Another 50 Bnei Menashe from India Make Aliyah to Israel

Organizers hail this as a ‘modern-day miracle’ in bringing exiled Jews home as the total number of Bnei Menashe so far to make Aliyah in 2014 reaches a record high of 500.

By Tova Dvorin

 

Fifty Bnei Menashe immigrants made Aliyah from India to Israel on Tuesday, bringing the total number of community members to make Aliyah in 2014 to 500 – the most ever.

Bnei Menashe arrive in Israel

Bnei Menashe arrive in Israel – Photo: Shavei Israel

Another 200 are slated to arrive by the end of November.

The Bnei Menashe claim descent from the tribe of Menashe (or Manasseh), one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel which were exiled by the Assyrian empire after the death of King Solomon more than 2,700 years ago.

The immigrants were brought to Israel by Shavei Israel, which received permission from the Israeli government last October to bring 900 Bnei Menashe to the Jewish state by 2015.

On Tuesday, Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund thanked the Israeli government for bringing the Bnei Menashe home, calling the mass aliyah a “modern-day miracle.”

“The return of the Lost Tribe of Bnei Menashe to Zion after 2,700 years of exile is a modern-day miracle,” Freund stated. “It is a testament to the determination and resolve of the people of Israel to come home again.”

“At a time such as this, when the Jewish state finds itself under increasing pressure from the international community, it is comforting to see that G-d continues to gather His flock, bringing back those who were once deemed to be lost,” he continued. “We are grateful to Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman and Absorption Minister Sofa Landver for their support of the Bnei Menashe Aliya, and in the coming weeks, Shavei Israel will be bringing another 200 Bnei Menashe immigrants to Israel.”

“There are still another 7,000 Bnei Menashe in India waiting to come and I am determined to do everything I can to bring them here as well.”

 

View original Arutz Sheva publication at: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/187009#.VFi3zsmLUYA