281 Mizoram B’nei Menashe Say: No Longer, Not In Our Name!

(August 19) 281 B’nei Menashe from Mizoram have sent a petition to The Jewish Agency and Israel’s Ministry of Immigration and Absorption, calling on these two bodies to free them from the tyranny of Shavei Israel and its monopolistic control of their Aliyah.

The petition was emailed from Mizoram’s capital of Aizawl on August 18. It reads in full:

“We, the undersigned 281 members of the B’nei Menashe community of Mizoram, declare our complete lack of trust in the Shavei Israel organization and demand an end to its stranglehold on our Aliyah. For the past two decades, it has cynically exploited our community and our dream of living in the Land of Israel to further its own enrichment and power. We say: No longer, not in our name!

“We accuse Shavei Israel of the following:

“Introducing rank nepotism and favoritism into the process of our Aliyah, the candidates for which have been selected on the basis of their obedience to Shavei and their family connections;

“Deliberately separating families in drawing up Aliyah lists – children from parents, brothers and sisters from each other – so that it can say to those left behind, “Toe the line and do our bidding if you wish to be reunited with those you love”;

“Using its control of our Aliyah as a stick with which to browbeat us into submission, to the point that a sincere commitment to Judaism and its belief in the Almighty and His Torah have been replaced among us by the fear of Shavei Israel’s leaders;

“Dictating to us where and how to pray and denying us the right to worship in synagogues of our own choosing, even when this has meant leaving some of us with no accessible places of worship at all;

“Subverting and destroying all independent organizations that we have tried to create, so that here in Mizoram it has become practically impossible to take a breath without Shavei Israel’s express permission;

“Seeking to expel from our community’s ranks whoever does not swear fealty to Shavei Israel, with the result that hundreds of us in Mizoram have been struck from its rosters, no longer exist in its eyes, and have lost all hope of ever making Aliyah.

“Shavei Israel’s rule over us has had devastating consequences for our community. It is for this reason that the recent news that the Jewish Agency has decided to assume responsibility for our Aliyah filled our hearts with joy. However, given our bitter experience over the last two decades with Shavei Israel, we are convinced that as long as it continues to play a major role in the Aliyah process, we who have refused to obey its dictates stand little chance of returning to the land of our forefathers. We hope this petition will cause you to consider our plight in the democratic traditions of the state of Israel. For too long we have gone without a voice, not because we did not have one but because it was silenced and ignored. We ask you to ignore it no longer.”

The petition was sent by “The Mizoram B’nei Menashe Congregation Committee,” an ad hoc body. “Since Shavei Israel has eliminated all B’nei Menashe organizations in Mizoram except for itself,” one of the petition’s framers told our Newsletter, “we had to give our group a name. It emerged from informal discussions that took place over a period of months among a number of like-minded people in Mizoram. We were motivated by a common feeling that The Jewish Agency was showing no signs of keeping last spring’s agreement between it and Shavei Israel, which we were told would involve its supervising Shavei’s administration of the Aliyah process. We had the sense that we had been misled and that Shavei was continuing to be one hundred percent in control of the process.”

The petition’s framers did not actively campaign for signatories. Those who signed it, our source said, “heard about us by word-of-mouth and came to us of their own accord to offer their support. It was truly a grassroots phenomenon.” This could not have happened, the source went on, half-a-year ago, when “a similar petition was framed in Manipur and only 60 Mizoram B’nei Menashe asked to sign it. There was almost universal fear then of Shavei and its punitive character. Now, the number of those wanting to sign has grown nearly fivefold. Many more people have the courage to stand up to Shavei. They’ve crossed the mental Rubicon of subservience to it.”

The signers and their families represent roughly thirty percent of Mizoram’s B’nei Menashe population. Asked whether active canvassing on the committee’s part would have resulted in many more signatories, our source was doubtful. “There’s still a lot of fear,” was the answer. “Although most people have deeply held grievances against Shavei, those who didn’t approach us because they still are frightened would not have been likely to change their minds had we approached them.”

