Kurdish Jews
Encyclopedia
Kurdish Jews or Kurdistani Jews ' onMouseout='HidePop("7706")' href="/topics/Northeastern_Neo-Aramaic">Aramaic
: הוזייה כורדינייה, Hozaye Kurdinaye; ) are the ancient Eastern Jewish
communities, inhabiting the region known as Kurdistan in northern Mesopotamia
, roughly covering parts of Iran
, northern Iraq
, Syria
and eastern Turkey
. Their clothing and culture is similar to neighbouring Kurdish Muslims and Christian
Assyrians
. Until their immigration to Israel
in the 1940s and early 1950s, the Jews of Kurdistan lived as closed ethnic communities. Today, the large majority of Kurdish Jews and their descendants live in Israel.
Tradition holds that Israelites of the tribe of Benjamin first arrived in the area of modern Kurdistan after the Assyria
n conquest of the Kingdom of Israel during the 8th century BC; they were subsequently relocated to the Assyrian capital. During the first century BC, the royal house of Adiabene
, whose capital was Arbil
(Aramaic
: Arbala; ), was converted to Judaism. King Monobazes, his queen Helena, and his son and successor Izates are recorded as the first proselyte
s.
and Pethahiah of Regensburg, there were about 100 Jewish settlements and substantial Jewish population in Kurdistan in 12th century. Benjamin of Tudela also gives the account of David Alroi, the messianic
leader from central Kurdistan, who rebelled against the king of Persia and had plans to lead the Jews back to Jerusalem. These travellers also report of well-established and wealthy Jewish communities in Mosul
, which was the commercial and spiritual center of Kurdistan. Many Jews fearful of approaching crusaders
, had fled from Syria
and Palestine
to Babylonia
and Kurdistan. The Jews of Mosul enjoyed some degree of autonomy
over managing their own community.
, who lived in Mosul
from 1590 to 1670, was the daughter of Rabbi Samuel Barzani of Kurdistan. She later married Jacob Mizrahi Rabbi of Amadiyah (in Iraqi Kurdistan
) who lectured at a yeshiva
. She was famous for her knowledge of the Torah
, Talmud
, Kabbalah
and Jewish law. After the early death of her husband, she became the head of the yeshiva at Amadiyah, and eventually was recognized as the chief instructor of Torah in Kurdistan. She was called tanna'it (female Talmudic scholar), practiced mysticism, and was reputed to have known the secret names of God. Asenath is also well known for her poetry and excellent command of the Hebrew language. She wrote a long poem of lament and petition in the traditional rhymed metrical form. Her poems are among the few examples of the early modern Hebrew texts written by women.
Immigration of Kurdish Jews to the Land of Israel initiated during late 16th century, with a community of rabbinic scholars arriving to Safed
, Galilee
, and a Kurdish quarter had been established there as a result. The thriving period of Safed however ended
in 1660, with Druze power struggles in the region and an economic decline.
(Freedom Fighters of Israel) was Moshe Barazani
, whose family immigrated from Iraqi Kurdistan and settled in Jerusalem in the late 1920s.
The vast majority of Kurdish Jews were forced out of Iraq and evacuated
to Israel in the early 1950s, together with the Iraqi Jewish community. The vast majority of the Kurdish Jews of Iranian Kurdistan relocated mostly to Israel as well, in the 1950s.
, India
n and Israel
i specialists published the results of their research on Y-chromosome polymorphism, that showed that Jews
and Kurds are close ethnic relatives. The Jews
and Kurds, according to the research, have common ancestors who resided in northern Mesopotamia
about 4,000 years ago. The Kurdish Jews, though found genetically close to their Muslim Kurdish neghbours, were still closer related to Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jewish groups, disproving any significant contribution of Judaism converts to this Jewish community (documented conversion to Judaism occurred in the area during the classic period, among the ruling class of the Parthian client Kingdom of Adiabene
). Among the Jewish communities, the closest genetic bond to Muslim Kurds was found among the Ashkenazi Jews, though the sequences were still distinguishable.
