Over the past several weeks, in preparation for my trip to India with a group of tourists from Shai Bar Ilan tours and Eretz Ahuvati, I have been researching not only the Bnei Menashe of North East India, but also the Jewish history that I never really learned as a child. I kind of always knew that once, many years ago, there were 12 Jewish tribes, and that they fought amongst themselves, split up into two kingdoms, and ten were conquered in war, sent into exile and were lost to the world.
The two Jewish tribes that were left in Israel were expelled into the Diaspora after the Roman conquest. Ever since then the Jews, that is, the descendants of the two remaining tribes of Judah and Binyamin, were always wondering what became of their lost brethren. In their Diaspora, the Jews always felt persecuted, vulnerable and lonely. The thought that there were ten tribes of Israelites out there in the world somewhere was always comforting to them in their darkest hours. But alas, the hope that their long lost Hebrew brothers would ride in like cavalry through the mist to deliver them from marauders and murderers never materialized. After swimming in all this information for a few weeks, I had this amazing dream: Continue reading
