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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Indian Jews to press on with emigration to Israel |
| 2005-08-24 |
| AIZAWL, India - Tribal Jews in Indiaâs remote northeast said Tuesday they would press ahead with their plans to immigrate to Israel despite the closure of their intended settlement in the Gaza Strip. âWe were planning to go to Gaza. Now we do not know for sure where the Israeli government will put us up but we are determined to migrate,â said Y. Ralte, a youth from Mizoram state who is part of the group preparing to leave for Israel next month. Around 800 tribals from Mizoram and Manipur states who emigrated to Israel in the past decade have been uprooted from their Gaza settlements under Prime Minister Ariel Sharonâs decision to end Israelâs 38-year old occupation of the Palestinian territory, Indian media reports said. âNobody can stop us from migrating to our holy land,â Rebecca, a young hairdresser in Aizawl, capital of mainly Christian Mizoram, told AFP. âThe evacuation issue in the Gaza Strip will not scare us,â added Rebecca, who uses just one name. âThe happenings in Israel have no relation to the process of migration of people from here to their Promised Land,â said Rabbi Hannoch Avizedek, an Israeli preacher and representative of the Chief Rabbinate in the northeast. âA small group of people from Mizoram are all set to leave for Israel next month,â he said but declined to disclose numbers. âWe are praying for all our people in the Gaza area,â said Peer Tlau, a Mizo tribal Jew. âAll the Jews from Mizoram and Manipur are reported to be safe. Some of them were put up in hotels in Jerusalem or in other temporary shelters elsewhere after being evicted from Gaza,â Rabbi Avizedek told AFP. The Chief Rabbi of the Sephardic Jews, Shlomo Amar, announced in Jerusalem in March that members of the 6,000-strong Bnei Menashe tribe in Mizoram and Manipur were descendants of ancient Israelites or one of the Biblical 10 âLost Tribes.â The recognition by Israel followed applications from locals here seeking to migrate to Israel, which they see as their right to return to their promised land. A majority of the Jews in both Mizoram and Manipur were Christian by birth and later started practising Judaism. Hundreds of Jews in Mizoram and Manipur were soon to take a holy dip at a âmikvahâ or ritual bath, considered mandatory and the final step towards becoming a complete Jew for any convert. âThe mikvah is nearing completion and probably by end of September the holy bath will begin. We are all waiting eagerly to perform the ritual,â said Jeremia Hnamte, a tribal businessman in Aizawl. Apart from names, the tribals share many practices in common with traditional Jews -- such as keeping mezuzahs or parchment inscribed with verses of the Torah at the entrance to their homes. The men wear a kippa during prayers. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #7 The Mizoram jews claim to judaism is fairly recent (last few decades). |
| Posted by: john 2005-08-24 09:24 |
| #6 Who Are The Jews of India, And What Are Their Origins? |
| Posted by: john 2005-08-24 09:19 |
| #5 "âSuch mass conversion of people from Christianity to Judaism will destroy the social fabric of both the tribes. It is the need of the hour that we launch a social movement against any such move,â said P C Biaksiama of the Christian Research Centre in Aizawl." It is the ignorance of these type Christians is the reason that Jews don't trust Christians. This moron is claiming, conversion. The Jewish rabbi's don't convert people. It is not a mandate of the Torah to convert people to Judaism. This is scare mongering at its best. The Torah simply states that all existing tribes will be united in Israel, again. The rabbi's are simply there to verify NOT to convert. I am a Christian and this ignorant idiot |
| Posted by: Poison Reverse 2005-08-24 09:12 |
| #4 Judaism threatens Church in Mizoram, Manipur Christian leaders say that the claim of Jewish descent of the Mizos and Kukis is not based on historical or anthropological facts. Nearly 111 years after its advent in Mizoram and Manipur, Christianity has now waken up to the potent threat that the star of David posed to the Cross in the two north-eastern states. The Christian theologians and researchers have of late launched a campaign to counter the growing affinity of some Mizos and Kukis (a tribe of Manipur) towards Judaism. The synagogues in Aizawl and Imphal have a number of regulars since ages. But what have alarmed the Christian scholars in the two states are recent media reports from Jerusalem that a team of Rabbis from Israel would soon land in the region to conduct mass conversions. âSuch mass conversion of people from Christianity to Judaism will destroy the social fabric of both the tribes. It is the need of the hour that we launch a social movement against any such move,â said P C Biaksiama of the Christian Research Centre in Aizawl. Dr Biaksiama and Rev Chuauthuama of the Aizawl Theological College will take on the proponents of the Mizosâ Jewish descent in a public debate on Friday. Although almost all Mizos, who earlier practised indigenous faiths, embraced Christianity by mid 1940s, some of them in early 1970s noticed that many of their traditional customs and rituals matched with those of the Jews. This made them believe that their ancestors had been Jews and lived in Israel. Their belief was later endorsed by Rabbi Eliahu Avichail, an eminent religious leader of Israel, who had set up Amishav, an organisation based in Jerusalem, to trace and help the descendants of Israelâs 10 Lost Tribes to return to the âHoly Landâ, a right that the Constitution of Israel has granted to every Jew. According to the Amishav, now known as âShavei Israelâ, the Mizos and Kukis are descendants of the âTribe of Manassehâ, which along with nine other tribes had been exiled from Israelâs northern kingdom after the Assiriyan invasion in 721 BC. |
| Posted by: john 2005-08-24 08:44 |
| #3 "Practiced Judaism for hundreds yet no Indian Muslim ever touched them. Also, no Indian muslim is a member of Al Qaeda. That's supposed to be "hundreds of years" |
| Posted by: Poison Reverse 2005-08-24 07:08 |
| #2 "that members of the 6,000-strong Bnei Menashe tribe in Mizoram and Manipur were descendants of ancient Israelites" Practiced Judaism for hundreds yet no Indian Muslim ever touched them. Also, no Indian muslim is a member of Al Qaeda. There's a reason for that, Koranic propaganda will NOT be allowed on Indian television or movies. Any media propaganda is tightly regulated. What is the one common derivative in ALL terrorist countries? Mind-controlling propaganda. Also, everyone has the right to start a small business and vote, including Muslim women. Muslim men maybe able to stop their wife from voting or starting a business. But, no man of any religion is allowed to stop any women from voting or start a business. In the below statements I am seperating "women" and "wife." there is a difference in the East. Why do I say unmarried women? Asking married women to go outside the will of their Muslim husband is out of the question. Also, this goes against the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, and Christian religion. That being said, a husband is supposed to love his wife and if the husband (or Paki tribal leader) is a control freak, then he has a psychological insecurity problem, don't blame it on religion. There are plenty of Muslim men that have no problem with their Muslim wives starting a business, vote, or higher education. The solution is for single women in the East to accomplish whatever they want before they get married. The seperation of "women" and "wife" is a difficult pill to swallow for the West. You will have to get over it because you can't impose your will on the other side of the world and no amount of America military power will "fix" it. Besides, the a husband that lives in the East will tell you that the pot is calling the kettle black, due to the high divorce rate in the West. In conclusion kids, what can we learn from India? One, stop all Moranic Koranic propaganda. Two, give women the right to vote, start a business, and/or higher education. (I didn't mean to get of topic but, I want to state that we can learn from India, how all religion really can, all get along. Besides, I already beat the Gaza situation into the ground yesterday) |
| Posted by: Poison Reverse 2005-08-24 07:06 |
| #1 Whew! For a sec there I had a vision of rabbi Shlomo Whiteagle dancin' around... I'm ok now. |
| Posted by: mojo 2005-08-24 00:31 |