rediff.com: India's tribal Jews look to promised land: AFP

Thousands of tribals in India's far northeast are eyeing a possible future in Israel, claiming that they are direct descendants of one of the 10 Biblical lost tribes.

Some 500 members of the Shinlung tribe in Mizoram, which borders Myanmar and Bangladesh, have been allowed to resettle in Israel and thousands more are hoping to follow.

"I have found through exhaustive research that the tribe, found along the Indo-Myanmar border, were descendants of the Manasseh tribe, one of the lost tribes of Israel," said Zaithanchhungi, a researcher and author of Israel-Mizo Identity.

Local Mizos, the dominant tribe in Christian-majority Mizoram, are believed to be a branch of the Shinlung and "have very many things in common with Jews in Israel," Zaithanchhungi added.

Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail, who runs the private, Jerusalem-based Amishav Association, which deals with claims of descendancy from the 10 lost tribes, visited Mizoram in 1994 and claimed to have identified 3,500 tribals who were practising Jews.

According to Israeli law, every Jew enjoys the "right of return", or the right of abode in Israel.

"All Mizo Jews have the cherished dream to migrate to Israel so that we can practice our religion correctly," said Rebecca Sala, a 32-year-old Mizo.

"Here, you cannot expect to observe your religion properly," Sala told AFP over the telephone from Mizoram's capital Aizwal.

"But now it is becoming very difficult to migrate to Israel as the government has become stricter. There is a lot more scrutiny and endless formalities to go through." The problem for the Israeli authorities is the number of Mizos who may seek to take advantage of the "right of return".

The Mizoram-based group Shinlung-Israel People's Convention submitted a report to the Israeli Embassy in Guwahati and to the United Nations, putting the number of Shinlungs in Mizoram at around 800,000.

The report said another 720,000 were living in neighbouring Manipur, Assam and Tripura.

Israel has noticeably kept its distance from the issue, stressing it has done nothing to promote the conversion or migration of any tribals.

"The state of Israel is not behind the arrival of this community to Israel or the process of their conversion," said Dan Stav, deputy chief of mission at the Israeli embassy in New Delhi.

An embassy official said the question of locating descendants of the lost tribes was fraught with problems.

"It is always very difficult to validate such claims, because sometimes the motivation is more socio-economic than religious," the official said.

The Shinlung Jews are also not recognised by the mainstream Jewish community in India, which numbers around 4,000.

"For the moment, the Jewish status of these tribals has not been clearly defined," said David Nahoum, a Jewish community leader in Calcutta.

An Israeli anthropologist currently in Mizoram said it was "almost impossible" to verify modern claims to descendancy from the lost tribes.

"But, the Israeli government has to be careful about admitting anyone on the basis of such a claim," said the anthropologist.

©AFP 2000 All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed. All reproduction or redistribution is expressly forbidden without the prior written agreement of AFP.


	HOME \| NEWS \| AFP \| REPORT