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December 27, 2002/Tevet 22 5763, Vol. 55, No. 18
'Lost Tribe' makes aliyah
JESSICA STEINBERG
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - Shlomo Gangte is a graphic designer, a documentary filmmaker and a recently ordained rabbi.
That wouldn't be so unusual, except that Gangte is one of the recently arrived members of the Bnei Menashe, a community from northeastern India that says it is descended from one of the biblical Lost Tribes of Israel.
Along with 95 other members of the community, Gangte immigrated to Israel in late August.
They were brought by Amishav - Hebrew for "My People Return" - a group that has helped 700 of the Bnei Menashe come to Israel during the past dozen years.
For now, Gangte and 60 of his fellow emigres are living in Shavei Shomron, a small Jewish settlement in the West Bank. It is located between Nablus and Kalkilya, two Palestinian cities that Israeli officials have described as breeding grounds for terrorists.
The recent immigrants don't seem concerned that they might be living in dangerous territory, surrounded by Arab villages and with Israeli soldiers based in the community.
"We want to be on the frontier," said Gangte.
But it is more than that, added Naomi Sing Sung.
In India, members of Bnei Menashe were singled out for their customary dress, whether it was the men who wore yarmulkes or the women who covered their hair.
"Here, men can cover their heads with pride, freely," she said. "There, it wasn't always so easy."
Advocates for the Bnei Menashe had struggled in relative obscurity to convince Israelis that the Indians were long-lost Jews who had returned to the faith.
Their cause was aided by the recent publication of "Across the Sabbath River," a book by veteran Israeli journalist Hillel Halkin that documents the search for the biblical lost tribes.
The Bnei Menashe claim to descent from the tribe of Menashe, one of the 10 tribes that was driven from ancient Israel in the eighth century B.C.E. by Assyrian conquerors.
About 25 years ago, they were discovered by the founder of Amishav, Eliyahu Avichail, an Israeli rabbi who wanders the globe in search of lost Jews in order to bring them back to Judaism and Israel.
Avichail, and several other Israeli rabbis, believe the descendants of lost tribes could help offset Israel's dwindling demographics against the burgeoning Arab population.
"I believe that groups like the Bnei Menashe constitute a large, untapped demographic and spiritual reservoir for Israel and the Jewish people," said the director of Amishav, Michael Freund.
It has been no simple matter to bring and absorb the Bnei Menashe into Israel.
According to Israel's Law of Return, the Bnei Menashe are not officially Jewish. Because of this, they do not receive any of the benefits given to most new immigrants in Israel.
As a result, Amishav has taken on the responsibility of providing for the Bnei Menashe while they undergo official conversions to Judaism.
"We start from scratch," said Baruch Lior, director of the absorption department for the local settlement council. "Here it's families that need conversion but that have the traditions and lifestyles, so they're more than ready to do it."
For the most part, the Bnei Menashe are not insulted by the government's demand that they convert.
They say, however, that they are surprised by the number of Israelis who are not religious and do not live a Jewishly observant lifestyle.
"I expected that the nation of Israel would be living and loving God as I've been doing for the last 20 years," said Yehuda, one of the older immigrants.
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