, Erich Brauer, began interviewing members of the community. His assistant, Raphael Patai
, published the results of his research in Hebrew. The book, Yehude Kurditan: mehqar ethnographi (Jerusalem, 1940), was translated into English in the 1990s. Israeli scholar Mordechai Zaken wrote an important book using written, archival and oral sources that traces the relations between the Jews and the Kurdish masters or chieftains (Aghas). He interviewed 56 Kurdish Jews from six towns (Zahko, Aqrah
, Amadiya, Dohuk, Sulaimaniya
and Shinno/Ushno/Ushnoviyya
), as well as dozens of villages, mostly in the region of Bahdinan. Zaken's Book, Jewish Subjects and their Tribal Chieftains in Kurdistan, is based strongly on oral history sources, and it unveils the personal experience of urban and rural Jews during the first half of the 20th century.
Northeastern Neo-Aramaic
Northeastern Neo-Aramaic is a term used by semiticists to refer to a large variety of Modern Aramaic languages that were once spoken of a large region stretching from the plain of Urmia, in northwestern Iran, to the plain of Mosul, in northern Iraq.As of the 1990s, the NENA group had an estimated...
: הוזייה כורדינייה, Hozaye Kurdinaye; ) are the ancient Eastern Jewish
Mizrahi Jews
Mizrahi Jews or Mizrahiyim, , also referred to as Adot HaMizrach are Jews descended from the Jewish communities of the Middle East, North Africa and the Caucasus...
communities, inhabiting the region known as Kurdistan in northern Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
, roughly covering parts of Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, northern Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
and eastern Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. Their clothing and culture is similar to neighbouring Kurdish Muslims and Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
Assyrians
Assyrian people
The Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...
. Until their immigration to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
in the 1940s and early 1950s, the Jews of Kurdistan lived as closed ethnic communities. Today, the large majority of Kurdish Jews and their descendants live in Israel.
Ancient times and classic antiquity
Assyria
Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
n conquest of the Kingdom of Israel during the 8th century BC; they were subsequently relocated to the Assyrian capital. During the first century BC, the royal house of Adiabene
Adiabene
Adiabene was an ancient Assyrian independent kingdom in Mesopotamia, with its capital at Arbela...
, whose capital was Arbil
Arbil
Arbil / Hewlêr is the fourth largest city in Iraq after Baghdad, Basra and Mosul...
(Aramaic
Aramaic language
Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
: Arbala; ), was converted to Judaism. King Monobazes, his queen Helena, and his son and successor Izates are recorded as the first proselyte
Proselyte
The biblical term "Proselyte", derives from the Koine Greek προσήλυτος/proselytos, as used in the Septuagint for "stranger", i.e. a "newcomer to Israel"; a "sojourner in the land", and in the New Testament for a convert to Judaism from Paganism...
s.
Middle Ages
According to the memoirs of Benjamin of TudelaBenjamin of Tudela
Benjamin of Tudela was a medieval Jewish traveler who visited Europe, Asia, and Africa in the 12th century. His vivid descriptions of western Asia preceded those of Marco Polo by a hundred years...
and Pethahiah of Regensburg, there were about 100 Jewish settlements and substantial Jewish population in Kurdistan in 12th century. Benjamin of Tudela also gives the account of David Alroi, the messianic
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
leader from central Kurdistan, who rebelled against the king of Persia and had plans to lead the Jews back to Jerusalem. These travellers also report of well-established and wealthy Jewish communities in Mosul
Mosul
Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
, which was the commercial and spiritual center of Kurdistan. Many Jews fearful of approaching crusaders
Crusaders
The Crusaders are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Christchurch that competes in the Super Rugby competition. They are the most successful team in Super Rugby history with seven titles...
, had fled from Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
and Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
to Babylonia
Babylonia
Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...
and Kurdistan. The Jews of Mosul enjoyed some degree of autonomy
Autonomy
Autonomy is a concept found in moral, political and bioethical philosophy. Within these contexts, it is the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision...
over managing their own community.
Ottoman era
Tanna'it Asenath BarzaniAsenath Barzani
Tanna’it Asenath Barzani was a renowned Kurdish Jewish woman who lived in Mosul, Iraq. She was the daughter of the illustrious Rabbi Samuel Barzani. She studied Kabbalah.-The life of Tanna’it Asenath:...
, who lived in Mosul
Mosul
Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
from 1590 to 1670, was the daughter of Rabbi Samuel Barzani of Kurdistan. She later married Jacob Mizrahi Rabbi of Amadiyah (in Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan or Kurdistan Region is an autonomous region of Iraq. It borders Iran to the east, Turkey to the north, Syria to the west and the rest of Iraq to the south. The regional capital is Arbil, known in Kurdish as Hewlêr...
