Bnei Menashe Community in NE India Holds Large ‘Model Seder’

Churachandpur, Manipur – More than 550 members of the Bnei Menashe community from the northeastern Indian state of Manipur participated in a massive pre-Passover “Model Seder” Tuesday night at the Shavei Israel Hebrew Center in Churachandpur to mark the upcoming holiday and learn about Passover practices and customs.

The Bnei Menashe are descendants of the tribe of Manasseh, one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel who were exiled from the Land of Israel more than 2,700 years ago by the Assyrian empire. Some 3,000 Bnei Menashe have thus far made Aliyah thanks to Shavei Israel, and another 7,000 are still in India waiting for the chance to move.