Bnei Menashe

The Bnei Menashe (בני מנשה, "Children of Menasseh", known as the Shinlung in India) is a community of Indian Jews from various Tibeto-Burmese ethnic groups from the border of India and Burma who claim descent from one of the Lost Tribes of Israel; some of them have adopted Judaism. The community has around 10,000 members. The movement began in 1951 when a tribal leader reported having a dream that his people's ancient homeland was Israel; some tribal members began embracing the idea that they were Jews. Before the movement's start, the community was largely a Christian one. Members are from the Chin, Kuki, and Mizo ethnic groups amongst others. In the late 20th century, Israeli rabbi Eliyahu Avichail, of the group Amishav, named these people the "Bnei Menashe" based on their account of descent from Menasseh. In 2003–2004, DNA testing of several hundred male community members did not yield conclusive evidence of Middle Eastern ancestry. In 2005, a Kolkata-based study found evidence of maternally descended Near Eastern ancestry but suggested the findings were an artifact of thousands of years of intermarriage between peoples of the Near and Middle East. In the early 21st century, Israel halted immigration by the Bnei Menashe; after a change in government, the immigration was allowed again. The chief rabbi of Israel ruled in 2005 that the Bnei Menashe were recognized as part of a lost tribe. After undergoing the process for formal conversion, they will be allowed aliyah (immigration). In the time of the first temple, Israel was divided into two kingdoms. The southern one, known as the Kingdom of Judah, was made up mostly of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Shimon and Levi. Most Jews today are descended from the southern kingdom. The northern Kingdom of Israel was made up of the ten tribes (which include half of Levi). In approximately 721 B.C.E., the Assyrians invaded the northern kingdom, exiled the leading ~20% of the ten tribes living there, and enslaved them in Assyria (present-day Iraq).

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Who is a Jew?

"Who is a Jew?" (מיהו יהודי ˈmi(h)u je(h)uˈdi) is a basic question about Jewish identity and considerations of Jewish self-identification. The question pertains to ideas about Jewish personhood, which have cultural, ethnic, religious, political, genealogical, and personal dimensions. Orthodox Judaism and Conservative Judaism follow Jewish law (Halakha), deeming people to be Jewish if their mothers are Jewish or if they underwent a halakhic conversion.

Mizo people

The Mizo people (Mizo hnam) are a Tibeto-Burmese ethnic group native to the Indian state of Mizoram and neighbouring regions of Northeast India. They are related to the Zomi people and Chin people. The term Mizo covers several related ethnic groups or clans inside the Mizo group. The term Kuki, derived from Bengali, was used as a general classification in government records for the Zo ethnic groups who resided in the Lushai hills region. However, with the establishment of the state of Mizoram, the term Mizo became more widely recognized and used.

Chin people

The Chin people (, tɕɪ́ɰ̃ lù mjó) are an ethnic group native to the Chin State of Myanmar, and India's northeast states. Strictly speaking, the term "Chin" only refers to the 53 sub-tribes of the Chin ethnic group, divided and recognized by the Burmese government. They speak the Kuki-Chin-Mizo languages, which are often mutually unintelligible but are closely related. The Chin are one of the founding groups of the Union of Burma, along with the Shan, Kachin, and Burmese.

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