Telugu Jews
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (350) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Andhra Pradesh, India | |
| Languages | |
| Telugu, Hebrew | |
| Religion | |
| Judaism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
|
Tradition Jews, Indian Jews Ethnobiology Indian |
The Bene Ephraim (Hebrew: בני אפריים) 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. 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.
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. They hold a history which they say is similar to that of the shift of Afghan Jews and Persian Jewish, 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 have worked as farm laborers. While practising Judaism, they adopted some Christianity after the arrival of British Baptist missionaries during the early 19th century.
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