In Manipur, India, a group of people called the Bnei Menashe (named after Menasseh Ben Israel, a rabbi who led a failed mission to rescue them) says they are descendants of Jews who were banished from ancient Israel and had to travel to India over 1,200 years ago.
A tribe of Jews said to have descended from one of the Ten Lost Tribes prepared to leave their village in northeastern India to move to Israel on Thursday.
As the Menashe Jewish community prepares to leave Churachandpur, community members will pray in a synagogue before their departure. A group of people from Manipur, known as the Bnei Menashe, say they are part of the lost tribe of Israel, banished to India in the eighth century B.C. They claim to be descendants of the tribe of Menasseh.
The Bnei Menashe community got together to say a prayer at their local synagogue before departing to the airport in Imphal, which is 34 miles away and is the capital of Manipur.
Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/indian-jews-from-lost-tribe-move-to-israel-125286-2012-12-25
