Pardes Hannah mayor angered by Indian Jews' conversion course - Haaretz

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Sun., August 26, 2007 Elul 12, 5767

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Last update - 06:04 24/08/2007

Pardes Hannah mayor angered by Indian Jews' conversion course

By Fadi Eyadat, Haaretz Correspondent

Pardes Hannah's mayor is up in arms over the arrival of some 100 Bnei Menashe, members of an Indian community that claims to have Jewish roots, at a religious seminary in his town.

According to Mayor Haim Gaash, the Bnei Menashe arrived secretly, under the auspices of a nongovernmental organization that did not coordinate with him first.

"T

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hose who organized the arrival of the members of the tribe belong to a private organization," he said. "Private organizations are not supposed to deal with new immigrants; they deal with tourists or foreign workers."

The Bnei Menashe were brought to the Noam seminary by the Shavei Israel organization, which assists small Jewish communities. They will stay at the seminary for a few months while they undergo conversion, at which point they will be eligible for citizenship.

According to the organization's rabbi, Eliyahu Birnbaum, the Bnei Menashe are descendants of the tribe of Menashe, which was lost 2,700 years ago. For decades, he said, they have observed Jewish traditions in their homeland of northeast India, including maintaining some 40 synagogues.

He said that there was no intention of doing anything secretly and apologized to the mayor for any misunderstanding. The organization, he explained, sought a religious school with sufficient dormitory space at which the immigrants could study for conversion.

The president of the Bnei Menashe community in India, Yigal Anshin, said that he had been waiting for this moment for 15 years.

"This is a wonderful evening, and it will be even better in the future," he said. "This is a historic moment for us. We have returned to the land of our forefathers, our motherland."

Approximately 1,500 Bnei Menashe are currently in Israel, and some 5,000 remain in India.

The Interior Ministry said that members of the community are allowed into Israel on special tourist visas, and that their status will be altered immediately after their conversion is completed.

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1.	Why Does Anyone Have To Convert?	06:53	\|	Yosemite	24/08/07

2.	Another non-story poorly reported	09:14	\|	FOX	24/08/07

3.	PARDES HANNAH MAYOR	09:41	\|	M	24/08/07

4.	another example of racism	10:54	\|	lakshmi	24/08/07

5.	Mayor of Pardes	11:15	\|	Simcha	24/08/07

6.	The mayor was upset...	12:11	\|	El_Justiciero	24/08/07

7.	Lakshmi is a hypocrite	13:37	\|	Frank	24/08/07

8.	What Secret?	14:05	\|	Mike	24/08/07

9.	judaism	14:38	\|	Rab Burns	24/08/07

10.	Conversion?	15:13	\|	curious	24/08/07

11.	6El Justiciero,not so far fetched,recently there was an article	15:13	\|	lakshmi	24/08/07

12.	Indian community that claims to have Jewish roots	15:19	\|	David	24/08/07

13.	Lakshmi	15:37	\|	Greg	24/08/07

14.	Why	16:24	\|	Lakshmi	24/08/07

15.	13 Greg,I can`t speak for saudi arabi but in Iran there are large	16:29	\|	lakshmi	24/08/07

16.	7 Frank,I don`t deny the iniquities of the caste system,I am not	16:40	\|	lakshmi	24/08/07

17.	Shavei Israel	16:45	\|	wonderful!	24/08/07

18.	12David,you may be right about left overs from other countries,	16:46	\|	lakshmi	24/08/07

19.	Welcome Home! Please Hashem bring remaining 5,000 within a year	16:48	\|	Linda Rivera	24/08/07

20.	#11 lakshmi - another one of your fictional sources?	16:50	\|	* BEN JABO	24/08/07

21.	#15 lakshmishit	16:52	\|	* BEN JABO	24/08/07

22.	jews #15	16:54	\|	j10	24/08/07

23.	Jews in Iran	17:16	\|	Michael T	24/08/07

24.	Lakshmi	17:20	\|	Margie in Tel Aviv	24/08/07

25.	Lakshmi	17:24	\|	Israelit	24/08/07

26.	Lakshmi has a lot to say considering she doesn?t live here	17:25	\|	Israeli guy	24/08/07

27.	#14	17:29	\|	marbpl	24/08/07

28.	The title of this article makes no sense	17:34	\|	Jake	24/08/07

29.	I like Indians, and am very glad theyre here in Israel	17:47	\|	AV	24/08/07

30.	26 israeli guy & ben Jabo,BJ here we go again,I never quote	18:23	\|	lakshmi	24/08/07

31.	25israelit,yes and let me tell you an interesting story,and I	18:33	\|	lakshmi	24/08/07

32.	25israelit,part 2, the African tribal leader talking to a	18:40	\|	lakshmi	24/08/07

33.	Fake Post Alert 14 !	19:00	\|	lakshmi	24/08/07

34.	Lakshmi and others	19:17	\|	Israeli guy	24/08/07

35.	34israeli guy,thanks for the invite,it sounds pretty good,but	19:37	\|	lakshmi	24/08/07

36.	Cheap labour fpr the zionists?	20:18	\|	Hannah	24/08/07

37.	Lakshmi	20:27	\|	concerned	24/08/07

38.	amazing...	22:15	\|	marbpl	24/08/07

39.	#36 Hannah`s an expert on Judaism (LOL)	00:45	\|	* BEN JABO	25/08/07

40.	The mayor would have had no problems	11:26	\|	David Teich	26/08/07

41.	Lakshmi`s not just a jihadist, she`s an ignorant one	11:29	\|	David Teich	26/08/07

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