11 Facts About Bnei Menashe

1.

Bnei Menashe is a community of people from various Tibeto-Burmese ethnic groups from the border of India and Burma who claim descent from one of the Lost Tribes of Israel, with some of them having adopted Judaism.

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2.

Bnei Menashe investigated this group's claims of Jewish descent in the 1980s.

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3.

Bnei Menashe had traveled to Israel in 1981 to present papers at seminars about her people's connection to Judaism.

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4.

Bnei Menashe helped the people do research and collect historic documentation.

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5.

Bnei Menashe prepared to pay for their aliyah with funds provided by Christian groups supporting the Second Coming.

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6.

Bnei Menashe's decision allows the Bnei Menashe to immigrate as Jews to Israel under the country's Law of Return.

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7.

The Bnei Menashe composed the largest immigrant population in the Gaza Strip before Israel withdrew its settlers from the area.

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8.

Rabbi Eliyahu Birnbaum, a rabbinical judge dealing with the conversion of Bnei Menashe, accused the Knesset Absorption Committee of making a decision based on racist ideas.

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9.

Some Bnei Menashe supporters said that Israeli officials failed to explain to the Indian government that the rabbis were formalizing the conversions of Bnei Menashe who had already accepted Judaism, rather than trying to recruit new members.

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10.

The next year, 230 Bnei Menashe arrived in Israel in September 2007, having completed the formal conversion process in India.

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11.

Bnei Menashe said that the words of the chant were identical to the ancient Sikpui Song.

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