HOW SHAVEI ISRAEL HELPS "LOST" & "HIDDEN" JEWS WORLDWIDE & THEIR DESCENDANTS RECONNECT WITH ISRAEL! (956 hits)
For Immediate Release From Shavei Israel!
SPEEDY RECOVERY TO A BNEI MENASHE HERO
Yitzhak Chawngthu, 21 years old, is from from the Bnei Menashe community in Nof HaGalil. Yitzhak, the youngest of seven siblings, made aliyah in 2014 with his family, thanks to Shavei Israel.
A soldier in the 931st Nahal Battalion, Yitzhak fought in a tough battle in the Jabaliah refugee camp, and was hit by shrapnel from a grenade thrown at him by a terrorist who was killed on the spot. Yitzhak was wounded and after a brief hospitalization, was sent to recuperate at home in Nof Hagalil.
Yitzhak is determined to return to his friends at the front and continue to fight. Among the more than 200 Bnei Menashe soldiers, 62 of these warriors live in Nof Hagalil.
The Jewish people are going through an extremely difficult time now. But there are some special moments that bring some necessary light to our lives and the last night of Chanukah we had a huge simcha (joy) when our dear Moshe Samuel got married to Channah at the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem.
Moshe is a graduate of our Machon Milton, Shavei Israel’s English conversion to Judaism program. And Channah finished her conversion process in Israel recently.
Both have come from completely different places, Moshe is from India and Channah is from Holland. We had a huge pleasure to meet them and celebrate their wedding.
Our dear Rabbi Reuven Tradburks, director of Machon Milton was honored to light the candles of Chanukah before the chupah and said the first blessing for the Chatan (groom) and Kallah (bride).
As Rabbi Tradburks shared, “Moshe’s wedding was awash with different feelings for me. I felt humbled by the overwhelming strength of the people – specifically Moshe and his new wife Channah, but by many others, converts, at the wedding.
“Moshe and his mother Anne and their family are legendary. People of determination, single-minded in their desire to live Jewishly. Pure and powerful. Overcoming the isolation that living Jewishly in India creates. Pursuing their journey to Judaism in India without the aid of an embracing community. Though, through their charm and conviction, many wonderful Jews embraced them, encouraged them, studied with them and joined them in their journey.
“I feel, and perhaps others too, that we are occasionally pointed to from Above to be His shaliach, His messenger. These holy people are on a path to Judaism that requires teachers, rabbis, helpers, supporters. The Creator has many messengers. He Chose us to help Moshe and his family along their path. Moshe is now farther along his path. We were there, as messengers of the Divine, to move him along at one point to the next point. Oh, how fortunate we are to have been His messenger for one stop on the way of this holy journey.
“I told Anne, Moshe’s mother, that Moshe himself will now become a servant of the Jewish people, together with Channah. I am curious, impatient, to see what form his service of the Jewish people will take. And I am sure, absolutely sure, that just as some of us were smiled upon from Above to be Divine messengers in Moshe’s path, Moshe and
A DISPLACED CHILD CELEBRATES CHANUKAH UNDER DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES
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 all their community members of Beit Shalom, Sajal, abandoned their village on the fateful night of May 3, 2023 for their survival from the ethnic cleansing carried out by the Meitei community against the Kukis, where many B’nei Menashe lives were affected.
For the past seven months, until today, Ezra and his family have been and are among the displaced people taking shelter at the Shavei Israel Centre in Churachandpur. His father, Ronen Thangminlal, sadly died due to a heart attack in the relief camp, clearly under tremendous pressure and mental trauma, leaving his wife Batya and his two sons behind.
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 India were stunned by the horrific Palestinian terror attack that took place on Shemini Atzeret,” said Shavei Israel Founder and Chairman, Michael Freund. “They immediately organized special communal prayers and the recitation of Psalms on behalf of the people of Israel and those who were kidnapped. Many of the Bnei Menashe have family members serving in combat units in the IDF and they also offered special prayers for Divine protection for Israel’s soldiers as they confront the enemy”.
The Bnei Menashe, or sons of Manasseh, claim descent from one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, who were sent into exile by the Assyrian Empire more than 27 centuries ago. Their ancestors wandered through Central Asia and the Far East for centuries, before settling in what is now northeastern India, along the borders of Burma and Bangladesh.
