Israel
Lost Tribe of Manassah Returns Home
By Chris Mitchell
CBN News
CWNews.com
–-JERUSALEM- One of the great mysteries of ancient history has been the fate of the lost tribes of Israel.
Now the Israeli government, with the help of Jewish organizations, believes it has found members of the lost Tribe of Manasseh, today called Bnei Menashe.
CBN watched as members of the long lost tribe returned to the Promised Land.
Recently they joined with family members who had already immigrated to Israel for a tearful and emotional reunion at Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport.
One group of Jews was part of the largest group in the tribe's history -218 - to return from India and resettle in the land of Israel.
"Today is one of the happiest days for the Bnei Menashe history because we never had a large group like this that made aliyah," said one tribe member.
One Jewish organization believes the Tribe of Manasseh is located in northeastern India in the states of Mizoram and Manipur.
"We are convinced that they are Jewish and they are from the tribe of Bnei Menashe. It's our duty to bring them, so we do that," said Eli Izhaki of the Jewish Agency.
The flight from India to Israel lasted only seven hours. But the arrival of the Bnei Menashe has been a journey nearly 3,000 years in the making.
"I think what's happening today is nothing less than a miracle of Biblical and historic proportions," said Michael Freund, chairman of Shavai Israel, an organization dedicated to bringing lost Jews back to Israel.
Freund said, "Twenty-seven centuries after the tribe of Menashe was exiled from the land of Israel, their descendents are coming home. This is the fulfillment of everything the prophets foretold. God promised us in the Book of Isaiah that with great, vast mercy shall I gather you in and that's what we're seeing."
For many of these Bnei Menashe, coming to Israel is a life long dream.
When CBN News asked one Bnei Menashe how long he had been waiting to go to Israel, he said, "A long time…since childhood."
Seven thousand Bnei Menashe remain in India and hope to come to Israel.
In the meantime, these members of the Tribe of Manasseh will start making the adjustment to a new life in Israel. They are the latest Jews to fulfill what the prophets foretold thousands of years ago: The ingathering of the exiles.
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