By Brian Blum for Shavei.org We have exciting news to share with you: the aliyah of the Bnei Menashe from India is once again under way. Just four months after bringing 160 Bnei Menashe to Israel, Shavei Israel has now started to bring the next group of 250 community members home to the Jewish state.
Bnei Menashe
Over the past week, 80 Bnei Menashe have arrived, all of them from the northeastern Indian state of Manipur, with another 170 slated to come in the next few weeks..
The Bnei Menashe are descendants of the tribe of Menashe, one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, which were exiled by the Assyrian empire more than 2,700 years ago. Over the past 15 years, Shavei Israel has brought more than 2,200 Bnei Menashe to Israel, and in October 2013, the Israeli government granted Shavei permission to bring an additional 900 Bnei Menashe in 2014 and 2015.
Upon the arrival of the first group of Bnei Menashe at Ben-Gurion Airport last Thursday, Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund told the new immigrants, “Your arrival is part of the miracle of Israel’s return to its Land. Being an immigrant is not easy and you will face many challenges along the way. But always remember that the State of Israel is one of G-d’s greatest gifts to the Jewish people, and our generation is privileged to be living here.”
The new arrivals include Edna, a young woman who has been separated from her fiancé, Gamliel, for more than seven years since he made aliyah. In 2007, after Gamliel and 230 other Bnei Menashe moved to Israel, the government froze the community’s immigration. It was only restarted in 2012.
Edna and Gamliel’s reunion was particularly emotional, Freund says. “As Gamliel stood with Edna, he said to me he felt like our forefather Jacob who waited so long to marry Rachel.”
Freund also mentioned several other moving reunions in this particular aliyah, including a grandfather who had never met his four Israeli grandchildren, and two siblings who had not seen their sister who has lived in Israel for 21 years now.
Here is a selection of photos from Ben-Gurion Airport last week.
Bnei Menashe
