Tamano-Shata to push ahead with aliyah of 722 Bnei Menashe Jews
The first group is currently expected to arrive after the conclusion of the High Holy Days, which ends around the middle of October.
By AARON REICHPNINA TAMANO-SHATA, newly appointed aliyah and integration minister and the first Ethopia-born minister in the Israeli government(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata is pushing ahead with the planned aliyah of 722 Bnei Menashe Jews from northeastern India, the Jewish News Syndicate reported Tuesday.The planned immigration will be done in cooperation with the Interior Ministry and Shavei Israel, an NGO that has helped over 4,000 Bnei Menashe Jews make aliyah over the past 20 years.The Bnei Menashe ethnic group is said to number at around 10,000 total, and are believed by many to be descended from one of the Ten Lost Tribes, specifically that of Menashe. They were recognized as members of a lost tribe in 2005 by then-Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Atar, though he did specify they would need to formally convert.The first group is currently expected to arrive after the conclusion of the High Holy Days, which ends around the middle of October, JNS reported.Speaking to JNS, Tamano-Shata explained that her ministry's state budget proposal included the funds necessary for the integration of new olim, though Shavei Israel will cover airfare costs as well as internal transportation in India. According to Shavei Israel founder and chairman Michael Freund, these travel costs are estimated to add up to $1,000 per person.“I am proud at this time to implement a government decision enabling around 750 members of the Bnei Menashe community to immigrate to Israel, as they are entitled to do so, in cooperation with the Interior Ministry,” Tamano-Shata explained.“This is being carried out thanks to a budget from my office, which is set for approval in the upcoming government state budget.“To the immigrants from the Bnei Menashe community, I want to say that my door is always open to them, and I intend to work with them in the best possible way to assist with their immigration and absorption.”While it is unclear where these new immigrants will move, one Israeli city has stated that it is willing to accept them.“I invite the Bnei Menashe immigrants to come and live in our city, and join the strong and successful community which has been fully integrated into our town and is an integral part of the Hof Hagalil landscape,” Nof Hagalil Mayor Ronen Plot told JNS, referencing the community of Bnei Menashe Jews already living in the city.
He added that “we will receive them with open arms and assist them with their absorption so that they feel at home, and part of the extended Bnei Menashe family along with all the residents of our city. I promised the minister that I would personally ensure that they have a smooth absorption in the city; our residents will welcome them with much love.”The announcement comes amid an imminent debate in the Knesset over a bill that could restrict who is allowed to make aliyah in accordance with the Law of Return. This bill, spearheaded by senior Yamina MK Bezalel Smotrich, would see the Law of Return amended to only allow those who are halachically Jewish – those who have a Jewish mother – to make aliyah.In its current state, the law allows those with a single Jewish grandparent to make aliyah.“I love the immigrants and am happy they are with us, but that has nothing to do with bringing hundreds of thousands of non-Jews to Israel,” Smotrich wrote on Facebook. “We have a responsibility for the future of the Jewish people, for the future of our existence.”This bill met opposition from other MKs, most notably Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman and Yesh Atid MK Yoel Razbozov, both of whom made aliyah from former Soviet Union countries.Condemning the bill as antisemitic, Razbozov wrote a letter to Yamina leader Naftali Bennett slamming its proposal.“The Nazis didn’t care about Jewish law when they came to take Jews to concentration camps,” he wrote. “Anyone Jewish enough to be sent to concentration camps should be Jewish enough to make aliyah to the land of Israel.”Gil Hoffman contributed to this report.
