Kigpen's father, who moved to Kiryat Arba six years ago from the northeastern Indian state of Manipur, is actually named Natan - but the reference to Netanyahu is no coincidence.

Kigpen belongs to the Bnei Menashe community, a collection of Indian tribes who claim to be descended from one of the 10 lost tribes of ancient Israel.
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The 7,246 members of the Kuki, Chin, Mizo and Lushai tribes still living in India closely monitored the elections in Israel this year, with the hope that Benjamin Netanyahu's new government might bring them back to the promised land.



Kigpin and his family say they have been "sitting on their suitcases" since last summer, when rumors began to circulate that the Israeli government intended to bring to Israel all Bnei Menashe residing in the northeastern Indian states of Manipur, Mizoram, Assam and the neighboring country of Burma.

In truth, the Bnei Menashe have no real suitcases in their mud homes, where bamboo nets serve as windows, and the only decorations include mezuzahs sent from Israel, as well as a clock and a calendar.

"My parents said not to take anything material to Israel... just to believe in God," Kigpin tells Haaretz, sitting in his living room alongside his family, on a small mat spread out on the floor.

As they await an Israeli decision on their future, the Bnei Menashe go on with their daily routine in India. Kigpin has continued to plant crops on his parcel this year, without knowing whether he will yield enough for harvest.

He is also worried about selling his five calves, something that could delay his move to Israel should he learn that he has been approved for aliyah.

Kigpin and his wife Rivka (originally called Lemano) have four young children between the ages two and 10. He does not know how he will support them if his family finally moves to Israel.

"Livelihood is secondary to worshipping God," he says. "We want to live in a state in which it is possible to keep shabbat as we are supposed to."

Kigpin is still struggling to improve his Hebrew, a slow-going process despite the lessons he takes. Rising at 4:30 A.M., working all day in the field and then going to sleep at sunset makes it hard to retain the new words, he explains apologetically.

"We are tired of waiting, but we will continue to do so," he says. The village has even named its local synagogue "Petah Tikva" (meaning entrance to hope, and also the name of a city in Israel.)

Around 1,500 members of the Bnei Menashe have made aliyah since the community first established contact with Israel in the 1950s.

In 2005, Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar ruled that the Bnei Menashe are in fact of Jewish ancestry, but must undergo full conversion to be properly identified as such. This led to the subsequent conversion of 219 Bnei Menashe in the Indian state of Mizoram, who then moved to Israel.

The Bnei Menashe aliyah soon came to an end after the government stopped allowing community members to enter Israel via the "salami method" whereby the would came as tourists, then convert before receiving immigrant status.

The community now hopes the new Interior Minister Eli Yishai will demonstrate more understanding for their aliyah aspirations.

Just to play it safe, one Bnei Menashe community member in Manipur decided to decorate her own gravestone with a Star of David, verses from the Bible and a supplemental prayer on coming to Zion, hinting that she is already 77 and cannot wait forever.

Three days of travel for Independence Day celebrations

Around 2,000 members of the Bnei Menashe from 36 villages in Manipur and two villages in Burma descended on the village of Churachandpur to celebrate Israel's Independence Day this year.

Those who came from Burma traveled for three days on bad roads, with frequent stops and roadblocks because of 30 armed underground organizations operating in Manipour.

But the exhausting travel did not prevent them from waving Israeli flags with vigor at the event, which took place at a large hangar.

The celebration took the form of traditional dancing (where participants wore embroidered skirts and shirts, and paper hats inscribed with the word "independence") and emotional songs about their longing for Zion.

Afterward, community leaders handed a letter to Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund - a Jerusalem-based group that helps people with Jewish roots get involved with the community, to pass on to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Past letters from the Bnei Menashe to Israeli leaders have been long and heavy, a letter once sent to former prime minister Golda Meir spanned 10 pages.

The newest letter was just one page.

"For 2,700 years our fathers wandered around in exile, but they never forgot who they were or where they came from, and they passed on to us this dear tradition, love of Zion and a longing to return to it and to embrace its holy soil," it read.

"We pray for the day that the rest of the Bnei Menashe still in India can return to their homes in the promised land... We ask you as the leader of our beloved Jewish state - please hear our cries and put an end to our waiting."

Freund promised to give the letter to Netanyahu immediately upon his return to Israel.

The veracity of the Bnei Menashe's claim to its historical connection with the lost tribes of Israel is still questioned by many critics. Some also fear that allowing the community into Israel will prove a government gamble, and will result in a massive flow of Indians, of all backrounds - into Israel.

Nagorliane Sayalo Mayazol, who recently celebrated his 100th birthday, believes that he is a descendant of the tribe of Menashe, but would rather live in India than move to Israel. Only one of his close relatives practices Judaism.

"Christianity is the only religion I have known since I was a child. I wanted to travel to Israel to visit, but they were always at war," he says
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  1.   Oh please, the myth of the lost ten tribes has done much damage 17:38  |  Jo 03/05/09
  2.   Let them in 19:01  |  Joe 03/05/09
  3.   Baruch Hashem... 19:59  |  Yosemite 03/05/09
  4.   Jo #1 - what`s wrong with self determination? 20:42  |  bronxiute10 03/05/09
  5.   Jo 20:47  |  Daniel 03/05/09
  6.   Hetzlacha Rabba 21:03  |  Allon 03/05/09
  7.   Jo, they lived in my town, and proved themselves as . . . 21:08  |  Zev Davis 03/05/09
  8.   Welcome Them 22:07  |  *BEN JABO 03/05/09
  9.   DNA 22:15  |  joan 03/05/09
  10.   I am puzzled 22:42  |  Boris 03/05/09
  11.   Deluded people 01:21  |  BDS 04/05/09
  12.   Deliverance! 01:35  |  stella 04/05/09
  13.   In addition to the Bene Manashe, there are ... 01:39  |  pandora 04/05/09
  14.   I hope 1 Million Bnei Menashe/others make aliya 02:48  |  Maya 04/05/09
  15.   Maya in New York (not Israel) 03:18  |  jennifer 04/05/09
  16.   Jo 03:32  |  Maria 04/05/09
  17.   lost tribes 17:37  |  Naim S. Mahlab 04/05/09
  18.   #15 Jennifer - writing from no place at all 18:00  |  *BEN JABO 04/05/09
  19.   *BEN JABO 03:01  |  jennifer 05/05/09
  20.   #19 Jennifer - Those that live in Israel peacefully 18:11  |  *BEN JABO 05/05/09
  21.   Menashe await deliverance to Jewish state 01:33  |  Ben Kalka 29/06/09
  22.   If they believe and practice Judaism 06:28  |  Michel 16/08/09
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