AIZAWL, Mizoram – The northern approach to the Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram state, is deeply deceptive. Driving in from the north just after sunset, we’re hit by what seems like a city with no electricity – none of the houses have lights on and there are no street lamps. With no life on the streets, it feels like we’re headed into a dark, doomed city, a city under lockdown where even the lights inside your home is off lest you be found out.

When it’s dark in a city and the lights in the homes are out, you think people don’t live there. Even Silchar, with its pandemonium and filth, still had a sense of life, light and sound.

Heading into Aizawl after 12 hours on the road and into the darkness still doesn’t dampen the spirits on our bus. I’ve never met a group of people with so much inner strength, nothing gets them down. They’re still telling jokes and singing. My nerves are completely shot and I’m ready to do anything to get off this bus. I’m on antibiotics and extremely drowsy. It’s only 5PM but with no life on the streets and no lights it feels like the middle of the night. Then, as if the whole approach to the city was one big charade, a prank played on first- time visitors, we turn a corner and discover that Aizawl is actually a magnificent mountain city with hundreds of thousands of yellow and white lights dotted like stars on a dozen slopes.

It’s more dazzling than flying over Jerusalem at night. In between many homes there are alleyways with steep steps that make those in Safed look like Lego staircases. There are literally hundreds of thousands of homes that stretch from the top of the ridge to the valleys below on either side, all with their lights on, and there are thousands of cars and people on the bustling streets. Our long journey is not over though, as the hotel we’re staying at has been vacated [as have all the others in the city] by the entourage of the Indian Prime Minister, who is visiting Aizawl today to campaign ahead of general elections. With several of the main roads closed due to security for the PM’s visit, we’re forced into a horrible traffic jam through the center of town, which takes up another 2 hours. We’re headed to a Mizoram tourist lodge which has been commandeered for us by the local Shavei Israel Bnei Menashe community.

To prepare kosher food at the lodge, the community bought all new utensils and spent hours preparing a great meal for us. As we walk off the bus and into the lodge’s courtyard, weary after a brutal journey, we are greeted by almost 100 members of the local community, some in traditional Mizo tribal attire. And even though we’re all dead tired, Rabbi Porush is the first into the courtyard and the first to start signing and thanking our hosts for the warm welcome. This man is a force of nature. Am Yisrael Chai, Shevet Achim gam yachad – all the usual songs recharge our batteries. A group of Bnei Menashe girls sing Sarit Hadad’s hit Shema Israel Elokhai, in Hebrew. It’s the first time we’ve heard any of them sing a popular Israeli hit, and not just a classic Jewish song. And the reason quickly reveals itself: I notice there are two Israeli girls here, mouthing the words as the Bnei Menashe choir sings.

Later they join the Bnei Menashe girls for another song, and the Israeli girls are playing a guitar and flute respectively. Talking later to Ruth [from Beit El] and Haleli [from Jerusalem], I discover that they’re both traveling in India togetherhaving just finished their national service. They’ve been in India for three months, and since they had Bnei Menashe friends back in Israel, they thought it would be a good idea to wind up their India trip with a visit to a community in the north east. This raises an interesting possibility: could the existence and expansion of the Bnei Menashe communities in India attract Israelis to come and volunteer at their centers, or just visit them, like many Israelis visit Chabad centers worldwide?

I think that could actually be a positive development, as right now it seems that the Bnei Menashe here are only exposed to Orthodox religious people, either through Shavei Israel or Amishav. Even though Ruth and Haleli are religious girls, they’re still a big difference from the Orthodox rabbis that have been visiting with the Bnei Menashe in the past. They’re young, open-minded and energetic and can show the Bnei Menashe a side of Israel that has not been revealed to them. Besides young people like Ruth and Haleli, there are thousands of other Israelis traveling in India. At any given time, there are at least 10,000 Israelis in India.

Whilst some of them wouldn’t care much for the Bnei Menashe story and might even be a negative influence, there must be many who, if they knew about these communities, could come and visit and infuse the Bnei Menashe with some contemporary, secular Israeli culture. Perhaps teach them some new songs, not that there’s anything wrong with Am Yisrael Chai, but how much of that one can they sing if and when they make aliyah?

Imagine, the Bnei Menashe centers full with regular Israelis doing the whole India trip thing and dropping in to visit their lost tribes-people. It would be beneficial for both groups I think, and the Bnei Menashe could learn a few things about Israel they were never exposed to. And for the Israeli travelers, what better than to do kind deeds for the Bnei Menashe, visit their synagogues, establish friendships, teach them backgammon. The Bnei Menashe, being like other people in this region, seem to be moderate, friendly, and somewhat impressionable people.

The fact that Orthodox religious Zionists got to them first is to their credit – they identified the need and filled the vacuum. That doesn’t mean that other sectors of Israeli society can’t now get involved and embrace these communities, if that’s good for everyone.