ESENT I PR AR D N A To see our subscription options, I R please click on the Mishpacha tab A e knocked and waited nervously mesor ah because we hadn’t notified them ahead — yet we weren’t disappointed. Quest As the door opened to the little hut, a kippah-clad man smiled broadly and Wsaid, “Baruch haba!” He led us through a courtyard to a small, well-kept synagogue. We were not in Monsey, but in a far-fl ung corner of India on the northeastern border state of Manipur, preparing the ground in advance of our curious delegation — a party of 35 Western Jews and one of the rare groups to visit this little-known Indian com- munity known as the Bnei Menashe. We were both excited and relieved by the warm wel- come, as their story is exotic and spans thousands of years of Jewish history. It is a direct link with our Biblical past and raises interesting halachic and philosophic conun- drums about our future. Welcome to our search for part of the Ten Lost Tribes. It all started with a call from the OU Israel Center in- viting us to lead a “Halachic Adventure” tour. We asked the organizers where they would like to go, and they re- plied, “Where would you like to lead us?” The answer for us was simple: to return to India where the richness and diversity of Jewish history is largely unknown to much of the Jewish world. Our goal was to give our fellow adventurers a unique, exciting, and o -the-beaten-track experience. However, taking a group of 35 people is very di erent from our typ- ical “Mesorah Quest” — our usual method of travel when we’re on our own: we make critical contacts, hop on a plane WeWe arrivedarrived inin ManipurManipur with a few cans of tuna, and show up for a whirlwind visit in unannounced,unannounced, toto getget aa bonabona which we meet and really get to know the local individuals. Sometimes we have to adjust our plans at the last minute. fidefide glimpseglimpse intointo howhow thethe BneiBnei So the logistics of being responsible for such a large group and knowing we’d surely encounter unscripted ad- MenasheMenashe reallyreally live.live. WeWe foundfound ventures along the way made us a little nervous, but in the end, baruch Hashem, things worked out even better than youngyoung boysboys inin yarmulkesyarmulkes andand we could have dreamed. Our group got to see the back- waters of India and visit the communities of Bene Israel tzitzis,tzitzis, menmen devotedlydevotedly goinggoing and the Jews of Cochin (we reported on all that over the toto shulshul eacheach morningmorning forfor aa past year). And while many people have come across Bnei Menashe halachic converts in Israel, seeing their ancient 90-minute90-minute Shacharis,Shacharis, womenwomen communities on the ground was a special treat for both us and our newest group of halachic adventurers. runningrunning theirtheir homeshomes accordingaccording Lost Forever? The Bnei Menashe have no written TribesTribes toto halachichalachic standards.standards. AreAre thesethese history, but their oral tradition tells of their ancestor indeedindeed thethe LostLost TribesTribes onon theirtheir “Menasia,” who is understood to be Menashe, son of LostLost AndAnd FoundFound Yaakov Avinu and patriarch of the tribe that settled TEXT AND PHOTOS BY Ari Z. Zivotofsky and Ari Greenspan wayway backback home?home? ari n ari_610.indd 62 16/05/2016 14:24:23 ari n ari_610.indd 63 16/05/2016 14:25:37 1. TribesTribes LostLost andand FoundFound F 1.1. RECONNECTINGRECONNECTING WithWith theirtheir yarmulkesyarmulkes andand tzitzis,tzitzis, thethe BneiBnei MenasheMenashe ofof ManipurManipur lookedlooked likelike aa giyurgiyur trainingtraining camp,camp, asas theythey eagerlyeagerly acceptedaccepted ourour group’sgroup’s gift —gift — aa laminatedlaminated prayerprayer forfor Israel’sIsrael’s on both banks of the Jordan River. But The welfarewelfare then, together with the other tribes of Bnei Menashe the biblical Northern Kingdom who noticed parallels 2.2. DOINGDOING THEIRTHEIR BESTBEST InIn thisthis shul,shul, were defeated by the Assyrians 130 whichwhich hashas aa dailydaily minyan,minyan, AriAri G.G. years before the destruction of the First between ancient examinesexamines theirtheir sefersefer TorahTorah —— it’sit’s Beis Hamikdash, all of Menashe was ex- Jewish customs and printedprinted onon paperpaper andand sitssits inin theirtheir iled as part of the dispersion of the Ten their oral traditions, aronaron kodeshkodesh alongsidealongside anan ArtScrollArtScroll Tribes. What happened to them, where reinforcing their ChumashChumash did they go, and are they lost forever? historical legend of 3.3. HYMNHYMN OFOF HOPEHOPE TheThe ““chazzanchazzan” (L)” (L) Have some begun to return? Our recent being of Jewish sangsang usus aa movingmoving songsong aboutabout trip to India provided some answers and origin returningreturning toto thethe PromisedPromised LandLand raised many questions as well. whilewhile hishis friendfriend (R)(R) provedproved itit We are told “And the G-d of Israel stirred possible —possible — afterafter movingmoving toto Israel,Israel, up the spirit of Pul, king of Assyria, and the undergoingundergoing halachichalachic conversion,conversion, spirit of Tilgath-Pilneser, king of Assyria, andand joiningjoining thethe IDFIDF and he carried them away, even the Reu- benites and the Gadites, and half the tribe of 4.4. WRITINGWRITING ONON THETHE WALLWALL OneOne Manasseh, and brought them unto Halah, familyfamily keptkept thisthis handwrittenhandwritten and Habor, and Harah, and to the river calendar,calendar, withwith allall thethe JewishJewish datesdates ofof thethe year,year, togethertogether withwith Gozan unto this day” (I Chronicles 5:26). southern China where for many years their children to Jewish schools in Bombay. notations,notations, tapedtaped toto theirtheir livingliving The Gemara (Sanhedrin 94a) attempts to they lived in relative peace and main- The return of the Bnei Menashe began 2. room.room. NextNext toto YomYom KippurKippur itit F 3. identify these locations and suggests ei- tained a form of Jewish practice. At in earnest in 1979 when they wrote a let- sayssays (as(as aa reminder)reminder) “No“No F ther someplace in Africa or the mountains some point they began to be oppressed, ter to Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail, who headed Kiddush”Kiddush” of Afghanistan. The Gemara knew of the and say that their “leather scrolls” were Amishav, an organization that assisted “Jews existence of the dispersed Ten Tribes, as burned. They ultimately fl ed central in far-fl ung lands.” Rabbi Avichail, who was 5.5. PROTECTEDPROTECTED OurOur Rav Assi in third-century Bavel (about 900 China where they hid in caves (and niftar this past year, was a larger-than-life securitysecurity detail —detail — years after the Northern Kingdom had been thus are also called the “Shinlung” or personality on a lifelong quest to fi nd the tenten soldierssoldiers andand exiled) stated regarding a non-Jew who is “cave-dwellers”) and eventually moved Lost Tribes, and whose contributions to so twotwo jeeps —jeeps — mekadesh a Jewish woman, that we are con- to present day Burma and India. In many Jewish communities have yet to be mademade usus feelfeel likelike honoredhonored cerned about whether it is a valid kiddushin, the1800s, some of them moved on to fully documented. The Bnei Menashe had VIPsVIPs inin aa regionregion for perhaps he is from the Ten Tribes and is Manipur and Mizoram in eastern India, already begun working toward the grafting ofof potentialpotential therefore really Jewish (Yevamos 16b). The where they still live today. of their branch back onto the main stock of unrestunrest Gemara explains that Rav Assi is referring In the ensuing years though, Chris- the Jewish People by reinstituting bris milah to a locale where it was known that some tian missionaries overwhelmed the area, and educating themselves about traditional of the Ten Tribes lived in their day. Clear- making it difficult for the Bnei Menashe Judaism. In 1980, Rabbi Avichail assisted 4. ly, as late as the third century, Chazal were to maintain much Jewish identity. On the two Bnei Menashe to study in Israel, and in F still aware of areas that had a tradition of other hand, when the missionaries rein- 1981, the fi rst Bnei Menashe from Manipur the dispersion of these tribes. Even in the troduced them to the Bible at the end of halachically converted and made aliyah. 19th century — 1,600 years later — Polish the 19th century, the Bnei Menashe noticed Rabbi Avichail introduced educational Acharon Rav Yisrael Lipschitz (Yachin on parallels between ancient Jewish customs programs in both India and Israel, and the Sanhedrin 10:3) describes the Lost Tribes and their oral traditions, reinforcing their community slowly moved their practice to- as being in India and Abyssinia. historical legend of being of Jewish origin. ward normative Judaism, as we observed on 5. Some of these customs included animal sac- our recent visit. For example, despite con- F Escape to the East Community rifi ces, yibum, burial of the dead, draining certed e¤ orts, we were unable to fi nd anyone members describe their history, re- the blood from an animal before eating it, who could even describe for us how the com- counting how after being exiled and en- and not traveling out of their domain on munity used to perform animal sacrifi ces. slaved by the Assyrians, they escaped, the Sabbath. In the 1970s, when they fi nally Until 1996, thanks to the e¤ orts of Amishav pushing eastward through Afghani- became aware that there were other Jewish and the fi nancial support of Dr. Irving Mos- stan into Tibet, and then to central and communities in India, some tried sending kowitz, almost 200 Bnei Menashe came to 6464 MISHPACHAMISHPACHA ari n ari_610.indd 64 16/05/2016 14:25:03 ari n ari_610.indd 65 16/05/2016 14:26:24 This tiny mud shack, which is actually a teahouse for the locals and owned by one of the Bnei Menashe, served us Israel, studied in yeshivah, and converted.