Ezra Janggousang, a B'nei Menashe child displaced from the ethnic fighting in northeast India, is the adorable child seen lighting the Chanukah candles in a number of photos coming out of the Shavei Israel Centre, Churachandpur, Manipur, in northeast India. Ezra, along with his family and...
The Bnei Menashe community of northeastern India gathered to hold special communal prayers for the people of Israel and for the safe return of those who were kidnapped to Gaza, as the Hamas attack on Israel left over 900 Israelis dead. "The Bnei Menashe in northeastern...
Now, more than 3 months since the start of the ethnic violence that has devastated the Bnei Menashe community in Manipur in northeast India, thousands remain homeless and with no end in sight. There are about 500 refugees in Churachandpur who fled their homes and are...
Growing up in Mizoram as a member of Bnei Menashe in the mid-nineties certainly came with difficulties. You would typically be teased by other kids for being Jewish and mocked for “not believing in Jesus.” That was certainly the case for Esther Kolnoy before she...
Shavei Israel communities from different parts of the world shared photos with us of them at services and in mourning for the destruction of the Temples and remembering other tragedies in Jewish history that happened on Tisha B’Av, the annual fast day on the 9th...
Bnei Menashe girls from Nof Hagalil learn the traditional bamboo dance of Mizoram in advance of Aliyah Day. Their teacher, Dena Relte, made aliyah herself from Mizoram in 2014. In fact, it would probably hard to find a qualified teacher of this complex dance who didn't...
The summer is a time when kids are out of school. And while many kids go to camp and travel, not everyone has the resources to do this and many children are left with nothing to do. With the support of Keren Kayemet L’Israel (KKL), a...
“What is happening here is mesirat nefesh (self-sacrifice).” That is how Meir Phaltuel, our Israeli emissary currently working with the communities of Bnei Menashe in northeast India, describes the overall atmosphere. And Meir is not a stranger by any means. He himself was living in...
The ‘Three Weeks’ on the Jewish calendar, which begin on the 17th of the Hebrew month of Tammuz and end on the 9th of Av, is a period of mourning and introspection commemorating the destruction of the first and second Jewish Temples. The Bnei Menashe, while...
Two months of ethnic violence and massive displacement has devastated the Bnei Menashe community in Manipur in northeast India, and putting great strain on relief efforts, but we are doing everything we can. A total of 292 Bnei Menashe families (numbering 1,190 men, women and children)...