The petition framers’ main difficulty was paring down the initially lengthy document that they composed to the essentials of a final draft. “Our first draft,” our source related, “was an amalgamation of many voices. Each member of the committee was eager to include in it the injustices committed by Shavei that he or she knew of, and we ended up with a very long list of complaints. It was a powerful indictment, but it wasn’t the kind of document that you could expect to be read by a high official. There were numerous details that we had to cut out in order to concentrate on the main points.

“For instance: all ordinary B’nei Menashe in Mizoram are told that unless they report regularly for the evening classes organized by Shavei Israel, where strict attendance lists are kept, they stand no chance of being chosen for Aliya, and many hard-working families that struggle to make ends meet are forced to go to these lectures even though they are bone-weary by the end of the day. Yet everyone in Mizoram knows of B”nei Menashe who have barely set foot in the classroom but have been selected for Aliyah anyway because they were Shavei’s lackeys. While there was mention of this in our petition’s first draft, it didn’t survive to the final one.

“Or to take another example. Because so many B’nei Menashe in Mizoram have been ostracized by Shavei for not accepting its dictates, Shavei’s estimates of the state’s B’nei Menashe population has been unrealistically low, thus underrepresenting us in the joint Manipur-Mizoram Aliyah lists. Last winter, speaking to a group of new B’nei Menashe immigrants from Mizoram at the Nordiya absorption center in Israel, Shavei’s director Tsvi Khaute told them there were only 300 of their brethren left behind, when the real number is at least triple that. This, too, was something that did not make it through to the petition’s final draft. Neither did many other similar details.”

The petition’s signers are now awaiting a response from The Jewish Agency and the Ministry of Immigration. And they, too, are no entirely free from fear. They have requested that their names remain confidential, lest Shavei Israel take retaliatory measures against them.

A Letter From Mizoram

(August12) This past Shabbat, shortly after Bethyah Vuite, a widowed member of Aizawl’s B’nei Menashe community, sat down for evening Kiddush with her only daughter, neighbors sounded an alarm that the upper floor of her house had caught fire. Although mother and daughter were able to keep the fire from spreading to the kitchen downstairs, it was too late to save any of their belongings or documents in the top-floor rooms and they watched in horror as the fire, apparently caused by a short circuit, consumed their earthly belongings.

Bethyah, a government employee, is a regular attendee of a synagogue in Aizawl. Like most people in Mizoram, she had no insurance. Most of the week following the fire was spent by her filing papers with the municipal authorities to record her loss. Once this task is completed, she will face the daunting prospect of getting all her personal documents reissued.

Besides their clothing and valuables, Bethyah and her daughter lost all their Jewish ritual objects and religious books.

Bethyah Vuite and her daughter.

Grieving her the most was the burned prayer book, the Siddur, that she had regularly prayed from. For the time being, she has been given an old, battered replacement prayer book that had lain unused in a friend’s house. “I know that the Siddur I’m holding is a Jewish prayer book,” she says, “but I can’t get myself to feel at home with it. The words just don’t seem the same.”

It’s not just in Bethyah’s imagination. Not all of the words are the same. The replacement prayer book given her is an Ashkenazi one dating from the early years when the Bnei Menashe first rediscovered their Jewish roots and adopted the Ashkenazi rite under the tutelage of Rabbi Eliyahu Avichayil, who came regularly from Israel in the 1980s and ‘90s to teach them the ways of rabbinic Judaism.

In the early 2000s, however, when Shavei Israel pushed Avichayil and his organization Amishav out and took control of the B’nei Menashe community, it sought to underline the change by introducing the Sefardi Siddur and its rite while strictly proscribing Ashkenazi practices. B’nei Menashe who defiantly clung to them were banned from Shavei-controlled synagogues and denied Aliyah, and as a result, most Bnei Menashe have come to think of the Sefardi liturgy as the only acceptable one for praying to God in. “Although I’m glad that I at least have an Ashkenazi Siddur now,” Bethyah says, “I won’t feel at peace until I obtain a Sefardi one. Some of my friends in Israel have promised to send me one, but given the current pandemic restrictions, I won’t be receiving it anytime soon.”

