“Bnei Menashe” followers and converts from Mizoram, otherwise a predominantly Christian state in Northeast India, have flown to Tel Aviv from New Delhi for permanent settlement, numbering over 100.
Bnei Menashe tribe, as the name suggests are the ‘Sons of Manasseh’, one of the lost tribes of Hebrew origin of Israel, the ‘Promised Land’, according to Judaism beliefs.
Decedents of Bnei Menashe are believed to have been migrated and settled in Manipur and Mizoram. The lost tribe of Judea have seen footfall of converts, who embraced Judaism and adopted its practices formally in recent years in these two Indian states.
According to Times of India report, so far 2500 from Mizoram have migrated to Israel permanently, with another 500 to migrate next year.
The Indian migrants, who claim to be decedents of Manasseh will receive Israeli citizenship, and undergo trainings ritual and rites of the Hebrew religion, not excluding learning the ordinances and laws of the Hebrew Torah, Talmud and Halaka, as part of the Old Testament religion.