Breaking News: 162 Bnei Menashe Arriving in November
The countdown has begun. In only two weeks, 162 Bnei Menashe will be making aliyah to Israel from India as part of #OperationMenashe2017. In this special issue, we look at three Bnei Menashe stories.
Amos Fulmate, Hanania Baite and Gurion Kifgen
When Bnei Menashe young adults arrive in Israel, they are highly motivated to serve in the Israel Defense Forces. In this video, produced by Yeshiva Ma’alot, we meet three Bnei Menashe soldiers who entered the IDF in a special unit sponsored by their yeshiva. The three are serving in the Givati brigade.
“Becoming a Givati soldier is not easy,” says Hanania Baite.
But, as his classmate Amos Fulmate adds, “a soldier in Givati is like a hero, when you get through the hard part!”
“I am proud of my son that he had the privilege to serve in the IDF,” says Amos’s father Shomron. “It makes the family and the community very proud. My son’s recruitment into the IDF is a dream come true for me.”
“I want to thank my yeshiva,” says Gurion Kifgen.
Feel the pride as the newest immigrants defend the state of Israel.
Tzi Khaute
Last week, we wrote about the coming reunion between Shavei Israel’s coordinator for the Bnei Menashe Tzvi Khaute and his parents, who will be immigrating from Manipur in November. Tzvi made aliyah in 2000. While life in Israel for Tzvi has been a great opportunity “to reconnect with my roots and my forefathers,” he says, it left behind a family that “was separated, broken. My parents and siblings were all left behind.”
As the day of the reunion rapidly approaches Tzvi also shared with us this emotional video.
Meet Tzvi and his children as they talk about their excitement on meeting their grandparents for the very first time. (Only Tzvi’s oldest son has ever met the grandparents, and that’s when he was just 2-years-old!)
Tamir Baite
Tamir Baite is a Bnei Menashe who has worked for the past 10 years since his own aliyah as a guard in various government offices. He has guarded some of Israel’s top officials and most recently has been working at the Treasury. Before that he was a lone soldier in the IDF. Here’s a picture of Tamir in uniform.
Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund bumped into Tamir outside the office of the Treasury in Jerusalem and snapped this photo.
Tamir hasn’t seen his mother and three siblings since 2010. They will be making aliyah with #Operation Menashe on November 16, too.
|
