Looking at the latest postings on Shavei Israel's website; it's reach is global with direct projects geared to:
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"Bnei Anousim http://www.shavei.org/category/communities/bnei_anousim/?lang=en Bnei Anousim in Spain...Portugal...Brazil"
RaP: In Brazil, no Orthodox rabbis undertake conversions and they have closed the door to this kind of thing, but Freund is not put off. Freund is staying clear of the USA -- except to get his funding and ask for more -- and Western Europe where he knows he will have to deal with strong rabbinical opposition, so he works from the Israeli front, leaving the field wide open in the USA for a variety of smaller operators of this effort, that The Jewish Press never fails to promote no matter in which synagogue or state a pro-Anusim talk or gathering may be held.
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Bnei Menashe http://www.shavei.org/category/communities/bnei_menashe/?lang=en ...In recent years, Shavei Israel has brought some 1,700 Bnei Menashe back home to Zion. Another 7,200 still remain in India, waiting for the day when they too will be able to return to Israel..."
RaP: Even the Israeli government is in no rush to have these people who are of very doubtful Halachic Jewish status, but that does not stop Freund and Shavei Israel from extending the "Zionist dream" to them.
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Subbotnik Jews http://www.shavei.org/category/communities/subbotniks/?lang=en "The Subbotniks were peasants in southern Russia who embraced Jewish practice and converted to Judaism more than 200 years ago under the Czarist regime..."
RaP: Who they were is not clear and what the Subbotniks did is controversial. They had ties with Christianity. After 200 years of raw ignorance there was also the inevitable intermarriage with gentiles. Shavei Israel's work with this group has been featured in past editions of the American Mishpacha magazine. But since the demise of EJF the Mishpacha editors/owners have been more cautious about getting into this minefield.
*"The Hidden Jews of Poland http://www.shavei.org/category/communities/hidden_jews_of_poland/?lang=en "...increasing number of Poles have begun to discover their families’ Jewish roots. These include young people whose Jewish parents or grandparents were put up for adoption with Polish families and institutions in a desperate attempt to save them from the Nazi onslaught nearly seven decades ago..."
RaP: On the one hand it is noble to welcome those who can prove they were descendants of victims hidden during the Nazi conquest of Poland, but Shavei Israel is rolling out a red carpet come one come all, not just to victims of Nazism, but of everything bad that ever happened in human life and in the process crosses the line into proselytization, as it does with all it's activities. It is not stopped by what other rabbis may or may not say or think, it makes up the rules and its goals for itself. It gets away with everything because it cloaks all its efforts in the ethos of modern Zionism, the Israeli flag and the kippa seruga, so people in the Israeli government do not oppose them, and that's all that matters to them.
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"The Kaifeng Jews http://www.shavei.org/category/communities/kaifeng_jews/?lang=en Jews arrived in Kaifeng...China, over a thousand years ago... 5,000 people...assimilation eventually began to take its toll...there are between 500 and 1,000 identifiable descendants of the Jewish community...an awakening has been taking place among them, as increasing numbers of young Kaifeng Jews seek to reclaim their heritage"
RaP: To Shavei Israel a group of perhaps 5,000 from 1,000 years ago that had withered down 800 years later and for the last 200 years has melted away obviously by centuries of intermarriage with local gentiles does not mean anything. The main thing is to get them to Israel.
*"San Nicandro http://www.shavei.org/category/communities/san_nicandro/?lang=en ...Italy...end of the First World War.. illiterate peasant, Manduzio...discovered Judaism...thought that no Jews were left in the world. He began practicing the Jewish faith, and more and more of his neighbors joined him in his spiritual quest. Eventually, the community numbered 80 people...They approached the soldiers...to take the community members to the Promised Land. Subsequently, in 1946, most of Donato’s community succeeded in converting to Judaism, and the vast majority of them made aliyah in 1949. Today, there are still a few dozen members of the community in San Nicandro who are living a Jewish life and practicing Judaism even though they did not undergo a formal conversion."
RaP: This stuff cannot be made up! Someone gets the idea in their head that they want to be "Jewish" and convinces a few more people, they suddenly all want to go to Israel, and Shavei Israel will help any such group to get to every last one. Multiply such things by hundreds of groups all over the world, and where does one draw the red line? Let them stay in Italy. It is a great country. A mecca for tourists. Israel does not have to be the "home" of anyone who decides they are part of the Jewish people. There are hundreds of millions of Christians who regard themselves as the modern Biblical Israel, and who knows when they will want to convert and Shavei Israel will help them make Aliya to make Israel into an even bigger Zionist population. Not to mention all the Arabs who think they already "own" Eretz Yisrael and are willing to kill Jews to get their goals.
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The Jews of the Amazon http://www.shavei.org/category/communities/jews_of_the_amazon/?lang=en In the 19th century...Moroccan Jews, made their way to South America...many of them eventually married local women...In recent years, a growing number of these Jews of the Amazon have begun to reconnect with their heritage, leading several hundred to make aliyah."
RaP: If they married local women then their children are gentiles. Simple! Brazil is a great country, why the need to get to Israel? This story can be told about Jews who moved anywhere who did not stick to Torah learning and Mitzvos observance. The whole Reform and Conservative movement in America is riddled with this scenario in every way with millions of such similarly non-Halachic "lost Jews" but there is certainly no mass proselytization effort to reach them by the Orthodox in America at this time, not since the demise of EJF at least. But Shavei Israel works out of Israel and can sell its goods of Aliya from there. The day when they will get access to the huge American market will indeed be interesting to behold...
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The Inca Jews http://www.shavei.org/category/communities/inca_jews/?lang=en Over five decades ago, in the northern Peruvian city of Cajamarca...Alvaro and Segundo Villanueva Correa...decided to embrace Judaism, forming a community in 1958...The group, which came to be known as the “Bnei Moshe”...makes no claim of Jewish ancestry...growing in number to more than 500 people...nearly all of the Inca Jews underwent conversion by Israel’s Chief Rabbinate and made aliyah, thanks in part to Shavei Israel."
RaP: There was no need to rush to bring them to Israel nor to convert them en masse. They could have stayed where they were. Peru is a nice country! Israelis love to vacation there! But again, someone gets an idea in their heads and Shavei Israel is there to not just fan the flames, to roll out the red carpets, to proselytize en masse and even get the Chief rabbinate to give its stamp of approval.
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Other Communities http://www.shavei.org/category/communities/other_communities/?lang=en This section of our website is the place to learn about other Jewish communities around the world where Shavei Israel is not specifically involved. Below you’ll find these communities organized according to region and country."
RaP: In other words: they've only just begun! According to Shavei Israel they have a global master plan! See the list that Shavei Israel posts on its own website that would target even more far-flung groups. Click on each link to see what Shavei Israel has to say about each one:
"So far, there are only [two] regions listed – we’ll be adding others over time:
*Africa http://www.shavei.org/category/communities/other_communities/africa/?lang=en
Abayudaya (Uganda) Cameroon Igbo Jews (Nigeria) Lemba (Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa) Rusape (Zimbabwe) Timbuktu (Mali)
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Asia http://www.shavei.org/category/communities/other_communities/asia/?lang=en
Afghanistan Bnei Ephraim (India) Bukharan Jews Donmeh (Turkey) Jews in Japan
Kyrgyzstan Pathans (India)
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Caribbean http://www.shavei.org/category/communities/other_communities/caribbean/?lang=en
Cuba Jamaica Puerto Rico Suriname "
