“I’ve been quietly crying for months whenever the prospect of leaving my home and family occurred to me. The desire to return to the sacred place, however, is too strong.” One of the 228 Jews who left Manipur on Sunday to permanently reside in Israel is Nemchin Touthang, a 57-year-old Jew from the Churachandpur area. Four of the widow’s six children were left behind to join the two who had traveled to the promised land over a decade before.
“I will not be returning to Manipur because my religion matters so much more to me,” Nemcha says as she boards the plane at Imphal Airport.
The Jewish population in India’s northeastern states numbers over 9,000 people, with Manipur and Mizoram accounting for half of them. These Jews, known as the Benei Manashe, are said to be descendants of the Menashe tribe, one of Israel’s 10 lost tribes. The Chin-Kuki-Mizos (or CHIKIM) tribes scattered over the region are referred to as Benei Manashe.
