Bnei Menashe

The Bnei Menashe ('sons of Manasseh') are members of the Kuki, Chin and Mizo (Zo) peoples of Manipur and Mizoram in north-east India who believe they descend from the biblical tribe of Manasseh, exiled by the Assyrians in the 8th century BC. Their forebears were animists who became Christians through Welsh and other missionaries in the early 20th century; from the 1950s a Judaising movement, drawing on oral traditions about an ancestor called Manmasi, led some to keep the Sabbath and Jewish law. Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail's Amishav and later Michael Freund's Shavei Israel promoted their immigration, and Israel's Sephardi Chief Rabbi recognised them as descendants of Israel in 2005, conditional on full conversion. The claim of Israelite descent is contested and genetic studies have not confirmed it. Of about 10,000-11,000 Bnei Menashe, about 5,000 lived in Israel by 2025 and the rest in Churachandpur, Imphal and Aizawl; in November 2025 Israel decided to bring the remaining 5,800 by 2030. They speak Thadou-Kuki, Mizo and related languages, sometimes called Judeo-Zo, and Hebrew in Israel.

The Bnei Menashe keep Kuki-Zo clan identity (Haokip, Touthang, Hangkhal, Kipgen, Baite, Singson and others), close extended families, rice-based cooking, dress and songs, increasingly in Hebrew. In India their communities in Manipur and Mizoram run synagogues, Hebrew classes and Sabbath gatherings, and live among Christian Kuki and Mizo neighbours. In Israel young men serve in large numbers in combat units.

The Bnei Menashe practise Orthodox Judaism with a religious-Zionist outlook. In India they keep the Sabbath, kashrut and the festivals in their own synagogues, helped by Shavei Israel teachers; in Israel immigrants undergo formal conversion in absorption centres. The movement grew out of Christianity, and its members made a deliberate turn from Christian practice to Judaism.

The complete Bible is available in Mizo and Thadou-Kuki, and the Jesus Film and audio recordings exist in these languages; most Kuki and Mizo people are Christians, including relatives of the Bnei Menashe. Joining the Bnei Menashe meant leaving the church, and Israeli authorities screen candidates for Christian practice, so Christianity is seen as the community's past rather than an option. No Christian outreach to the community is known.

On 23 November 2025 Israel's government approved bringing the remaining c. 5,800 Bnei Menashe from Manipur and Mizoram by 2030 at a cost of about NIS 90 million. The first flight of the operation, run by the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration and the Jewish Agency, landed on 23 April 2026 with about 250 immigrants, who went to an absorption centre in Nof HaGalil; about 1,200 are expected by the end of 2026.