The Bene Ephraim

Abstract This chapter discusses the community of the Bene Ephraim of Andhra Pradesh (India), a congregation of Madiga Dalits who, at the end of the twentieth century, announced their affiliation to the Jewish tradition. The example of the Bene Ephraim demonstrates how Judaism acquires new meanings in the narrative and practices of groups who started identifying as Jewish in the past century, as their Jewishness can be read as the community’s way of celebrating not only their Israelite, but also their Madiga and more general Dalit, heritage. The chapter argues that the anti-caste and anti-Brahmanic rhetoric of the Bene Ephraim leaders both makes their teachings akin to ideologies of Dalit movements and reinscribes Judaism as a liberation tool for socially disadvantaged communities.