Yet all in all, she sounds a note of gratitude: “I’m thankful to God,” she tells her comforters, “that my daughter and I weren’t physically harmed.” And she is touched by the expressions of solidarity she has received. “I’m really embarrassed,” she says, “by how so many of my fellow B’nei Menashe, people I don’t even know, have reached out in support. Although I understand that this is an expression of ahavat chinam [unconditional love for one’s Jewish brethren], I can’t help but feel that I don’t deserve it all. May we always remain united by the same kind of love.”

Though the Aizawl community has shown its warmth and concern for Bethyah and her daughter, its economic condition right now is such that it cannot afford to give much more than moral support. [Editorial note: A collection for Batya and her daughter has been taken up by B’nei Menashe in Israel. Those wishing to contribute can do so by https://payboxapp.page.link/xtBAyzSL5Zxcrr4N7 ] Apart from the havoc wreaked on them by the long-term Covid lockdown restrictions that have been in force since shortly after Passover, Mizoram’s B’nei Menashe, along with other Mizos, have had to suffer the effects of the eruption of a long-simmering border dispute between Mizoram and its neighboring Indian state of Assam.

The dispute erupted in violence on July 26, when clashes near the northern Mizo town of Vairengte resulted in seven dead, six of them Assamese police, and 60 injured

The red and blue dots marks the disputed areas.

In retaliation, Assam, which serves as the primary lifeline for goods entering Mizoram, imposed an economic blockade that lasted for nearly two weeks and reduced the flow of daily essentials to a trickle. Fuel was strictly rationed, there were repeated electric blackouts, and the cost of basic products shot up. Earlier this week, the blockade was finally lifted, but the state is still under a lockdown.

The overall situation remains grim. Mizoram is a very close-knit and ethnically homogeneous society, and, when the pandemic broke out early last year, there was a flurry of philanthropic activity by grassroots organizations and charitable givers. Yet after a year of lockdowns and economic contraction, the givers have little left to give. Moreover, a budget shortfall has curtailed government welfare programs across the state.

In consequence, even middle class families have had to cut back drastically on their diets. Although the state government runs a monthly rationing program that allots a set amount of rice and pulses per family at a subsidized rate, these essentials are not free and are not affordable for everyone. This includes many B’nei Menashe, who are predominantly day laborers and are hard-pressed to pay such expenses as groceries, rent, school fees, and medicines. As it prepares for the High Holidays and the Jewish New Year, the community is beset by gloom.

One bright spot has been last month’s Degel Menashe food relief operation, which temporarily lifted the threat of hunger hanging over many families.

An Aizawl grocer prepares a Degel Menashe food package in July.

Although Shavei Israel has also promised aid, none has been forthcoming so far, and sentiment against Shavei, which has been growing in recent months because of numerous complaints regarding its allegedly unfair administration of B’nei Menashe Aliyah, has reached new heights. Many families that refused, under pressure from Shavei, to accept food from Degel Menashe in July have now changed their minds and are pinning their hopes on Degel Menashe’s offering to come to their aid once again

Degel Menashe Board Looks Back and Ahead

(August 5) Degel Menashe’s board of directors convened at the end of July for its semi-annual meeting, which was held by Zoom. In attendance were board chairman Hillel Halkin, Degel Menashe’s executive director Yitzhak Thangjom, and board members Sabra Minkus, Reuven Gal, Bat-El Rently, and Elkhanan Fanai.

Hillel Halkin

The meeting was opened by the board’s chairman, who spoke of his satisfaction with Degel Menashe’s accomplishments in its year-and-a-half of existence. “We have proven,” Halkin said, “that we are capable of carrying on a wide range of activities for the B’nei Menashe community.” With the continued help of the Jewish Federation of New Mexico and a large grant recently received from a charitable source that prefers to remain anonymous, Degel Menashe, Halkin stated, is now in a financial position to carry on with these activities and add to them.