) who lectured at a yeshiva
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
. She was famous for her knowledge of the Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
, Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
, Kabbalah
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
and Jewish law. After the early death of her husband, she became the head of the yeshiva at Amadiyah, and eventually was recognized as the chief instructor of Torah in Kurdistan. She was called tanna'it (female Talmudic scholar), practiced mysticism, and was reputed to have known the secret names of God. Asenath is also well known for her poetry and excellent command of the Hebrew language. She wrote a long poem of lament and petition in the traditional rhymed metrical form. Her poems are among the few examples of the early modern Hebrew texts written by women.
Immigration of Kurdish Jews to the Land of Israel initiated during late 16th century, with a community of rabbinic scholars arriving to Safed
Safed
Safed , is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and of Israel. Due to its high elevation, Safed experiences warm summers and cold, often snowy, winters...
, Galilee
Galilee
Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...
, and a Kurdish quarter had been established there as a result. The thriving period of Safed however ended
1660 destruction of Safed
The 1660 destruction of Safed by the Druze occurred at the time of the rule of Ottoman Empire sultan Mehmed IV. The towns of Safed and nearby Tiberias, with substantial Jewish communities, were destroyed in the turmoil, following the 1658 death of Mulhim Ma'n. Only a few of the former residents of...
in 1660, with Druze power struggles in the region and an economic decline.
Modern times
Since the early 20th century some Kurdish Jews had been active in the Zionist movement. One of the most famous members of LehiLehi (group)
Lehi , commonly referred to in English as the Stern Group or Stern Gang, was a militant Zionist group founded by Avraham Stern in the British Mandate of Palestine...
(Freedom Fighters of Israel) was Moshe Barazani
Moshe Barazani
Moshe Barazani, also Barzani , was an Iraqi Kurdish Jew and a member of Lehi . He was born in Baghdad to a Jewish family from Northern Iraq that moved to Jerusalem when he was an infant. He joined Lehi at an early age and took part in sabotage operations...
, whose family immigrated from Iraqi Kurdistan and settled in Jerusalem in the late 1920s.
The vast majority of Kurdish Jews were forced out of Iraq and evacuated
Operation Ezra and Nehemiah
From 1950 to 1952, Operation Ezra and Nehemiah airlifted between 120,000 to 130,000 Iraqi Jews to Israel via Iran and Cyprus. The massive emigration of Iraqi Jews was among the most climactic events of Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries. By 1968 only 2,000 Jews remained in Iraq...
to Israel in the early 1950s, together with the Iraqi Jewish community. The vast majority of the Kurdish Jews of Iranian Kurdistan relocated mostly to Israel as well, in the 1950s.
Genetic analysis of Kurdish Jews
An extremely close genetic proximity of Jewish communities and non-Jewish Middle Eastern populations has been observed in several DNA studies. In 2001, a team of GermanGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i specialists published the results of their research on Y-chromosome polymorphism, that showed that Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
and Kurds are close ethnic relatives. The Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
and Kurds, according to the research, have common ancestors who resided in northern Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
about 4,000 years ago. The Kurdish Jews, though found genetically close to their Muslim Kurdish neghbours, were still closer related to Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jewish groups, disproving any significant contribution of Judaism converts to this Jewish community (documented conversion to Judaism occurred in the area during the classic period, among the ruling class of the Parthian client Kingdom of Adiabene
Adiabene
Adiabene was an ancient Assyrian independent kingdom in Mesopotamia, with its capital at Arbela...
). Among the Jewish communities, the closest genetic bond to Muslim Kurds was found among the Ashkenazi Jews, though the sequences were still distinguishable.
Historiography
One of the main problems in the history and historiography of the Jews of Kurdistan was the lack of written history and the lack of documents and historical records. During the 1930s, a German-Jewish EthnographerEthnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
, Erich Brauer, began interviewing members of the community. His assistant, Raphael Patai
Raphael Patai
Raphael Patai , born Ervin György Patai, was a Hungarian-Jewish ethnographer, historian, Orientalist and anthropologist.-Family background:...
