Now, Church fights conversion as Mizos embrace Judaism

Pioneer, July 10, 2008

Alarmed at the prospect of hordes of Mizos embracing Judaism and deserting the Church for Jerusalem, Christian groups are believed to have lodged their protest with the Union Home Ministry and blocked the migration of Israel's lost tribe to the promised land.
Hundreds of newly-converted tribal Jews in Mizoram feel "devastated" after New Delhi refused them permission to migrate to Israel. The denial, the Jewish community leaders say, follows protests by Christian groups.

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Now, Church fights conversion as Mizos embrace Judaism

Syed Zarir Hussain | Aizawl

Alarmed at the prospect of hordes of Mizos embracing Judaism and deserting the Church for Jerusalem, Christian groups are believed to have lodged their protest with the Union Home Ministry and blocked the migration of Israel's lost tribe to the promised land.

Hundreds of newly-converted tribal Jews in Mizoram feel "devastated" after New Delhi refused them permission to migrate to Israel. The denial, the Jewish community leaders say, follows protests by Christian groups.

"We are shattered with the Indian Government rejecting our applications for migrating to Israel," Jeremia Hnamte, administrator of the Mizoram chapter of the Shavei Israel Organisation (SIO), said.

The SIO is a group headquartered in Jerusalem and dedicated to searching for lost tribes of Israel and helps them return to their Promised Land. Rabbinical leaders announced in 2006 that some 6,000 members of the Bnei Menashe tribe in India's North-East were descendants of ancient Israelites or one of the Biblical 10 lost tribes. The recognition from Israel came after tribe members sent scores of applications seeking to migrate to Israel, or the "Promised Land", saying it was their right to do so.

According to Israeli law, every Jew enjoys the "right of return" or the right of abode in the country. "We understand that a group of Christians lodged a formal protest with the Indian External Affairs and Home Ministry saying they should not allow Mizo Jews to migrate to Israel and stop conversions," Hnamte said.

"We are fighting for our right to migrate and hope to get a positive nod from the Indian Government soon." "There was tremendous pressure from the Church and the Mizoram Government on New Delhi to force Israel to ban the conversions," a community elder of the Bnei Menashe tribe said requesting anonymity.

Meanwhile, a group of about 200 Mizos were awaiting clearance from the Government after they were officially recognised as Jews.

After the recognition, a group of rabbis visited Mizoram last year and converted the batch of nearly 200 Mizo tribal people to Judaism after they took a holy dip at a mikvah or a ritual bath.

"The new converts are practising the religion perfectly. Once they are allowed to migrate to Israel, they will undergo a year-long course there to learn other aspects of Judaism at Government expense," Itzkhak Colney, a Jewish clergy, said.

Colney was a convert and migrated to Israel in 1997 and is now in Mizoram to help the locals here to preach Judaism and the Hebrew language among the Mizo Jews.

Some 1,000 people from Mizoram and neighbouring Manipur State have migrated to Israel since 1994 when a private body, the Amishav Association took up their case. The last batch of 218 Mizos left the North-East for Jerusalem in 2006.

Mizoram is a predominantly Christian State, while most Manipuris follow Hinduism. Most Jews in the two States were Christian by birth.

Apart from names, the converts share many practices in common with traditional Jews - such as keeping mezuzahs or parchment inscribed with verses of the Torah at the entrance to their homes. The men wear a kippah or headgear during prayers.

"I have no regrets at all to leave my birth place because Israel is our Promised Land. We are dying to leave," Peer Tlau, a practising Jew in Mizoram, said.

"A vast majority of the people do not know Hebrew although many of them are now earning the language and following the religion like the one practised in Israel," Zaitthangchungi, a local researcher and author of a book Israel Mizo Identity, said.

Letter to the Editor:

Church converts too
This has reference to Mr Syed Zarir Hussain’s report, “Now, Church fights conversion as Mizos embrace Judaism”, published on July 10.

I am surprised by the opposition of the Church in Mizoram to conversion of Mizos (born Christians) to Judaism while it is only too eager to convert Hindus to Christianity. This is transparently dishonest. But what is deplorable is that the Government of Mizoram, which should have been secular and neutral, is lending its support to the Church.

On the world scene, Christians constitute the largest section of humanity followed by Muslims. Jews do not constitute even one per cent of the world Christian population. The Church should have been liberal and gracious to Mizo Jews — after all, Jesus himself was a Jew — instead of being niggardly and reactively panicky.

One wonders why, the human rights busybodies, who are quick to jump to the aid of minorities, are silent on this issue. I, as a senior citizen, appeal to the Government of India, which prides itself as secular to recognise the rights of the Mizo Jews to migrate to Israel and facilitate their passage to their promised land.
SC Panda
Bhubaneswar