AIZAWL, India - Tribal Jews in Indiaâs remote northeast said Tuesday they would press ahead with their plans to immigrate to Israel despite the closure of their intended settlement in the Gaza Strip. âWe were planning to go to Gaza. Now we do not know for sure where the Israeli government will put us up but we are determined to migrate,â said Y. Ralte, a youth from Mizoram state who is part of the group preparing to leave for Israel next month.
Around 800 tribals from Mizoram and Manipur states who emigrated to Israel in the past decade have been uprooted from their Gaza settlements under Prime Minister Ariel Sharonâs decision to end Israelâs 38-year old occupation of the Palestinian territory, Indian media reports said. âNobody can stop us from migrating to our holy land,â Rebecca, a young hairdresser in Aizawl, capital of mainly Christian Mizoram, told AFP. âThe evacuation issue in the Gaza Strip will not scare us,â added Rebecca, who uses just one name.
âThe happenings in Israel have no relation to the process of migration of people from here to their Promised Land,â said Rabbi Hannoch Avizedek, an Israeli preacher and representative of the Chief Rabbinate in the northeast. âA small group of people from Mizoram are all set to leave for Israel next month,â he said but declined to disclose numbers.
âWe are praying for all our people in the Gaza area,â said Peer Tlau, a Mizo tribal Jew. âAll the Jews from Mizoram and Manipur are reported to be safe. Some of them were put up in hotels in Jerusalem or in other temporary shelters elsewhere after being evicted from Gaza,â Rabbi Avizedek told AFP.
The Chief Rabbi of the Sephardic Jews, Shlomo Amar, announced in Jerusalem in March that members of the 6,000-strong Bnei Menashe tribe in Mizoram and Manipur were descendants of ancient Israelites or one of the Biblical 10 âLost Tribes.â The recognition by Israel followed applications from locals here seeking to migrate to Israel, which they see as their right to return to their promised land.
A majority of the Jews in both Mizoram and Manipur were Christian by birth and later started practising Judaism. Hundreds of Jews in Mizoram and Manipur were soon to take a holy dip at a âmikvahâ or ritual bath, considered mandatory and the final step towards becoming a complete Jew for any convert. âThe mikvah is nearing completion and probably by end of September the holy bath will begin. We are all waiting eagerly to perform the ritual,â said Jeremia Hnamte, a tribal businessman in Aizawl.
Apart from names, the tribals share many practices in common with traditional Jews -- such as keeping mezuzahs or parchment inscribed with verses of the Torah at the entrance to their homes. The men wear a kippa during prayers. |