Israeli people were very similar to ours. So we thought that we must be one of the lost tribes." After making contact with Israelis, they began to study normative Judaism and established several synagogues. Hundreds of Mizo-Kuki-Chin emigrated to Israel. They were required to formally convert to be accepted as Jews, because their history was not documented. Also, given their long migration and intermarriage, they had lost the required maternal ancestry of Jews, by which they might be considered as born Jews. Work of aliyah groups, Amishav and Shavei Israel In the late 20th century, the Israeli Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail founded Amishav (Hebrew for "My People Returns"), an organisation dedicated to locating descendants of the lost tribes of Israel and assisting aliyah. In 1983 he first learned of the Messianic/Jewish group in northeastern India, after meeting Zaithanchhungi, an insurance saleswoman and former teacher who came from the area. She had traveled to Israel in 1981 to present papers at seminars about her people's connection to Judaism. During the 1980s, Avichail traveled to northeast India several times to investigate the people's claims. He helped the people do research and collect historic documentation. The people were observed to have some practices similar to Judaism: Three festivals annually similar to those of Jews Funeral rites, birth and marriage ceremonies have similarities to ancient Judaism Historical claim of descent from a great ancestor "Manmási", whose descriptions are similar to those of Manasseh, son of Joseph. Local legends, primarily those of the Hmar, that describe the presence of remnants of the lost Jewish tribe of Manasseh (Hebrew: Menashe) more than 1,000 years ago in a cave in southwestern China called Sinlung, whose members migrated across Thailand into northeastern India. Believing that these people were descendants of Israelites, Avichail named the group Bnei Menashe. He began to teach them normative Orthodox Judaism. He prepared to pay for their aliyah with funds provided by Christian groups supporting the Second Coming. But the Israeli government did not recognize the Messianic groups in India as candidates for aliyah. Several years later, the rabbi stepped aside as a leader of Amishav in favour of Michael Freund. The younger man was a columnist for The Jerusalem Post and former deputy director of communications and policy planning in the Prime Minister's office. The two men quarreled. Freund founded another organization, Shavei Israel, also devoted to supporting aliyah by descendants of lost tribes.