Israel welcomes 2,000th India Bnei Menashe oleh

Why isn’t the Israeli government celebrating this aliyah? Why do we have to sing and dance when they let a few hundred people through? Why aren’t we waiting for the tribe of Menashe at the airport – by the thousands – greeting them with trumpets blaring and speeches about prophecy coming true? Let’s celebrate Michael Freund’s achievement, but let’s not be satisfied with this blatantly discriminatory form of controlled immigration.

Excepts of article by Laura Kelly in jpost.com

Israel welcomed its 2,000th member of the Bnei Menashe community on Thursday, when a flight carrying 53 of the tribe’s members from Manipur, India, touched down at Ben-Gurion Airport.

The Bnei Menashe claim descent from one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, sent into exile for more than 27 centuries.

The community has always observed Shabbat and kept kosher.

Today the Bnei Menashe numbers around 7,000 and resides in India’s northeastern border states of Manipur and Mizoram.

“I’m so very happy right now,” said 18-year-old Mirna Singsit, who was presented with a certificate acknowledging her as the 2,000th Bnei Menashe oleh.

“Not only has this been my dream since I was born, but it has been my peoples’ dream for thousands of years.”

Singsit came to Israel with her parents and three brothers, but left behind a grandparent, four uncles and two aunts. She hopes to continue her education in Israel, studying for her bachelors degree in political science.

Bnei Menashe kids, who just arrived in Israel, at Givat Haviva Absorption Center

Singsit wants to live in Jerusalem, “the Holiest place on earth,” she said.

After a five year hiatus, the Bnei Menashe aliya program was restarted following a unanimous decision by the Israeli cabinet last October, a move which was championed by Immigrant Absorption Minister Sofa Landver, who pushed for its approval.

Over the past month, immigrants arrived on five flights facilitated by Shavei Israel, a nonprofit organization aimed at strengthening ties with Jewish descendants around the world.

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