Stars of David on the sign of the synagogue of Sevet Menashe in Mizoram. Photo and original text from the documentary film "Legends of the Lost Tribes" (aranpa.com) courtesy of Aran Patinkin, my good friend, who directed the film."The Mizo Tribe [also known as the Shin-long Tribe] lives in the mountains between India and Burma, a million and a half tribes-people who believe they are the Lost Tribe of Manasseh and worship its God…
The Mizo people have their own version of the legend of the wandering Jew. After the Exile, they say, the tribe of Manasseh settled in Persia. They were later banished to Afghanistan, Tibet and China. When the Chinese tried to enslave them, they fled to mountain caves.
03:04:00 At some point in the haze of time, our heroes migrated to the Mizoram region, where they live to this day, still longing to complete their own Exodus…
Today, most members of the Mizo tribe see themselves as Christians, yet there are many Hebrew symbols in their original tribal religion. The leader of each village is a priest and his name is always Aaron.
Their religion includes a practice long removed from the Jewish ritual world--animal sacrifices. Their altar resembles that of the Hebrew Temple, yet there is one major difference: the tribes-people primarily sacrifice pigs...
Several hundred townspeople converted to Judaism under the guidance of Rabbi Avihail of Israel. Unlike the rest of the tribe, whose Hebraism is mingled with Christian and other influences, the converted group is a genuine Jewish community…
Members of the Jewish community recreated the Sabbath rituals during the week because filming would violate the holy day of rest. They long for contact with the outside Jewish world to obtain guidance in observing the Torah laws…
The Mizo tried to establish contact with the State of Israel from the moment they heard of its creation. One day in the early 1950s, someone read a newspaper article reporting that Ben Gurion’s speech “shook the Knesset to the core.” They thought that the Parliament building actually trembled, and wrote a concerned letter to the Israeli Consul. This was their first contact with the Jewish State…
Like a distant memory, the tribe nurtured its legend. The final seal of approval was provided by Rabbi Avihail, who did not rule out the possibility that the Mizo could belong to the tribe of Manasseh. The tribes-people seized on his statement as rabbinic validation of their belief…
Just before Passover, thirty members of the community moved to Israel, their age-old dream fulfilled at last. The new immigrants are welcomed by relatives already living in Israel. (Caravan Neighborhood for New Immigrants)
A legend that began in a ramshackle hut at one end of the world leads us to an immigrant’s caravan in southern Israel.
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