In the remote hills of India’s northeastern state of Manipur, members of the B’nei Menashe community are preparing for what they describe as a long-awaited return home — not within India, but to Israel, where they believe their ancestral roots lie.

The B’nei Menashe, a small community concentrated mainly in Manipur and neighboring Mizoram, identify themselves as descendants of Manasseh, one of the biblical Ten Lost Tribes of Israel believed to have been dispersed nearly 3,000 years ago.

While historical and anthropological evidence supporting that claim remains limited, Israel has increasingly accepted the group’s migration under a formal aliyah process, allowing them to settle as returning Jews.Around 10,000 members of the community currently live across Manipur and Mizoram, while nearly half have already relocated to Israel since the 1990s.

This week, under an operation called “Wings of Dawn,” Israel is set to fly about 250 more members from India to Tel Aviv via New Delhi, with larger numbers expected to follow in the coming years.The Israeli government approved broader support for the remaining approximately 5,800 community members in November last year, including plans for around 1,200 relocations this year.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the funding as “an important and Zionist decision” that would also help strengthen Israel’s northern and Galilee regions.For many in the B’nei Menashe community, the migration is framed first as a religious return rather than an economic opportunity. In villages near Churachandpur and Kangpokpi, families have preserved Jewish practices for generations while living within a largely Christian and tribal social landscape.

“We have faith in the Torah,” said Shimon Ngamthenlal, a Hebrew teacher living in a small kibbutz-style settlement in Manipur. Wearing traditional payot, the sidelocks associated with Orthodox Jewish men, he described aliyah as both spiritual fulfillment and a promise long awaited.“We have good faith in the Israeli government.

They promised that all the B’nei Menashe will go to Israel by 2030,” he said. “We all have our passports ready.”The settlements where they live remain modest, with bamboo homes, family farms and subsistence-based livelihoods. Many residents work as day laborers or in small-scale agriculture, reflecting the broader economic conditions of Manipur, one of India’s less prosperous states.

According to 2023–24 data, Manipur’s per capita economic activity was valued at roughly $1,200 annually, compared with more than $55,000 in Israel. For younger families, the contrast has added practical considerations to religious aspirations.“We want to go to Israel, 90 percent for our religion, but yes, other things are better there, too — like education,” Ngamthenlal said.

Another resident, Benjamin Haokip, said maintaining Jewish practices in the hills of northeast India remains difficult because of limited community infrastructure and the absence of broader Jewish social life.“We follow Judaism, and here we cannot follow all our customs,” he said.

Some prayers require a minyan, the quorum needed for communal worship in Judaism, while others depend on ritual familiarity and food traditions not easily sustained in isolated villages far from established Jewish communities.“The principal appeal is to worship among fellow Jews in Israel,” Haokip said.

The B’nei Menashe story has drawn attention for decades because it sits at the intersection of religion, migration and identity. In India, the group is officially classified as part of the Kuki ethnic communities, whose languages belong to the Tibeto-Burman family and whose conventional anthropological origins trace to regions that are now within China.

Most Kukis converted to Christianity during the early 20th century under the influence of American missionaries. The B’nei Menashe movement gained momentum in the 1970s after Israeli anthropologists visiting northeast India observed similarities between some pre-Christian customs and Jewish ritual traditions.

Researchers pointed to folk songs, oral histories and ceremonial practices that they believed resembled biblical narratives, including stories interpreted as recalling the Exodus from Egypt. Some local expressions used during moments of distress were also seen as resembling references to Manasseh, helping shape the identity now embraced by the community.

While scholars remain divided over the historical validity of the claim, the religious commitment of the B’nei Menashe themselves has become central to the migration process. Their identity has been shaped less by academic consensus and more by sustained faith and ritual practice over generations.

Those who have already moved to Israel often work in construction, factories and transportation. Many have settled in areas such as northern Israel, while earlier groups were placed in settlements including Hebron in the occupied West Bank and, before 2005, in Gaza settlements.Israel’s interest in expanding immigration for the group also comes amid labor shortages intensified by the wars that followed the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023.

Military mobilization, displacement from Hezbollah rocket fire in northern regions, restrictions on Palestinian labor from the West Bank and reduced migrant labor flows from countries such as Nepal and Thailand have strained parts of the Israeli workforce.Officials see the B’nei Menashe not only as religious returnees but also as contributors to economic recovery and demographic stability in sensitive regions.

For migrants already living in Israel, the transition can be difficult. Jessica Thangjom, a member of the community now based there, works with an organization helping others relocate and adapt.She said the shift from an agrarian lifestyle in Manipur to Israel’s highly urbanized and technologically advanced environment can be challenging for new arrivals.

“Transitioning is not an easy journey,” she said, describing the cultural and economic adjustment required.Still, for many families waiting in Manipur, the move is seen less as migration than as completion of a long historical journey. In modest synagogues tucked into the hills near Myanmar’s border, prayers continue with the expectation that the next generation may soon perform them thousands of miles away.

For the B’nei Menashe, the destination is not simply another country, but what they believe to be the final chapter of a return centuries in the making.

