Christians wary of ‘Jewish’ affinity in Mizoram, Manipur

Aizawl – The Christian community of the north–eastern states of Manipur and Mizoram have woken up to a potent threat – the growing affinity of the local community towards Judaism – and are preparing to launch a campaign against it.

Of late, several Mizos and Kukis (a tribe of Manipur) have shown keen interest towards Judaism. But what worries the Christian community the most, are the news reports that a team of Rabbis (Jewish religious teachers) from Israel would soon land in the region to conduct mass conversions.

“Such mass conversion of people from Christianity to Judaism will destroy the social fabric of both the tribes. It is the need of the hour that we launch a social movement against any such move,” said Dr. P C Biaksiama of the Christian Research Centre in Aizawl.

Although almost all Mizos, who earlier practised indigenous faiths, embraced Christianity by mid 1940s, some of them in early 1970s noticed that many of their traditional customs and rituals matched with those of the Jews. This made them believe that their ancestors had been Jews and lived in Israel.

Their belief was later endorsed by Rabbi Eliahu Avichail, an eminent religious leader of Israel, who had set up Amishav, an organization based in Jerusalem, to trace and help the descendants of Israel’s 10 Lost Tribes to return to the “Holy Land”, a right that the Constitution of Israel has granted to every Jew.

According to the Amishav, now known as ‘Shavei Israel’, the Mizos and Kukis are descendants of the ‘Tribe of Manasseh’, which along with nine other tribes had been exiled from Israel’s northern kingdom after the Assyrian invasion in 721 BC.

Nearly 7,000 Mizos and Kukis have so far returned to Judaism. They call themselves ‘Bnei Menashe’ or the ‘Sons of Manasseh’. The Amishav has helped nearly 800 of them migrate to Israel. The process was stopped in 2003, as the Interior Ministry of the Government of Israel had doubts over the Bnei Menashes’ claim of Jewish descent.

However, recently one of Israel’s chief Rabbis has announced the 6000–strong community of Bnei Menashe tribe as lost descendants of ancient Israel, thereby easing the tribe’s emigration to Israel from the states of Manipur and Mizoram.

The decision of Shlomo Amar, the chief Rabbi of the Sephardic Jews was welcomed by the Bnei Menashe members who now feel that their dream of going and settling in the “promised land” would be fulfilled.

According to news reports, the chief Rabbi is now planning to formally convert the Bnei Menashe members to Orthodox Judaism. The ruling has come after “detailed investigations” lasting several years.

However, Dr. Biaksiama and Rev. Chuauthuama of the Aizawl Theological College say that the claim of the Jewish descent of the Mizos and the Kukis are not based on any historical or anthropological facts. “There may be some similarities between the customs of any two communities of the world. Some customs of the Mizos may resemble those of the Israelites. But that doesn’t mean that our ancestors were Israelites and Jews,” Rev. Chuauthauma said.

“The Church has never been convinced with what they (Bnei Menashes) say. They have never been taken seriously. Theirs is a small community, at least till now,” said Rev. Colney of the Mizoram Presbyterian Church Synod.

Nonetheless, the Christian leaders have become wary of this ‘Judaism’ threat and wants the Centre and state government to take action against the “religious and cultural invasion.”

“The mass conversion by foreign priests will pose a threat not only to social stability in the region, but also to national security. A large number of people will forsake loyalty to the Union of India, as they all will become eligible for a foreign citizenship,” Rev. Colney said.