It Was All in the Cards For the B’nei Menashe of Tiberias

(September 3) It began with a simple phone call from Tiberias. “This is Yoel Lupheng,” the caller said. “I’m calling for all of us B’nei Menashe in this city. The holidays are coming up and we haven’t forgotten the help you gave us at this time a year ago. We could really use it this year, too. Will you be coming again?”

I honestly didn't know what to say. What with a scholarship program for young B’nei Menashe in Israel, food relief in Mizoram and Manipur, another educational program in the offing, and still more things, Degel Menashe’s budget was stretched tight. I turned to my wife Jessica who serves on the board of KeepOlim, a non-profit organization that seeks to assist new immigrants in Israel, and asked if anything could be done on such short notice.

Jessica went to work immediately and phoned Liami Lawrence, the CEO of KeepOlim. As luck would have it, Liami wasn’t in Israel. For the first time in two years he had left it to visit his mother in Florida, whom he had been kept from seeing by the Covid pandemic.

Anyone who knows Liami, though, knows that a small distance of 10,000 miles is nothing to faze him. In no time he was on the phone with his colleague Tzvika Graiver, a lawyer and co-founder of KeepOlim, and by the end of the day he had gotten back to Jessica with the news that KeepOlim would come up with the funds.

We contacted Yoel and asked him to draw up a list of B’nei Menashe families in Tiberias who were in need of assistance. Then we set about figuring out how much we should give each needy family. Next we told Tzvika how much this was. He handed me a check and told me to bring it to an agent who issues voucher cards on behalf of the Rami Levi supermarket chain. The agent said the cards would be ready the next day.

But the next day, the voucher cards weren’t ready. It was August 30 and Rosh Hashana was now only a week away. The agent solemnly promised that they would be ready on the 31st. Jessica informed her job that she would be taking the day off and we made plans to travel to Tiberias from our home in Ramla for a ceremony.

On the 31st, I phoned the agent. Still no voucher cards! Jessica couldn’t change the day. I called the agent again and said I must have the cards by evening. “Come before we close at seven,” I was told. I did – and the vouchers were ready!

The next day Jessica and I drove up to Tiberias, where we headed for the Kehillat Menashe synagogue and arrived just in time for the Mincha prayer with its month-of-Elul slichot. The B’nei Menashe community of Tiberias was waiting for us there, as were Susan Cohen and her husband Neville.

The B’nei Menashe of Tiberias. Susan Cohen and Jessica Thangjom (with a child in lap) are in the center.

Susan, herself a recent immigrant from England, is a board member of KeepOlim and director of its Mental Health Program. A psychologist by profession, she has volunteered countless hours of her time to help olim with their problems, especially lone immigrant soldiers.

After a few words from Jessica and Susan, the voucher cards, each worth IS300, were presented to 39 families in a package that included pastries that Susan had bought.

Susan Cohen handing out pastry package.

“We’re deeply grateful for your responding on such short notice,” Yoel Lupheng said in the name of the community. “Though most of us have been in Israel for three or four years, we’re still basically new immigrants and are struggling to make ends meet. Often, we’re made to feel that nobody really cares about us. It means a great deal to know that you do.”

His words were echoed by others. “The holidays are a time of joy,” said Shmuel Lhanghal, “but they also mean extra expenses for food, gifts for children, and so on. Most of us work at low-paying jobs because we don’t have the Hebrew language skills for better ones. We take whatever is offered us. At a time like this, any help we can get comes in handy!”

And Aharon Chongloi, the synagogue’s spiritual leader, added:

“This is the second time you’ve come to us bearing gifts. We ‘re a small community trying our keep our heads above water. I can only say thank you to KeepOlim and Degel Menashe for pitching in.”

Yitzhak Thangjom

Executive Director

Degel Menashe

Degel Menashe Announces 2021-22 Scholarships

(September 3) Degel Menashe announced this week its third annual round of academic and vocational scholarships. Applications for the scholarships will be accepted from now until October 1.

As stated in the announcement, which was issued by the scholarship program’s director and Degel Menashe board member Batel Rently, any member of the B’nei Menashe community, or child to at least one B’nei Menashe parent, will be eligible for the grants on the condition that he or she is enrolled in a recognized academic program or a vocational course of at least 12 months’ duration.

Applicants will be required to present evidence of their enrollment in an academic or professional program for the year 2021-22; a statement of its tuition fees; and a personal letter explaining the nature and purpose of their studies. If on an academic track, they will have to commit themselves to 12 hours of service to the B’nei Menashe community in the course of the year. For those on a vocational track, the requirement will be six hours.

Applications should be sent to rentlyb@gmail.com. Applicants with questions are invited to address them either to Batel, at telephone number 054-440-8393,or to Degel Menashe’s executive director Yitzhak Thangjom, at 054-6707-853

Degel Menashe Food Relief Campaign Continues

(August 27) As rigorous Covid19 lockdown restrictions in Manipur and Mizoram have been relaxed only slightly despite a significant decrease in daily cases of the illness in late August, Degel Menashe has launched a new round of food relief this week for the B’nei Menashe communities of both states. The food comes just in time for Rosh Hashana and Sukkot.

Our correspondent in Manipur writes:

“There has been great anticipation of the aid arriving right before the High Holidays. There couldn’t have been a better time for it. Moreover, compared with Degel Menashe’s previous food campaign in Manipur in the summer of the 2020, the aid money will go further this time. Then, the market was in chaos, with prices of essentials shooting up in the panic that followed the first lockdown, and the blackmarketeers were having a field day and overcharging for everything. Now, the government has taken measures to control prices and we expect the cost of rice, our daily staple, to drop by as much as a third.”

The food relief campaign in Manipur will be administered by the B’nei Menashe Council, whose executive board met recently to plan the operation. As opposed to last year, when food was distributed at central depots, generally local synagogues, a voucher system will be used. Local suppliers, our correspondent reports, will be designated in each area, and families will pick up their allotments from them directly and have their purchases charged to the BMC. A BMC team will make the rounds of the suppliers to make sure the system is functioning smoothly.

Presided over by its chairman Lalam Hangshing, the BMC’s Manipur executive plans food relief.

In Mizoram, where a similar system was employed earlier this summer, it is being resorted to again. This time, our Mizoram correspondent writes, a greater effort has been made to expand the operation beyond the capital of Aizawl, located in the north-central part of the state, where most of its B’nei Menashe reside. Food aid will be available as far south as the town of Pukpui in the Lunglei district, whose B’nei Menashe community has been isolated from such campaigns in the past.

“It’s hard for me to express my feelings,” Pukpui resident Merabi Khupchawng told our correspondent. “This is the first time that we’re receiving any outside attention or assistance from anyone.” To which her fellow townsman, Benjamin Fanai, added: “May the aid organized by Degel Menashe for Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot be to the eternal merit of all those who are making it possible. May we all be sealed in the Book of Life!”

A B’nei Menashe family with its food aid.