Afghana was exiled from Israel during the Babylonian invasion and later settled in the region that became Afghanistan.

The Pashtuns, also known as Pathans, are an ethnic group primarily residing in Afghanistan and Pakistan, with a rich history and deep-rooted tribal traditions. While widely recognized for their warrior ethos, pride in their tribal code of Pashtunwali, and a legacy of resistance against imperial powers, a fascinating theory has persisted for centuries — that the Pashtuns are the descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.

This theory suggests that the Pashtuns trace their ancestry back to the ancient Israelites who were exiled from the Northern Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrian Empire around 722 BCE. According to historical accounts in the Hebrew Bible, these ten tribes were scattered and subsequently disappeared from mainstream Jewish history.

Over the centuries, scholars and explorers have speculated about their fate, with many believing they migrated eastward into Persia and eventually into the mountainous regions of modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan.

One of the earliest claims supporting the Israelite origin of Pashtuns comes from Malik Faheem Judah of Tiberias, a 17th-century Jewish historian, who claimed that many of the exiled tribes of Israel had settled in the region of Khorasan, which historically included parts of Afghanistan and surrounding areas. This claim was later echoed by colonial-era historians such as Sir Mountstuart Elphinstone, a British administrator in India, who wrote extensively about the customs and traditions of the Afghan tribes.

In his 1815 book An Account of the Kingdom of Caubul, Elphinstone observed that many Pashtun tribes claimed descent from a figure named Afghana, whom they believed to be the grandson of King Saul, the first king of Israel. According to this oral tradition, Afghana was exiled from Israel during the Babylonian invasion and later settled in the region that became Afghanistan.

This lineage story, although unverified by hard evidence, has been preserved among various Pashtun tribes and is taken seriously by many elders. Some tribes claim to be the descendants of Joseph through his son Ephraim, while others claim ancestry from Reuben, Levi, and other tribes.

In fact, tribal names like Yusufzai (interpreted as “sons of Joseph”), Rabbani (possibly from Reuben), and Levani (similar to Levi) are often cited as linguistic evidence supporting the theory.

Similarities Between Pashtuns and Jews

In addition to oral traditions and tribal lore, there are also striking similarities between some Pashtun customs and ancient Jewish practices. Observers have pointed to the Pashtuns’ practice of lighting candles on Friday evenings, circumcision on the eighth day, dietary habits resembling kosher laws, and even the levirate marriage practice — where a man marries his deceased brother’s widow — which is outlined in the Torah. Furthermore, in older times, certain Pashtun garments resembled the Jewish tallit, or prayer shawl, with fringes attached.

The interest in this theory isn’t limited to historical anecdotes. Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, Israel’s first Chief Rabbi, conducted a study on this subject and concluded that the similarities in customs and traditions warranted serious consideration of the Pashtun-Israelite connection.

In more recent years, some Orthodox rabbis and Israeli anthropologists have revived interest in exploring the Pashtuns’ heritage. This has led to the establishment of dialogue with Pashtun communities, some of whom have expressed a desire to rediscover and reconnect with their supposed Jewish roots.

Genetic studies, however, have been inconclusive. A study published in Frontiers in Genetics in 2017 found no definitive evidence of Israelite DNA among the Pashtun population. Critics of the theory argue that over the course of 2,700 years, genetic signatures may have become diluted due to intermarriage, migration, and religious conversion. Supporters counter that cultural continuity and oral tradition are sometimes more enduring than genetic markers.

Despite the lack of scientific certainty, the theory continues to hold strong cultural significance for many. In 2010, a small group of Pashtuns from Afghanistan and Pakistan visited Israel as part of an interfaith and cultural heritage program. They were welcomed by some Jewish communities eager to explore this possible historical link. Their interactions centered around shared customs, ancestral stories, and a mutual curiosity about a possible common heritage.

Today, with the rise of digital platforms, more Pashtuns are engaging with this theory online, sharing stories passed down through generations, and exploring both Islamic and Judaic connections in their cultural practices. Though the theory remains controversial and debated among scholars, it adds a compelling dimension to the identity of one of the world’s oldest and proudest ethnic groups.

The question of whether the Pashtuns are truly the descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel may never be definitively answered. Yet the parallels in culture, language, and tradition, as well as a strong oral heritage, continue to intrigue scholars and laypeople alike. Whether rooted in historical fact or centuries-old legend, the story of the Pashtuns as the lost sons of Israel is a narrative that refuses to fade away.

References:

1. Elphinstone, Mountstuart. An Account of the Kingdom of Caubul, 1815.
2. Herzog, Yitzhak HaLevi. Hebrew Portrayals of the Lost Tribes, 1955.
3. The Jewish Encyclopedia, “Afghans and the Lost Tribes”, 1901–1906 Edition.
4. N. Nir, The Lost Tribes of Israel: The History of a Myth, 2003.
5. “The Pashtuns and the Lost Tribes of Israel,” The Jerusalem Post, July 2010.
6. Frontiers in Genetics, 2017 – Genetic Research on Pashtun Origins.