ALIYAH
ICEJ sponsors another wave of Bnei Menashe by David Parsons
In late December, the Christian Embassy was privileged to sponsor the aliyah flights of another group from the Bnei Menashe community in India who were making their way home to Israel after 2700 years in exile. There were many emotions and tears as these latest Bnei Menashe arrivals reunited with family, people and homeland. The group of 38 Bnei Menashe landed at Ben-Gurion Airport the day after Christmas, looking equally exhausted and elated at the end of their long journey from the remote province of Mizoram, in northeast India.
For 76-year old Yaffa Hlondo, a widow, it was a particularly moving moment. Her husband had long dreamed of making aliyah, but he passed away last year while still on Indian soil. Yet when Yaffa walked into the arrivals hall at Ben-Gurion Airport, she was welcomed by her son and grandson - the latter dressed in the uniform of an elite IDF infantry unit. The family had been separated for the past seven years, but now was reunited in Israel. "We have been waiting eagerly to come home to our ancestral lands," said Elyashiv Khupchwang, a young Bnei 16 | FEBRUARY 2014
Menashe father. "I am so proud of this moment and feel such peace about finally making it home." Elyashiv, 28, was especially relieved to be in the Jewish homeland due to the harassment he has faced back in India for deciding to publicly embrace his Israelite heritage. He says many of his friends turned their backs on him, and even some of his relatives. "Some would laugh at me on the street, and call me 'the circumcised.' Even in school, they made fun of me – not just my friends, but my teachers and even