At least 40 Jewish families from Andhra Pradesh are worrying about their relatives, who are living in Israel, amid the country’s ongoing war with the Hamas militant group. Categorised as the Bene Ephraim community among Jews, they live in Kothareddypalem village of Guntur district.
These Jewish families believe that their ancestry can be traced back to the Assyrian Emprire from around 722 BC, who after leaving there travelled through Iran and Kashmir before settling down in Andhra Pradesh in 1100 AD. Despite these claims, however, the identity of this group as a Jewish community appears to be of recent origin dating back to the 1980s. They were, however, clubbed with the Madiga community for a long time.
The Bene Ephraim community distinguishes itself from its Christian neighbours by following the Hebrew calendar and observing the Sabbath and major Jewish holidays. Following Jewish eating habits, they also observe festivals such as Rosh Chodesh, Rosh Hashanah, Selichot, Tzom Gedalia, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, Simchat Torah, and Hanukkah and a special Thanksgiving ceremony called ‘Eliyahoo-ha-Nabiori’.
The state government is providing support to Telugu people in Israel through the ministry of external affairs (MEA) and the Indian embassy. Andhra Pradesh Non-resident Telugu Society chief executive P Hemalatha Rani said they are in a safe place at Kiryat Onu for now.
“We have a strong belief in the biblical prophecy of the gathering of the Jews and settling in Israel with the construction of synagogue (Jewish temple), and the Israeli government was also planning to bring lost tribes of Jews. But, we are now worried about the war between Israel and Hamas and concerned about our relatives,” said Sadok Yacobi, a leader of the Jewish community.