This past Monday evening, I had the privilege of accompanying 51 new immigrants from the Bnei Menashe of India - descendants of a lost tribe of Israel - on the flight home from Bombay to Tel Aviv.

This very special event was a long time in coming - for the past 3 1/2 years, since Israel's Interior Ministry shut down the Bnei Menashe aliyah in the summer of 2003, I have waged a long and protracted struggle to reverse the decision and restart the aliyah.

Thank G-d, that has now finally come to pass - and by the middle of next week, we will have brought over 218 Bnei Menashe Jews to Israel....

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Michael Freund served as Deputy Director of Communications & Policy Planning in the Israeli Prime Minister's Office under former premier Binyamin Netanyahu. He is Founder and Chairman of Shavei Israel (www.shavei.org), which reaches out and assists "lost Jews" seeking to return to the Jewish people.