Bnei Menashe

E123499

Bnei Menashe are a community in Northeast India and Myanmar who practice Judaism and claim descent from one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Bnei Menashe canonical 2

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (47)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Jewish community
ethnoreligious group
minority group in India
minority group in Myanmar
aliyahFacilitatedBy Shavei Israel
aliyahTo Israel
surface form: State of Israel
associatedPeoples Chin people
Kuki people
Mizo people
citizenshipStatusInIsrael eligible for Israeli citizenship after conversion
collectiveNameMeaning "Children of Manasseh" in Hebrew
communityOrganizations local synagogues in Northeast India
controversy debate over historical authenticity of Lost Tribe claim
conversionRequirementInIsrael Orthodox Jewish conversion
culturalPractice maintenance of some local tribal customs
use of Hebrew prayers in worship
demographicTrend ongoing emigration to Israel
diasporaStatus Jewish diaspora community
educationFocus Hebrew language study
Torah and Jewish law study
ethnicOrigin Myanmar
Northeast India
governmentInteraction subject to immigration policies of Israel
historicalReligion Christianity among some subgroups
local animist traditions among some ancestors
identityComponent combination of tribal, regional, and Jewish identities
languageFamily Tibeto-Burman languages
mainIndianStates Manipur
Mizoram
migrationDestination Israel
modernReligiousTrend increasing adoption of normative Orthodox Judaism
populationEstimate several thousand people
primaryCountriesOfResidence India
Myanmar
recognizedBy some Israeli rabbinical authorities after conversion
region Chin State, Myanmar
Northeast India
religion Judaism
religiousAffiliation Orthodox Judaism (for most in Israel)
religiousLeadershipDebate status as descendants of a Lost Tribe is disputed
religiousLeadershipSupport some Sephardi chief rabbis of Israel
religiousPractice Sabbath observance
keeping kosher to varying degrees
observance of Jewish holidays
selfIdentification descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel
descendants of the tribe of Manasseh
traditionalClaim descent from the biblical tribe of Manasseh

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Indian Jews hasSubgroup Bnei Menashe