Dotted across villages on the slopes of mountains that make up the lower Himalayan ranges in northeast India, thousands of Indians are adopting and practicing Jewish traditions in the hope of one day officially converting to Judaism and immigrating to Israel. In the states of Mizoram, Assam, Manipur and Nagaland along the Burmese border, these Jews-in-waiting form a community that has come to be known as the Bnei Menashe – alleged descendants of the lost tribe of Manasseh that was exiled along with nine other Israelite tribes from Samaria when it was conquered by the Assyrians in 722 BCE.

Some 2,700 years later, the descendants of the tribe of Manasseh spend their weekends in dozens of synagogues, community centers and ritual baths in this remote region, thousands of miles away from present-day Samaria. Many of them pray three times a day, and there are children among them who can recite psalms and other prayers by heart. Continue reading →