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May 31, 2026, 6:39 PM

The Bnei Menashe soldiers of the IDF

The Bnei Menashe (also spelled Bene Menashe) community emerged in the 1950s as a result of a Judaizing movement among the Kuki-Zo-Mizo tribes of the North-East Indian states of Manipur and Mizoram. They trace their ancestry from the Lost...

Suraj Rajan Kadanthodu

May 3, 2026, 6:11 PM

Rethinking the Bnei Menashe Migration Debate

Every time a group of Bnei Menashe, Jews from the North-East of India boards a flight from Manipur or Mizoram to Israel, the same set of questions resurfaces again, accusatory in nature and increasingly amplified by certain sections of...

Suraj Rajan Kadanthodu

Dec 8, 2025, 1:46 PM

Lost Tribe, New Challenges: The Bnei Menashe’s Long Road Back to Israel

Bnei Menashe Children at Rabbi Avichail Memorial Hebrew School, India. Picture Courtesy, Degel Menashe.

The recent developments in Israel concerning the Bnei Menashe community, one of the four Indian Jewish groups alongside the Cochin Jews from Kerala, the Bene Israel from Mumbai, and the Baghdadi Jews from Kolkata have been received warmly by...

David S. Levine

Dec 5, 2025, 5:51 PM

Why Can’t a Jew Make Aliyah?

A recent Jerusalem Post article ('Don’t ask, don’t tell’ aliyah) by Cookie Schwaeber-Issan, Nov. 18, 2025) makes the uncomfortably true statement that “there is an unacceptable and antagonistic attitude present in Israel’s Interior Ministry who are discriminating against...

David Rosh Pina

Oct 19, 2025, 5:36 AM

Mrs. N. and Rabbi Coca-Cola

David Rosh Pina

“Instead, I will sit and watch Christ rise and fall with heavy breaths. I will wait for the time when they stop, and we will be free.” ABBY Q. HOROWITZ Laurie stepped into the Waldorf Astoria lobby. She pulled her army...

Dor Shabashewitz

Apr 30, 2025, 5:30 PM

Chapchar Kut, the spring festival of the Bnei Menashe

Bnei Menashe community members singing in Mizo at Chapchar Kut in Kiryat Arba (Photo: Dor Shabashewitz)

Chapchar Kut, the spring festival of the Mizo people, is little known outside Northeast India where most Mizos live. Perhaps surprisingly to some, it is also celebrated in Israel. This year, my wife Ana and I had the privilege...

Laura Ben-David

Oct 9, 2024, 10:13 PM

A Soldier’s Sacrifice, A Family Reunited

[Laura Ben-David]

A few weeks ago, Gideon Hanghal z"l, an IDF soldier from the Bnei Menashe community, was brutally murdered in a terrorist attack. He was the first Bnei Menashe soldier to die in the line of duty. As someone who has...

Laura Ben-David

Sep 13, 2024, 4:09 PM

From Manipur to Israel: A Bnei Menashe immigrant pays the highest price

First Sgt. Gideon Hanghal was killed in the line of duty, which should remind the Jewish state to bring his community home now (PHOTO ESSAY)

Tsion Hangshing

Oct 19, 2022, 11:00 AM

Addressing the racism that exists towards the Bnei Menashe community.

On October 7, Yoel Lhanghal z”l a new Bnei Menashe immigrant was stabbed to death after being called “CHINA CHINA” and ridiculed while he was at a birthday party in Kiryat Shmona. A similar assault took place in Tiberia...

Laura Ben-David

Oct 14, 2021, 6:33 AM

PHOTO ESSAY: The long overdue aliyah of the Bnei Menashe

(courtesy)

It took 27 centuries, but now what a privilege to witness this incredible parade of smiling, happy, flag-waving people at Ben Gurion airport, as if in a dream

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