, published the results of his research in Hebrew. The book, Yehude Kurditan: mehqar ethnographi (Jerusalem, 1940), was translated into English in the 1990s. Israeli scholar Mordechai Zaken wrote an important book using written, archival and oral sources that traces the relations between the Jews and the Kurdish masters or chieftains (Aghas). He interviewed 56 Kurdish Jews from six towns (Zahko, Aqrah
Aqrah
Aqrah is a city and district in Iraq which is located in the Ninawa Governorate. The total area of the district is km2...
, Amadiya, Dohuk, Sulaimaniya
Sulaymaniyah
Sulaymaniyah is a city in Iraqi Kurdistan, Iraq. It is the capital of Sulaymaniyah Governorate. Sulaymaniyah is surrounded by the Azmar Range, Goizja Range and the Qaiwan Range in the north east, Baranan Mountain in the south and the Tasluje Hills in the west. The city has a semi-arid climate with...
and Shinno/Ushno/Ushnoviyya
Oshnavieh
Oshnavieh is a city in and the capital of Oshnavieh County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 29,896, in 6,572 families....
), as well as dozens of villages, mostly in the region of Bahdinan. Zaken's Book, Jewish Subjects and their Tribal Chieftains in Kurdistan, is based strongly on oral history sources, and it unveils the personal experience of urban and rural Jews during the first half of the 20th century.
See also
- Jewish ethnic divisionsJewish ethnic divisionsJewish ethnic divisions refers to a number of distinct communities within the world's ethnically Jewish population. Although considered one single self-identifying ethnicity, there are distinct ethnic divisions among Jews, most of which are primarily the result of geographic branching from an...
- Mizrahi JewsMizrahi JewsMizrahi Jews or Mizrahiyim, , also referred to as Adot HaMizrach are Jews descended from the Jewish communities of the Middle East, North Africa and the Caucasus...
- History of the Jews in IraqHistory of the Jews in IraqThe history of the Jews in Iraq is documented from the time of the Babylonian captivity c. 586 BCE. Iraqi Jews constitute one of the world's oldest and most historically significant Jewish communities....
- Kurdish peopleKurdish peopleThe Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...
- Israeli–Kurdish relations
- Northeastern Neo-AramaicNortheastern Neo-AramaicNortheastern Neo-Aramaic is a term used by semiticists to refer to a large variety of Modern Aramaic languages that were once spoken of a large region stretching from the plain of Urmia, in northwestern Iran, to the plain of Mosul, in northern Iraq.As of the 1990s, the NENA group had an estimated...
- SeharaneSeharaneThe Seharane is a festival among Kurdish Jews. It lasts a few days at the close of Pesach, that traditionally marked the end of winter and the coming of spring.-References:*...
Bibiliography
- Mordechai Zaken, "Jewish Subjects and their tribal Chieftains in Kurdistan: A study in Survival," Jewish Identities in a Changing World, 9 (Boston: Brill Publishers, 2007)
- Brauer, Erich; Patai, Raphael, The Jews of Kurdistan. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1993).
- Asenath, Barzani, "Asenath's Petition", First published in Hebrew by Jacob Mann, ed., in Texts and Studies in Jewish History and Literature, vol.1, Hebrew Union College Press, Cincinnati, 1931. Translation by Peter Cole.
- Yona Sabar, The Folk Literature of the Kurdistani Jews (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982).
- Ariel Sabar, My Father's Paradise: A Son’s Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq. Illustrated. 332 pp. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. Biography & study of Yona Beh Sabagha = Yona Sabar, native scholar of this community and its language. Reviewed in The New York Times, Oct. 12, 2008 and The Washington Post, Oct. 26, 2008.
- Mahir Ünsal Eriş, Kürt Yahudileri - Din, Dil, Tarih , (Kurdish Jews) In TurkishTurkish languageTurkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
, Kalan Publishing, Ankara, 2006 - Hasan-Rokem, G. , Hess, T. and Kaufman, S., Defiant Muse: Hebrew Feminist Poems from Antiquity: A Bilingual Anthology, Publisher: Feminist Press, 1999, ISBN 1-55861-223-8. (see page 65, 16th century/Kurdistan and Asenath's Petition)
- Rabbi Asenath Barzani in Jewish Storytelling Newsletter, Vol.15, No.3, Summer 2000
- The Jews of Kurdistan Yale Israel Journal, No. 6 (Spr. 2005).
- Judaism in Encyclopaedia Kurdistanica
- Sabar, Ariel. My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq