Dei'ah Vedibur - Information &
Insight
  

A Window into the Chareidi World

2 Teves, 5781 - December 17, 2020 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
NEWS

OPINION
& COMMENT

OBSERVATIONS

HOME
& FAMILY

IN-DEPTH
FEATURES

VAAD HORABBONIM HAOLAMI LEINYONEI GIYUR

TOPICS IN THE NEWS

POPULAR EDITORIALS

HOMEPAGE

 

Produced and housed by
chareidi.org
chareidi.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEWS
252 Non-Jewish Bnei Menashe Arrived on Tuesday

by Binyamin Rabinowitz

A group of non-Jews arrived in Israel from northeast India this Tuesday, calling themselves Bnei Menashe, even though they have shown no proof of Jewish ancestry. A similar group arrived from Ethiopia a week ago, both under the Law of Entry and not the Law of Return. The implications are clear: the government has no certification of their Jewishness but is nevertheless preparing a speedy and mass conversion for them.

The Law of Entry is the general law that governs the arrival of immigrants or prospective immigrants to Israel who are not recognized as Jewish. The Law of Return is directed towards Jews who are recognized as returning to Israel even if they have never been here. The Law of Return recognizes as Jewish anyone who can show at least one Jewish grandparent, even though many of these people are not considered Jewish according to halochoh, and many do not even consider themselves Jewish either.

The office of the Ministry of Immigration and Absorption has released a press report that "after a wait of many long years, having preserved a Jewish tradition for a long time, hundreds of members of the Bnei Menashe community from India immigrated to Israel in a special project."

The press release reveals, "a government decision promoted by the Minister of Immigration and Absorption with the support of the Chief Rabbi David Lau, Interior Minister Arye Machluf Deri, and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi."

Rav Lau
3

The office of the Chief Rabbi Lau clarifies to Yated Ne'eman that "there is no support from the office of the Chief Rabbi [or from Chief Rabbi David Lau] that the Israeli government has initiated this or is the sole decider of the immigration of olim to Israel. The Chief Rabbinate is not involved, nor does it encourage or initiate said immigration. In the past, the Chief Rabbinate did certify a preparatory conversion program for a group of 700 olim through dayonim who visited this group in their country of origin.

"Recently Chief Rabbi David Lau has been asked to approve the immigration of this group but after a more intensive examination, only 250 immigrants were allowed to come since only these had begun the process of conversion and proven their clear intent to be converted fully according to the Halacha. They were permitted to continue the conversion process here in Israel up to the point of being prepared to accept upon themselves the yoke of Torah and mitzvos. As part of his responsibilities, the Chief Rabbi will monitor the continuation of the halachic conversion process, under which, and this alone, will they be allowed to join the Jewish people. The Rabbinate again stressed that the question of whether they can be brought to Israel or not does not come under their jurisdiction."

The very decision regarding allowing gentiles to immigrate to Israel in the framework of The Law of Entry is very irregular. As a rule, the government and the Interior Ministry do not allow the entry of groups for the purpose of conversion since there is the fear that this will be exploited for financial gain. Those coming under the Law of Return are eligible for automatic citizenship, the absorption benefit basket and many other privileges. The Bnei Menashe are not considered Jews under the Law of Return and the attached benefits, but they will receive them after the conversion ceremony.

According to Wikipedia: "Since the late 20th century, some of these peoples have begun embracing the idea that they were Jews, while keeping the belief that J. is the Messiah. The Bnei Menashe are a small group who started studying and practicing Judaism since the 1970s in a desire to return to what they believe is the religion of their ancestors. The total population of Manipur and Mizoram is more than 3.7 million. Most of the other residents of these two northeast states, who number more than 3.7 million and share their ethnic ancestry, do not identify with these claims." DNA testing of the men found no evidence of Middle East ancestry. Over the years, mere handfuls of immigrants came from the Bnei Menashe community. They were converted in Gush Katif. But various bodies have actively brought in many more numbers of this group, the largest of which came in 2013, shortly before elections. A year later, the Likud government under Netanyahu decided to bring large groups from this tribe.

All told, some 1200 members have arrived, joining the 1500 who came in smaller groups over the years, living in settlements beyond the Green Line, and also in Acco and Natzeret Illit. Some claim that this was intentional, directed by people from the Right as an answer to the "Arab Threat" towards the local Jewish populace. Official spokesmen denied this, saying that there were no special reasons for sending the Bnei Menashe to populate those places.

The Bnei Menashe goal of immigration to Israel dates back to the establishment of the State. This group numbers thousands living in Manipur, in East India, bordering Minamar. It is a group within the Kuki-Chin-Mizo tribe which has a longstanding tradition of being the descendants of Shevet Menashe which was exiled in the Assyrian exile 2700 years ago. This is their basis for claiming to be exiled Jews.

Ha'aretz made a study fifteen years ago stating that the central factor behind allowing the immigration of this tribe is the "Shavei Yisrael" organization, founded and administered by Michael Freund, an American immigrant who served as advisor of Netanyahu during his first term.

As part of his additional job as journalist for the Jerusalem Post, Freund called for a more `creative' approach to aliya. "The truth is that there are many people throughout the world who would want to live in Israel," he wrote in his column in December 2001. "The problem is that most of them are not Jewish, while many of them cannot do so because of economic reasons. Numberless others sincerely wish to convert and Israel should feel obligated to at least check the possibilities open for this population."

 

All material on this site is copyrighted and its use is restricted.
Click here for conditions of use.