Small Telugu Jewish community of Andhra Pradesh, India
Ethnic group
The
Bene Ephraim
(
Hebrew
:
??? ??????
)
Bnei Ephraim
("Sons of Ephraim"), also called
Telugu Jews
because they speak
Telugu
, are a small community living primarily in Kotha Reddy Palem, a village outside
Chebrolu
,
Guntur District
, and in Machilipatnam, Krishna District,
Andhra Pradesh
,
India
, near the
delta
of the
River Krishna
.
[1]
They claim to be descendants of the
Tribe of Ephraim
, of the
Ten Lost Tribes
, and since the 1980s have learned to practice modern Judaism.
[2]
History
[
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]
The Bene Ephraim claim descent from the Tribe of Ephraim, and say that they traveled from Israel through western Asia: Persia, Afghanistan, Tibet and into China for 1,600 years before arriving in southern India more than 1,000 years ago.
[3]
They hold a history which they say is similar to that of the shift of
Afghan Jews
and
Persian Jews
,
Bene Israel
,
Bnei Menashe
in the northeastern Indian states of
Mizoram
and
Manipur
, who received recognition in 2005 from the
Chief Rabbinate of Israel
. (The latter people must still go through a formal conversion process to become citizens of Israel.)
During the medieval period, they had worked as farm laborers and many adapted regional cultures. Although nominally practicing
Judaism
, they adopted some aspects of
Christianity
after the arrival of British
Baptist
missionaries
during the early 19th century.
[3]
Their leader, Shmuel Yacobi, went to Jerusalem in the 1980s and became convinced they were of Jewish descent.
[3]
Because of the long period in which the people were not practicing Judaism, they did not develop any distinctly identifiable
Judæo-Telugu
language as
other groups did
.
Since the 1980s, about fifty families in
Kotha Reddy Palem
have studied
Judaism
, learned
Hebrew
, and built an operating
synagogue
. They celebrate all
Jewish
holidays and have their own
Torah
scroll. In the 1960s, some families migrated to Hyderabad, Telangana for high-paying lucrative jobs and better livelihoods.
Today, Hebrew is used as a
living language
rather than limited to the
liturgy
. The
community
has been visited over the years by
rabbis
from the chief rabbinate in Israel to study their Jewish
tradition
and
practices
. To be recognized as legitimate Jews, the Chief Rabbi has to recognize the community as being of Jewish descent. The rabbis have taught mainstream Judaism and made converts, and some women have
intermarried
with Jewish families. They have sought recognition from many rabbis around the world.
[1]
They always practiced their own oral traditions and customs (
caviloth
), such as: burying the dead; marrying under a
chuppah
; observing
Shabbat
and other Jewish festivals, and maintaining a
beit din
(ie, a Jewish rabbinical court).
According to the
Washington Times
in 2006
Many think the Bnei Ephraim Jews are trying to escape poverty and that they want to leave this region of Andhra Pradesh where six successive years of drought and crop failure have driven more than 3,000 peasants into debt and to suicide.
[3]
Chandra Sekhar Angadi, a social scientist in neighboring
Karnataka
, said of the Telugu Jews:
They are among the poorest of Jews in the world. They are desperate for the recognition by Israel’s chief rabbinate simply to be guaranteed a passport from that country where they can lead a much better life?away from this life of poverty and hunger.
[3]
See also
[
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]
References
[
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]
Further reading
[
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]
- Tudor Parfitt (2002), "The Lemba: An African Judaising Tribe", in
Judaising Movements: Studies in the Margins of Judaism,
edited by Parfitt, Tudor and Trevisan-Semi, E., London: Routledge Curzon.
- Shmuel Yacobi,
THE CULTURAL HERMENEUTICS,
an introduction to the cultural translation of the Hebrew Bible among the ancient nations of the Thalmulic Telugu Empire of India.
- Shmuel Yacobi, Manamevaru, Ereb Rab Telugu people and their links with Israel.
- Chilaka Abraham, Ten Commandments Constitution - A Sociological study - A.N. University, Guntur.
- Ministry of Interior, Israel, Rabbi Marvin Tokayer U.S - Letters to Shmuel Yacobi, member of Bene Ephraim Community
External links
[
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]