A Jew lights a candle in Aizawl in memory of a rabbi and his wife who were gunned down by terrorists in Mumbai. (AFP)

The minuscule Jewish community of Mizoram has a wishlist. It wants funds to build a “sprawling synagogue”, set up a Hebrew learning centre and build a guest house for Jews visiting the state.

The list is not too ambitious and in a poll-bound state such expectations of a group or a community are also not unusual.

This wishlist, however, has a catch. The Jews here are not looking forward to the new state government, soon to be elected, to fulfil their wishes.

“We don’t expect any elected government of Mizoram to cater to our demands. It will have only lip service for us,” said Makabia Zadeng.

He is the state Hazan or the head priest of the Jews in Mizoram.

The community plans to approach the Israeli government for help. Zadeng says there is only one candidate in the fray — Rualpawla, an Independent from Aizawl East I constituency — who is sympathetic to the Jews’ cause.

“The synagogue we have here in Aizawl is in a dilapidated condition. The Hebrew learning centre here too is on the verge of closure in the absence of a teacher. We need a guesthouse for Jews in the state as any orthodox Jew does not take food in an ordinary hotel. The food has to be holy, cooked by a Jew,” said Elisheva, the secretary of the Bnei Menashe Council, Mizoram.

She said the council would soon approach the Israeli embassy in New Delhi for funds. “We are poor people and Israel has a responsibility towards us,” said Elisheva.

There are about a thousand Bnei-Menashes in Mizoram who believe that they are the descendants of the Menashe, one of the Biblical lost tribes of Israel, and are planning to migrate to that country.

Nearly a thousand “Menashes” from Mizoram and neighbouring Manipur have already migrated to Israel after the government of that country recognised their claim in March 2005.

A DNA study at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Calcutta, too has validated the claim of the community.

The last batch of 218 people from Mizoram and Manipur migrated to the “land of milk and honey” in November, 2006 after converting into Judaism.

The existing group of Bnei-Menashes is waiting for its turn to return to their promised land after being formally converted into Judaism.

For the overall development of Mizoram too, Elisheva believes, Israel could be the answer. She said the Indo-Israel treaty signed by the erstwhile NDA government at the Centre should be extended to Mizoram to enable the Israel government to directly take initiative for the development of agriculture, education and industrial sectors in the state.

The feeling of a strong bonding with Israel is not restricted only among the minuscule community here.

According to an estimate by Chhinlung Israel People Convention — an NGO working for the official recognition of the Mizo-Chin-Kuki tribes as descendants of Menashes from the state — as well as the Centre, there are over two lakh people in Mizoram who are convinced of their Menashe ancestry.

This group, however, believes their future lies here in Mizoram.