The program will be headed by Michael Menashe [pictured above], who arrived in Israel in the second large wave of Bnei Menashe immigration in 1994, and Rabbi Aryeh Lasker of Beit El. The new program was launched on Sunday in a ceremony at the home of Beit El Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed, and classes will officially begin tomorrow. The goal is to produce spiritual leaders for the Bnei Menashe communities in Israel and abroad.
The Bnei Menashe relate their history of exile from the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 721 B.C.E., leading across the Silk Route [roughly from Turkey to China] and finally ending up in India and Myanmar.
The first of the Bnei Menashe to arrive in Israel, Gideon Rei and Shimon Veiphe, did so in 1979. More members of the community continued arriving slowly during the coming years, and large groups came in 1993 and 1994. Several hundred of them are now in Israel, and 5-6,000 remain in northern India.
The daily fare of the three-year course of study will include two hours of basic Jewish Law as presented in the Shulhan Arukh [Judaism's basic law code, authored by Rabbi Yosef Karo and Rabbi Moshe Isserles in the 16th century], two chapters of Bible, 2-3 mishnayot [Tannaitic texts], selected topics in the Talmud, and books of Jewish thought. Hands-on study, such as visits to a tefillin factory, rabbinic-agricultural institutes, and the like, will be an intrinsic part of the course.
Six students from Beit El are signed up as of now, and more are expected, especially from other Bnei Menashe concentrations such as Kiryat Arba, Gush Katif and Ofrah. Yeshivat Beit El will provide the students not only with a monthly stipend, but also their books and study materials.
Michael Menashe says that the new Rabbinical Program is a promise of "great things ahead for the Bnei Menashe community in Israel. I hope that it will encourage more Aliyah [immigration to Israel], and will foster leadership, Zionism and Judaism amongst us."
"I also hope that this program will show that we, the Bnei Menashe, are able to stand on our own," Menashe said. "We have many missions ahead of us, both here in Israel and abroad... After 25 years of the process of our return, we feel that it is proceeding too slowly; we can no longer depend only on others, but we must act for ourselves as well."
Michael and his wife Shoshana, a native-born Israeli, recently held the brit milah (ritual circumcision) of their second-born son at the anti-disengagement sit-in demonstration outside the Knesset. They named him Adam, stemming from the Hebrew word meaning "earth," to show their connection with the Land of Israel: "The Land of Israel belongs to G-d, and He decided to whom to give it."
The Bnei Menashe relate their history of exile from the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 721 B.C.E., leading across the Silk Route [roughly from Turkey to China] and finally ending up in India and Myanmar.
The first of the Bnei Menashe to arrive in Israel, Gideon Rei and Shimon Veiphe, did so in 1979. More members of the community continued arriving slowly during the coming years, and large groups came in 1993 and 1994. Several hundred of them are now in Israel, and 5-6,000 remain in northern India.
The daily fare of the three-year course of study will include two hours of basic Jewish Law as presented in the Shulhan Arukh [Judaism's basic law code, authored by Rabbi Yosef Karo and Rabbi Moshe Isserles in the 16th century], two chapters of Bible, 2-3 mishnayot [Tannaitic texts], selected topics in the Talmud, and books of Jewish thought. Hands-on study, such as visits to a tefillin factory, rabbinic-agricultural institutes, and the like, will be an intrinsic part of the course.
Six students from Beit El are signed up as of now, and more are expected, especially from other Bnei Menashe concentrations such as Kiryat Arba, Gush Katif and Ofrah. Yeshivat Beit El will provide the students not only with a monthly stipend, but also their books and study materials.
Michael Menashe says that the new Rabbinical Program is a promise of "great things ahead for the Bnei Menashe community in Israel. I hope that it will encourage more Aliyah [immigration to Israel], and will foster leadership, Zionism and Judaism amongst us."
"I also hope that this program will show that we, the Bnei Menashe, are able to stand on our own," Menashe said. "We have many missions ahead of us, both here in Israel and abroad... After 25 years of the process of our return, we feel that it is proceeding too slowly; we can no longer depend only on others, but we must act for ourselves as well."
Michael and his wife Shoshana, a native-born Israeli, recently held the brit milah (ritual circumcision) of their second-born son at the anti-disengagement sit-in demonstration outside the Knesset. They named him Adam, stemming from the Hebrew word meaning "earth," to show their connection with the Land of Israel: "The Land of Israel belongs to G-d, and He decided to whom to give it."