New Delhi: The Israeli cabinet has approved the immigration of all 5,800 Bnei Menashe, a community residing in the Northeast region of India. Their Jewishness, however, has long been a matter of dispute. Under Israeli law, they are technically not jews—but in 2005, they were reportedly recognised as “seed of Israel” by former Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar. But there is speculation regarding this, too. An investigation by Israeli newspaper Haaretz claims to have proved otherwise.
This is the first time the Jewish Agency of Israel is undertaking such a project. The Bnei Menashe see themselves as part of a group of “Lost Tribes” separate from the Israeli State. The migrant members of the community will have to go through “orthodox conversion” once they reach Israel and are “strongly encouraged to lead an orthodox lifestyle.”
The pre-immigration checks and logistics are being managed by the Jewish Agency, and will comprise “interviews” with the Conversion Authority, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, and the Population and Immigration Authority. The process of moving all 5,800 Bnei Menashe is due to take about five years, with 1,200 people migrating by the end of 2026. Members of the Chief Rabbinate’s office will be dispatched to India to carry out stringent background checks and to confirm the Bnei Menashe’s links to Israel.
According to a report in Haaretz, up until now, the immigration matter has been controlled by a private group—Shavei Israel—which “determined which community members were included in the government immigration quotas.” There are also allegations of abuse and mistreatment that have been levelled against the group. But according to another report in Haaretz, the government documents refer to the Shavei as the only group “capable” of managing the immigrants.
In the past, members of the Bnei Menashe community have been “resettled” in the West Bank– Palestinian territory that has been under Israeli occupation since 1967. But this is no longer the case, and the remaining members of the community will be sent to towns in the Northern part of Israel, close to Nazareth.
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The ‘lost tribe’
The Bnei Menashe are believed to be descendants of the Massaneh, a biblical ‘lost tribe’ purportedly exiled in 722 BC by rulers of the Assyrian empire, a city-state in the Mesopotamian Civilisation. But this has supposedly never been “scientifically proven.”
According to a report in Al Jazeera, researchers who have studied the community say that “several members” of the Chin, Kuki and Zo ethnic tribes are strong believers in their ‘lost tribe’ lineage.
The story of the Bnei Menashe in India dates back to 1951, when a tribal leader had a dream of his homeland. In the years since, several people from Manipur and Mizoram have also “embraced Judaism” , according to Al Jazeera.
Other than religion and notions of the homeland, the community is also driven by the promise of economic prosperity. The Bnei Menashe first began moving to Israel in the 1980s and have assimilated almost entirely, researchers say, and are also adhering to Israeli laws of military conscription.
Meanwhile, back in the North-eastern states, there are members of the community desperate to prove their loyalty to this perceived homeland.
“I want to go to Israel and connect with my lost tribe. I also want to join the [Israeli army] and help them in fighting against Hamas because I belong to that land,” a 20-year-old undergraduate student from Manipur told Al Jazeera. He had just returned to his home village, along with other members of the Bnei Menashe who spent months in a refugee camp—after being displaced by the ethnic conflict in Manipur.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)