asean.org

moviethesunrise.com

bneimenashe.com/history.html

shavei.org/communities/bnei-menashe

Carol Green Berger: I like this!

Zig Ziegler: I'm guessing Philippines?

Zig Ziegler: Malaysia?

ציפורה מנדז: And Eretz Israel loves you too!!!

A Min Qhs: We are not Philipines, we are Bnei Menashe. Toda rabba ציפורה

Bechthold Ester: ✡ "Next Year in Jerusalem!"

Francis Xavier: i love too

Adrian Lerner: perfect picture of bnei menashe community

Jose Carlos Fdez Rguez: The most proud Jews.

Avraham Haokip: Pa uthangboi wow what a great pix

Eddo Ngohphut Touthang: i too love aretz israel khikhikhi...brukhim abaim kol hamispakha sheli bnei menasheh..

Pedro Aquilar: I love ERETZ ISRAEL

Yerusha Levi Horn: noble people

קרלוס ולחינוך הרננדז: Shalom.

Stephen Epstein: Some (B'nei Menashe) went down the Mekong River into Vietnam, the Philippines, Siam, Thailand and Malaysia, while some of the Israelites moved to Burma and west to India.

Yonathan Haokip: Kippah in my head and a Tallit waiving down. This is the only way to be distinct from identity crisis we have here with the Thailandis and Phillipines.|

Shavei Israel: Tzvi Kaute charged that the government’s policy stems from the fact that he and his fellow Bnei Menashe look like Filipinos.

Ron Csillag: Shimon Gante has been mistaken as Filipino, Japanese, native Hawaiian, and a kung fu master. "If someone met me on the street, they would never think I'm Indian," he says with a shrug. "You learn to take everything in stride."

Esther Colney: While still living in India we wanted badly to return to Israel. As far as we were concerned, we considered ourselves Jews from all aspects, but when we arrived in Israel things were different. We were considered Indian, which is funny because I never saw myself as Indian in India. I saw myself as the daughter of Menashe, as a Jew… People mistook us for Filipinos, for Thais or for Chinese workers. I felt that no one considered me as Jewish in Israel.

Yitzhak: We were often told we didn’t look Jewish and we didn’t quite understand what it meant to "look" like one. We felt like outsiders in India because of our looks. In Israel, we get mistaken for Filipinos and Chinese.

Yonathan Haokip: Most youngsters may refused to ignore putting a kipah on their head even if they are not really religious. Because that differentiate us from a similar feature looking people - The Thais and the Filipinos.

In North East India, in the land mass that lies between Myanmar (formerly Burma) and Bangladesh, there lives a small group of people who have been practicing Judaism for more than 25 years. They have not taken on a "new" religion. These people, in fact, have returned to the religion of their ancestors. They call themselves Bnei Menashe, descendants of the Tribe of Menashe, one of the ten lost tribes.

The oral history of Bnei Menashe that was passed down for 2,700 years describes their escape from slavery in Assyria to Media/Persia. From there they moved on to Afghanistan, mostly through less-traveled areas, ever on the lookout for kings or powerful people who might drag them back to slavery. From Afghanistan they traveled toward Hindu-Kush and proceeded to Tibet, then to Kaifeng, reaching the Chinese city around 240 B.C.E.

The Bnei Menashe believe that while in China their ancestors were enslaved yet again. During their years there, large numbers of the Israelites were killed and their assimilation started. These events caused the Israelites to flee and live in caves. The group was expelled in 100 C.E. and their "leather scrolls" were confiscated and burned. At that point different groups went in various directions. Some went down the Mekong River into Vietnam, the Philippines, Siam, Thailand and Malaysia, while some of the Israelites moved to Burma and west to India. Till today, some people refer to these people as "Shinlung" the "cave dwellers."

Today, the descendants of those Israelites who settled in India and Burma have different names depending on where they live. Some are known as Shinlung, some Kuki, Mizo, Lushai or Mar.