THE JEWS OF INDIA

Chief Rabbi: India's Bnei Menashe Are Descendants of Ancient Israelites - Yair Sheleg (Ha'aretz)
Israeli Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar decided on Wednesday to recognize the members of India's Bnei Menashe community as descendants of the ancient Israelites. The community consists of 7,000 members of the Kuki-Chin-Mizo tribe which lives in northeast India. For generations they kept Jewish traditions, claiming to be descended from the tribe of Menashe. A number of researchers who visited the group over the years got the impression that their traditions are authentically Israelite in origin. Some 800 have immigrated to Israel over the past twelve years.