Israel stops converting N-E Indian tribe to Judaism

Earlier this year, an Israeli chief rabbi recognised the Bnei Menashe as one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel. The rabbi, Shlomo Amar, ordered their formal conversion to orthodox Judaism.

Bnei Menashe members believe they are descendants of Jews who were banished from Biblical Israel by the Assyrians in the 8th Century BC and gradually worked their way eastward to India. In 19th Century, British missionaries to India converted the tribe — who were then animists — to Christianity.

In September, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon’s office sent six rabbis to India, who converted 600 members of the tribe to Judaism to ensure they could immigrate to Israel, the Jerusalem Post reported today.

India had pressured Israel to stop the conversion activity. In response, an Israeli parliamentary committee asked Sharon to reconsider the location of the conversions. The government, Regev said, is still trying to bring the Bnei Menashe to Israel.

About 800 of them have been brought to Israel over the last decade by the private group Amishav, Hebrew for ‘‘my people returns’’. Amishav says there is ample evidence to show the Bnei Menashe are of Jewish descent. Their customs, including mourning rites, hygiene and the use of a lunar calendar, closely mirror Jewish traditions.