Efrat (Hebrew: אֶפְרָת‎‎), or officially Efrata (Hebrew: אֶפְרָתָה‎‎), is an Israeli settlement established in 1983 and a local council in the Judean Mountains of the West Bank. Efrat is located 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) south of Jerusalem, between Bethlehem and Hebron, 6.5 kilometers east of the Green line, inside of the Separation Barrier. The settlement rises to a height of 960 meters (3150 feet) above sea level and covers about 6,000 dunam (1,500 acres). The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.

Efrat had 7,183 residents in 2009, a decline from over 8,000 in 2008. Although it is geographically located within Gush Etzion ("Etzion Bloc"), Efrat is independent from the Gush Etzion Regional Council. Since November 2008, Oded Ravivi, an attorney and lieutenant colonel in the army and member of the Likud Central Committee is the head of Efrat regional council.

Efrat is named after the biblical place Ephrath. While according to the Israeli Ministry of the Interior, "Efrata" is the quotation from the Biblical verse, and therefore the town's name, Efrata's residents and municipality have maintained for many years that the reference isn't the location's name, but rather means "towards Efrat". The '-a' ending is very common in Hebrew and always means 'towards'. On the other hand, there are very clear biblical references to "Ephratah", in a context it cannot possibly mean "towards Ephrat", e.g. Ruth 4:11, 1 Chronicles 2:50, 1 Chronicles 4:4, Psalms 132:6, Micah 5:1. Therefore, there are two names in use: Internal and private references speak of "Efrat", whereas all inter-city roadsigns, under purview of the National Government, read "Efrata".

Efrat Gosh (Hebrew: אפרת גוש‎) is an Israeli singer-songwriter.

Gosh was born in 1983 and raised as a middle child with a younger and an older brother in Herzliya, Israel. She attended the music department at Alon high school in Ramat Hasharon. She continued her education at the Rimon school of music, focusing on Jazz. Efrat became influenced by music of Billie Holiday, Edith Piaf, Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker.

Gosh's music career began when some friends asked her if she could record a demo with Yoni Bloch who had written it for Nurit Galron (a famous Israeli singer). She agreed and a week later was asked to sing backing vocals in Bloch’s shows. The decision to join the show turned out to be an important one, as Bloch and Gosh looked to the audience and saw the head of the Hebrew Department of the major Israeli music label NMC at the time, Chaim Shemesh, with whom Yoni Bloch signed at the time.

Shemesh, with a history of discovering and nourishing talented stars like Aviv Geffen, Eifo HaYeled, HaKhaverim Shel Natasha, HaYehudim, Eviyatar Banai and many more artists, was so impressed by the backing vocalist that he went on to sign a contract with her as well.