Halkin also spoke about Degel Menashe’s campaign to break the monopoly on B’nei Menashe Aliyah granted until now to Shavei Israel and to put an end to the abuses this has led to. “Our intensive lobbying with the Ministry of Immigration and the Jewish Agency,” he said, “has resulted in the Agency’s entering into an agreement with Shavei whereby the two organizations will share joint responsibility for the Aliyah of the B’nei Menashe in the future. This is not all we had hoped for, which was to have the matter taken out of Shavei’s hands entirely. Yet if the Agency keeps its promise to monitor Shavei’s administration of Aliyah and ensure that it is fair and transparent from now on, we can consider it a victory. Our job will be to be the watchdog that barks when promises aren’t kept.”

Executive director Thangjom then gave a rundown of some of Degel Menashe’s activities in 2020-21.

Some of the major ones were:

Yitzhak Thangjom

• Four rounds of food relief to Covid-19-affected B’nei Menashe in Manipur and Mizoram. All in all, some 50 tons of rice, oil, pulses, and other essentials were distributed to nearly 1,000 needy families.

• A scholarship program for young B’nei Menashe in Israel who wish to pursue professional studies in an academic framework. To date, 19 grants totaling IS 80,000 have been awarded.

• A leadership training project under the direction of Dr. Reuven Gal, a prominent psychologist and Degel Menashe board member. Designed to prepare young B’nei Menashe for leadership roles in their community, the project kicked off with a workshop last spring and is slated to continue in collaboration with the Israeli Institute for Quality Leadership.

• An oral history project involving the interviewing and recording of the personal stories of dozens of elderly members of the B’nei Menashe community in Israel. Twelve of these interviews are soon to appear in a book called Lives of the Children of Manasia, put out by the Gefen Publishing House of Jerusalem.

• Hebrew education in India. In partnership with the B’nei Menache Council of Manipur, Degel Menashe opened a Hebrew school in Manipur’s second largest city of Churachandpur last May that had to be temporarily shut down because of Covid-19. It will be re-opened as soon the ending of the Covid lockdown permits. A similar school in Mizoram’s capital of Aizawl is also planned. Degel Menashe has been conducting talks with the Mumbai branch of ORT, the global Jewish education network, in regard to a possible partnership in both schools.

• Ties with the Indian embassy in Israel. Degel Menashe has developed an excellent relationship with the embassy and its top officials. The embassy has asked Degel Menashe to represent the B’nei Menashe in the planning of a year-long celebration of the 75th anniversary of India and Israel’s independence and of the close relations between the two countries. In addition, the embassy has offered Degel Menashe use of its new Indian Cultural Centre in Tel Aviv for the holding of B’nei Menashe cultural events.

• The Degel Menashe Website. Updated weekly to keep readers abreast of developments in the B’nei Menashe communities of India and Israel, our Website has over 1,000 regular subscribers and many more occasional visitors.

In the discussion that followed, board member Elkhanan Fanai suggested that Degel Menashe sponsor an annual B’nei Menashe sports and cultural heritage festival in Israel that would bring the scattered community together once a year and strengthen its identity and pride in itself. The idea met with unanimous approval and Elkhanan and Bat-El Rently were appointed to a committee that would further the idea.

Elkhanan Fanai

Bat-El Rently

At the meeting’s end, Hillel Halkin announced his decision to step down as board chairman at the end of this calendar year. Although, Halkin said, he would continue to be an active board member, he wished to cut back on his organizational commitments and make way for a younger leadership drawn from the B’nei Menashe community. Halkin recommended that Yitzhak Thangjom be chosen as his successor. “I’m confident,” he said, “that I’ll be passing on to him an organization in good shape that will continue to grow and expand in the years ahead.”